VIRGIN.BEAUTY.B!TCH

David Jurasek is a father, husband, Sensei, and Registered Psychotherapist working with boys and men for over 20 years. He's worked within a clinical context, in a communal setting, and within various men's groups. However, despite his expertise and experience, David found himself continuing to struggle in intimate relationships, especially with his wife. Inspired by Martin Luther King's words on...

In this episode, Christopher & Heather continue our conversation around the book "The Creation of Patriarchy" by Gerder Lerner. Her groundbreaking work peals back history to see the origins and evolution of patriarchal systems. We lament how a once harmonious relationship between women and men spiralled into a hierarchy of power for one and subordination, bordering on slavery for the other. We...

Patriarchy has never been a secret; it's in our faces from birth to death. Maybe that's why we don't talk about it. Most men hear the word Patriarchy and associate it with women's liberation or feminism and summarily dismiss it as irrelevant to their own experiences. On the other hand, women either believe that Patriarchy is a natural consequence of biological differences between women and men or...

Is it true? It is literally impossible to be a woman. Are you beautiful and smart but still think you're not good enough? Do you need to be extraordinary but still feel you're doing it all wrong? Is staying young, pretty, and thin the expectation, even when age says different? Is being the good girl your ideal, so you can't be rude, selfish, show off, fail, show fear, and never step out of line? D...

Kathy Caprino is no movie critic, but her critique of the Barbie movie and the power of the patriarchy inspired us to search her out. We found someone who was once a corporate executive, but even with career success, she struggled inwardly to feel successful. Surviving sexual harassment, gender discrimination, toxic colleagues, narcissistic bosses, and zero work-life balance, she didn’t feel value...

We have no reason to be obsessed with Barbie, but since seeing the movie, we’ve been finding deeper and deeper messages between the lines. The latest is good boys vs bad boys. Is there a lesson to be learned from women choosing bad boys like Ken — after his conversion to the patriarch — while ignoring nice guys like Allen who support women and their struggle to be free of the patriarch? It’s an in...

How might your partner, or potential future partner, react if you asked him to see the Barbie movie with you? Since the movie's debut, women have used the "Barbie ask" as a litmus test for evaluating compatible partners. A Yes can be an insight into how considerate, open-minded, or empathetic he is. But what if your partner shuts you down before learning why this event might be important to you? C...

“It is literally impossible to be a woman.” So begins the monologue that breaks the women of Barbieland out of their patriarchal trance and back into power over a world they created. That dialogue reminds Christopher and Heather of why we created VBB Podcast and continue to host conversations that connect women to sources of their strength, even in a man-made world. Spoiler alert, in this episode,...

She didn't create Barbie but was hired to help revive and diversify the image of the world's most iconic toy. Long before the blockbuster movie, VBB welcomed cultural expert Jess Weiner to take us on tour through the boardrooms of global brands like Mattel and Dove and share how the women's movement has influenced these corporate giants. For over two decades, Jess has continued to be a grassroots...

Dana Killion is an accomplished author and a skilled storyteller known for her captivating mystery novels, but in her powerful debut memoir, Where the Shadows Dance, is where she lays bare the slow drip of the trauma she fought through to save the man she loved but in the process, how she became collateral damage in his self-destruction. Subtitled, He Got Sober; I Got Broken, Dana delves into the...

Gina Cloud is a deeply devoted teacher, author, speaker, and advocate of all things women. Gina is a rebel and a revolutionary determined to free women from the societal, biological, and personal prisons they have endured for millennia. Using her extensive body of work developed over 25 years, Gina is passionately committed to spearheading an evolution and revolution of the ideologies that “define...

Nichole Crawford is a U.S. Army veteran with combat service in Iraq post-9/11. Like many veterans, Nichole believed that coming home not wearing a body bag or suffering a debilitating injury made her one of the lucky ones. War was something she could brush aside simply by surviving it. But years after her honourable discharge, Nichole suffered MST (Military Sexual Trauma) and PTSD (Post-Traumatic...

Kate Brookes (a.k.a. Transister Mom) is an award-winning TV reporter/anchor turned producer/filmmaker who, as field produced for The Discovery Channel, has interviewed celebrities like Beyonce to Barbara Walters. She's written for Today.com, and emcees galas, live events, and webcasts for non-profits and Fortune 500 companies. As a mom to one 13-year-old son and one 13-year-old transgender daughte...

Laurin Mayeno is an equity and justice consultant and author of a banned children's book. Laurin grew up in a mixed-race environment with no books to help her understand her mixed-race identity. As a mother, she was doubly devastated when her nonbinary queer child had no resources to help them affirm who they were. Watching her child struggle with loneliness and isolation and being mistreated by o...

Juliane Bermann has credentials as a technical writer, book coach, ghostwriter, and editor. And it's through her written words we learned about her in a Huffington Post article titled: My Mom Would've Been Thrilled To Know I Was Queer. Instead, I Stayed Closeted For 25 Years. Juliane wrote the piece because she rarely sees stories like hers that address the complex reasons why people self-closet,...

Stephanie Clarke is a most amazing woman. Her fiery red hair is a hint to her temperament as a speaker, facilitator, author, sacred ceremony hostess, Law of Attraction life coach, and a spiritual leader self-ordained as the Irreverent Reverend. As an Afrikaner wanting to help South Africa heal from its legacy of apartheid, Stephanie founded that country’s first multiracial church. She bravely shar...

Lee Wind (he/him) is an Author and the Founder of the award-winning Blog I'M HERE. I'M QUEER. WHAT THE HELL DO I READ? Lee's Blog has over 3 million page loads from over 100 countries! Lee holds a master's degree in education from Harvard and writes stories to empower kids and teens to be their authentic selves and change the world. In 2022 we had Lee as our guest for PRIDE month and learned that...

Dr. Maria Rothenburger is a fertility therapist and coach who has been through the harrowing journey of infertility. For over six years, Maria and her husband tried in vein to start a family but it only brought depression, anxiety, and intense marriage struggles. Eventually, they agreed the process wasn’t worth the pain or that was tearing their relationship apart, so they decided to be child-free...

Katie Nave is a freelance writer; she's penned articles for Newsweek, Huffington Post, and other top-notch publications. She works at being effective as a mental health advocate; she's a successful professional pediatrician in one of the world's biggest metropolis — New York, but the role Katie struggles with most is the one she once thought would be her most natural, being a mom. Katie reflects o...

Melissa Leon is a 20-year corporate finance professional, small business owner, bestselling author, mother of three, and the self-proclaimed Efficiency Bitch. Melissa uses the word B.I.T.C.H. as an acronym to define the five areas she focuses on for women to live life by their own design: Bank, InBox, Time, Connection, and Harmony. Her book was written to help ambitious women stop wasting time, mo...

Alexandra Mislin is passionate about educating others on how to analyze human behavior to motivate others to act in their interest. Currently, she’s an Associate Professor at American University's