Female Lifestyle Empowerment Brand

KELLY COLLAGE_Female Empowerment Brand

The Female Lifestyle

Empowerment Brand

(It's not a good thing.)

This page includes my definition of The Female Lifestyle Empowerment Brand + all my essays and blog posts explaining why it’s bad for women, our businesses and our culture.

flora-flowers

Definition:

A "perfect woman" archetype must comply with and embody in order to be deserving of rights and resources

AND

A marketing strategy that leverages social status and white privilege to create authority over other women.

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In Our Culture

Every Woman Is a Brand

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Start here

Pop art vintage comic. A woman with a poster and place for text. Girl in retro style. Advertising
04 Jan

The Female Lifestyle Empowerment Brand. An introduction.

empowermyth | The Female Lifestyle Empowerment Brand | The Meaning of Life
Somewhere, on the edge of consciousness, there is what I call a mythical norm, which each one of us within our hearts knows “that is not me.” In America, this norm is usually defined as white, thin, male, young, heterosexual, Christian, and financially secure. -...

Featured posts

Ixtapa, Mexico + John Rawls + No Pedi. Unthinkable now, right?
25 Mar

#tbt Toes in the Sand but NO PEDI. Also, The Beauty Myth then and now.

cartoon of 1950s man in suit with his feet propped up on table saying "it's not my problem" about the so-called "feminist pendulum"
11 Feb

Feminism, Femininity and The Swinging Pendulum. A Question for You.

The Context for The Female Lifestyle Empowerment Brrand
25 Jan

Not Enough Compensation in the World

September 23 2019

nope, ‘Queen’ is not a feminist business model

empowermyth,  Feminist Marketing Tools,  Sunday Love Letter,  The Female Lifestyle Empowerment Brand

welcome to your Sunday Love Letter. Before we get started, here's what's going on this week at www.kellydiels.com: I'm teaching an online workshop on Saturday ...

August 11 2019

The Female Lifestyle Empowerment Brand, Mental Triggers, and Weaponized Imperfection

empowermyth,  The Female Lifestyle Empowerment Brand,  The Meaning of Life

Feminist Marketing Tool #811: Avoid Using Weaponized Imperfection or Leveraging Privilege to Build (Fake) Authority. If you haven’t seen this particular post, you’ve probably seen ...

June 9 2019

Who’s running our social media accounts? Us, or our social conditioning?

Sunday Love Letter,  The Female Lifestyle Empowerment Brand

welcome to your Sunday Love Letter by Kelly Diels. I send these every Sunday by email and publish a few of them here, on my ...

July 30 2018

Dear Women’s Empowerment Coaches: Is Your Teacher’s Teacher a Men’s Rights Activist?

The Female Lifestyle Empowerment Brand

Note: The following essay is an excerpt of a chapter of the book I'm writing about The Female Lifestyle Empowerment Brand; I first published it as ...

April 27 2018

Sorry! The Lifestyle You Ordered is Currently Out of Stock

Behind The Curtain,  The Female Lifestyle Empowerment Brand,  The Meaning of Life

Graffiti by Banksy; photo by Bruce Krasting https://www.flickr.com/photos/bruce_krasting/7695349260 This feels like some anti-FLEB (Female Lifestyle Empowerment Brand) awesomeness in graffiti form. It's by Banksy. So ...

April 14 2018

Empowerment Chapters for The Female Lifestyle Empowerment Brand

The Female Lifestyle Empowerment Brand,  The Meaning of Life

My book about The Female Lifestyle Empowerment Brand is organized in four parts. Part One is about the mandatory femininity women are obliged to perform ...

February 23 2018

Is the Voice Of Culture is Working Through You Without Your Consent?

The Female Lifestyle Empowerment Brand,  The Meaning of Life

"When I read your essay," she said, "I gotta admit, I felt personally called out." We were talking on the phone for the first time ...

October 25 2017

Feminist Marketing Tip #1025: Invest In Your Community

Feminist Marketing Tools,  The Female Lifestyle Empowerment Brand,  The Meaning of Life

When I was first starting out online, I witnessed an influential woman using her platform to boost the signals of others (including mine). She tweeted ...

September 3 2017

How Culture-Makers Vanquish Perfectionism: Publish, Then Polish

Feminist Marketing School,  The Female Lifestyle Empowerment Brand,  The Meaning of Life

You know I'm on a mission to extinguish the perfection imperative, right? Resisting perfectionism one of the ways culture-makers undermine white supremacy. It's also how ...

August 19 2017

The Wealthy Feminist

Feminist Marketing School,  The Female Lifestyle Empowerment Brand,  The Meaning of Life

Can we talk about money? I've read this 30+ year old article about Gloria Steinem's once-precarious financial situation and her subsequent book deal several million ...

Every week, I send you a

Sunday Love Letter

I write them so that…

  1. You remember your culture-making power
  2. You have the inspiration + tools you need to grow a business that generates money AND justice

Let’s create a future in which we all flourish.

Are you in?

kelly.diels

Business can inadvertently be a spiritual ...

View

Nov 28

Open
Business can inadvertently be a spiritual journey.⁠ ⁠ (Same with parenting; h/t @toimarie for all of our conversations over the years about the way these two vocations/callings have grown our spirits and capacities). ⁠ ⁠ You *think* that you were just trying to make money in your biz, but in order to do that, you have to confront your internalized oppression. You have to go to the edges of your conditioning. You have to take a step back from the cultural stories meant to limit you. You have to learn how work WITH your fears and befriend your #ImposterComplex (‘cuz they’re never going away). ⁠ ⁠ In other words: business development and successful entrepreneurship ends up being a massive self-help class that you didn't know you signed up to take.⁠ ⁠ Which is why building out your platform can feel so overwhelming and so isolating. (It is definitely NOT you; it's just the nature of the project.)⁠ ⁠ You THOUGHT you were doing something pragmatic like building a #SalesFunnel or calculating your #pricing; but each of these activities inevitably comes with a huge side order of figuring-out-exactly-who-you-are-and-what-you-stand-for. ⁠ ⁠ Obviously that can take a LOT more energy than it seems...which is why it's so essential to be rooted in relationships and communities that fill you back up. ⁠ ⁠ You're spiritually cultivating yourself while also growing a business; and both of these things, on their own, are high-burn activities...⁠ ⁠ Together? Even more so. ⁠ ⁠ So get yourself loved-up and resourced. Get support. Get poured into and spiritually replenished so you can flourish while you're growing and regrowing EVERYTHING in your world. #WeAreTheCultureMakers⁠ ⁠ _________⁠ I'm Kelly Diels and I'm a #FeministMarketing consultant. I lead a intimate one-year #mastermind for coaches, leaders, healers, and culture-makers called FLORA that helps you build a thriving business that makes money AND justice

kelly.diels

I trust you with power and money.

***
...

View

Nov 20

Open
I trust you with power and money. *** ⁠Many of us believe, on a cellular level, that money + power = abuse. Because that's what we've lived.⁠ Many fat women and women of colour and queer women and disabled folks and trans and non-binary folks (and, and, and) have experienced power being used abusively against us...⁠ ⁠ ...which often means that some of us are going to be wildly uncomfortable with power-building -- in all forms.⁠ ⁠ Which raises a critical question for our lives: what will we think about ***ourselves*** if we earn money and power?⁠ ⁠ ***⁠ If you recoil from holding power or money even as you need them and explicitly seek them, please know that there is nothing wrong with you. This tension actually a sign that your sense of justice is finely honed.⁠ ⁠ It means you don't want to become that which you oppose.⁠ ⁠ This, obviously, is a very good thing. Let's be relieved that our moral compasses are working.⁠ ⁠ And let's break the spell*. ⁠ (h/t @amandaklaird for this *language)⁠ ⁠ ***⁠ Here's how we break cultural spells and intervene in unconscious sequences and patterns:⁠ ⁠ We surface them. Expose them. Make them conscious.⁠ ⁠ To break the money-power-abuse spell, let's explicitly, consciously ask ourselves if what we have been conditioned believe about ourselves and power and money is true:⁠ ⁠ 🌺Is it true that if you have power, you will abuse it?⁠ 🌺Is it true that if you have money and power, you will use it to exploit people?⁠ 🌺Is it true that the only way to get money is to harm people?⁠ ⁠ ***⁠ ⁠ When I inquired into my own beliefs about power and explicit asked myself, do I want to use money and power the way it's been used against me (To hurt people? To dominate? To hoard?)...⁠ ⁠ ...the answer is NOOOOOOOOOO.⁠ ⁠ And so the spell is broken.⁠ ⁠ ***⁠ ⁠ I trust you with power, money & resources.⁠ ⁠ Let's get them, grow them, and use them to flourish -- personally & collectively.⁠ ⁠ Because we are the culture makers.⁠ 🌺🌺🌺 I'm Kelly Diels and I'm a #FeministMarketing consultant. I help feminist entrepreneurs & culture-makers make money AND justice. PS liked this post? You should see my Sunday Love Letters 🙂 Link in bio to subscribe

kelly.diels

For when you're feeling insignificant or ...

View

Nov 12

Open
For when you're feeling insignificant or ineffective:⁠ ⁠ Right now, your action and your example is valorizing and fortifying someone else.⁠ ⁠ Someone is learning from you. Someone is softened, strengthened, resolved. Someone is thinking *I can do that, too.*⁠ ⁠ Action inspires action.⁠ ⁠ Keep going. Keep contributing. We need you.⁠ ⁠ love + justice,⁠ Kelly⁠ ⁠ #WeAreTheCultureMakers⁠ Photo by @kristympowers ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ #feministcopywriting #feministbusiness #wearetheculturemakers #feministfounders #entrepreneurialfeminist #buildingtheinstitutionsofthefuture #emergent #consciouscopywriting #feministmindset #changemaking #womensempowerment #empowerment #socialimpact #feministeducator #feministcoach #feministcoaching #mindset⁠ #feministaf #feminism #socialjustice #feministbusiness #feministfounders #entrepreneurialfeminist #buildingtheinstitutionsofthefuture #emergent #consciousbusiness #emergentstrategy #girlboss #goaldigger⁠

kelly.diels

don't mind me, I'm just out here in the ...

View

Nov 3

Open
don't mind me, I'm just out here in the forest being fabulous.⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ 🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺⁠ ⁠ I'm Kelly Diels and I'm a #FeministMarketing consultant. One of the first thing I do with clients is help them figure out their business model aka HOW THEY MAKE MONEY ( their pricing, their offer, their accessibility strategies, their time) and I do it through the lens of justice. Usually we are not in the forest for these meetings but a girl can dream. #moneyandjustice⁠ ⁠ #bodyacceptance #sneakerhead #fatootd #bodypositivity #fatshion #fatacceptance #ootd #feministmindset #changemaking #womensempowerment #empowerment #socialimpact #feministeducator #feministcoach #feministcoaching #mindset⁠ #feministaf #feminism #socialjustice #feministbusiness #feministfounders #entrepreneurialfeminist #buildingtheinstitutionsofthefuture #emergent #consciousbusiness #emergentstrategy #girlboss #goaldigger⁠ ⁠ photo by @daniellecohenphotography⁠

kelly.diels

Visibility Facts⁠
⁠
***Huge Visibility...

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Nov 2

Open
Visibility Facts⁠ ⁠ ***Huge Visibility Might Not Be Necessary***⁠ ⁠ We're trained to believe that huge social media followings & massive lists are what it takes to build a flourishing business.⁠ ⁠ But that might only be true if you're in the low-price, volume business (think: Walmart).⁠ ⁠ For service businesses, on the other hand, a list of 1,000 or 2,000 people can deliver a FLOURISHING business⁠.⁠ ⁠ AND: big visibility and a huge social media following don't necessarily equate to a big list or a thriving business. I've seen LOTS of people with 30,000 or 100,000 followers on social media with no list & no sales.⁠ ⁠ So...some of the fraughtness around #visibility can be dissolved if we get forensic about our #VisibilityGoals:⁠ ⁠ 🌺Take your annual revenue⁠ 🌺Divide it by your list size⁠ 🌺How much does each subscriber bring in revenue to your biz?⁠ ⁠ eg $100,000 / 2,000 subscribers = $50 in revenue per subscriber⁠ ⁠ NOW: How many people do you need on your list to reach your next revenue goal?⁠ ⁠ 🌻You might not need to be chasing 30K Youtube followers⁠ 🌻You might not need 10K people on Instagram⁠ 🌻You might only need 2,500⁠ 🌻Or 500!⁠ ⁠ (I know people who make 6 figures+ with only 500 people on their list)⁠ ⁠ The point of this exercise is for you to calculate what you want to earn, and then project what level of visibility you need to achieve that number.⁠ ⁠ And then do that. ⁠ ⁠ You don't have to do visibility for the sake of visibility. ⁠ ⁠ You can decide what you want to achieve financially and then build the level of visibility that delivers on those goals. ⁠ ⁠ ***No hyper-visibility required***⁠ ⁠ _________⁠ I'm Kelly Diels and I'm a #FeministBusinessCoach. ⁠ ⁠ I help culture makers like you build a thriving business that makes money AND justice...without burning out.⁠ ⁠ ⁠ #feministmindset #changemaking #womensempowerment #empowerment #socialimpact #feministeducator #feministcoach #feministcoaching #mindset⁠ #feministaf #feminism #socialjustice #feministbusiness #feministfounders #entrepreneurialfeminist #buildingtheinstitutionsofthefuture #emergent #consciousbusiness #emergentstrategy #girlboss #goaldigger⁠

kelly.diels

Business can inadvertently be a spiritual ...

View

Nov 28

Open
Business can inadvertently be a spiritual journey.⁠ ⁠ (Same with parenting; h/t @toimarie for all of our conversations over the years about the way these two vocations/callings have grown our spirits and capacities). ⁠ ⁠ You *think* that you were just trying to make money in your biz, but in order to do that, you have to confront your internalized oppression. You have to go to the edges of your conditioning. You have to take a step back from the cultural stories meant to limit you. You have to learn how work WITH your fears and befriend your #ImposterComplex (‘cuz they’re never going away). ⁠ ⁠ In other words: business development and successful entrepreneurship ends up being a massive self-help class that you didn't know you signed up to take.⁠ ⁠ Which is why building out your platform can feel so overwhelming and so isolating. (It is definitely NOT you; it's just the nature of the project.)⁠ ⁠ You THOUGHT you were doing something pragmatic like building a #SalesFunnel or calculating your #pricing; but each of these activities inevitably comes with a huge side order of figuring-out-exactly-who-you-are-and-what-you-stand-for. ⁠ ⁠ Obviously that can take a LOT more energy than it seems...which is why it's so essential to be rooted in relationships and communities that fill you back up. ⁠ ⁠ You're spiritually cultivating yourself while also growing a business; and both of these things, on their own, are high-burn activities...⁠ ⁠ Together? Even more so. ⁠ ⁠ So get yourself loved-up and resourced. Get support. Get poured into and spiritually replenished so you can flourish while you're growing and regrowing EVERYTHING in your world. #WeAreTheCultureMakers⁠ ⁠ _________⁠ I'm Kelly Diels and I'm a #FeministMarketing consultant. I lead a intimate one-year #mastermind for coaches, leaders, healers, and culture-makers called FLORA that helps you build a thriving business that makes money AND justice

kelly.diels

I trust you with power and money.

***
...

View

Nov 20

Open
I trust you with power and money. *** ⁠Many of us believe, on a cellular level, that money + power = abuse. Because that's what we've lived.⁠ Many fat women and women of colour and queer women and disabled folks and trans and non-binary folks (and, and, and) have experienced power being used abusively against us...⁠ ⁠ ...which often means that some of us are going to be wildly uncomfortable with power-building -- in all forms.⁠ ⁠ Which raises a critical question for our lives: what will we think about ***ourselves*** if we earn money and power?⁠ ⁠ ***⁠ If you recoil from holding power or money even as you need them and explicitly seek them, please know that there is nothing wrong with you. This tension actually a sign that your sense of justice is finely honed.⁠ ⁠ It means you don't want to become that which you oppose.⁠ ⁠ This, obviously, is a very good thing. Let's be relieved that our moral compasses are working.⁠ ⁠ And let's break the spell*. ⁠ (h/t @amandaklaird for this *language)⁠ ⁠ ***⁠ Here's how we break cultural spells and intervene in unconscious sequences and patterns:⁠ ⁠ We surface them. Expose them. Make them conscious.⁠ ⁠ To break the money-power-abuse spell, let's explicitly, consciously ask ourselves if what we have been conditioned believe about ourselves and power and money is true:⁠ ⁠ 🌺Is it true that if you have power, you will abuse it?⁠ 🌺Is it true that if you have money and power, you will use it to exploit people?⁠ 🌺Is it true that the only way to get money is to harm people?⁠ ⁠ ***⁠ ⁠ When I inquired into my own beliefs about power and explicit asked myself, do I want to use money and power the way it's been used against me (To hurt people? To dominate? To hoard?)...⁠ ⁠ ...the answer is NOOOOOOOOOO.⁠ ⁠ And so the spell is broken.⁠ ⁠ ***⁠ ⁠ I trust you with power, money & resources.⁠ ⁠ Let's get them, grow them, and use them to flourish -- personally & collectively.⁠ ⁠ Because we are the culture makers.⁠ 🌺🌺🌺 I'm Kelly Diels and I'm a #FeministMarketing consultant. I help feminist entrepreneurs & culture-makers make money AND justice. PS liked this post? You should see my Sunday Love Letters 🙂 Link in bio to subscribe

kelly.diels

For when you're feeling insignificant or ...

View

Nov 12

Open
For when you're feeling insignificant or ineffective:⁠ ⁠ Right now, your action and your example is valorizing and fortifying someone else.⁠ ⁠ Someone is learning from you. Someone is softened, strengthened, resolved. Someone is thinking *I can do that, too.*⁠ ⁠ Action inspires action.⁠ ⁠ Keep going. Keep contributing. We need you.⁠ ⁠ love + justice,⁠ Kelly⁠ ⁠ #WeAreTheCultureMakers⁠ Photo by @kristympowers ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ #feministcopywriting #feministbusiness #wearetheculturemakers #feministfounders #entrepreneurialfeminist #buildingtheinstitutionsofthefuture #emergent #consciouscopywriting #feministmindset #changemaking #womensempowerment #empowerment #socialimpact #feministeducator #feministcoach #feministcoaching #mindset⁠ #feministaf #feminism #socialjustice #feministbusiness #feministfounders #entrepreneurialfeminist #buildingtheinstitutionsofthefuture #emergent #consciousbusiness #emergentstrategy #girlboss #goaldigger⁠

kelly.diels

don't mind me, I'm just out here in the ...

View

Nov 3

Open
don't mind me, I'm just out here in the forest being fabulous.⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ 🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺⁠ ⁠ I'm Kelly Diels and I'm a #FeministMarketing consultant. One of the first thing I do with clients is help them figure out their business model aka HOW THEY MAKE MONEY ( their pricing, their offer, their accessibility strategies, their time) and I do it through the lens of justice. Usually we are not in the forest for these meetings but a girl can dream. #moneyandjustice⁠ ⁠ #bodyacceptance #sneakerhead #fatootd #bodypositivity #fatshion #fatacceptance #ootd #feministmindset #changemaking #womensempowerment #empowerment #socialimpact #feministeducator #feministcoach #feministcoaching #mindset⁠ #feministaf #feminism #socialjustice #feministbusiness #feministfounders #entrepreneurialfeminist #buildingtheinstitutionsofthefuture #emergent #consciousbusiness #emergentstrategy #girlboss #goaldigger⁠ ⁠ photo by @daniellecohenphotography⁠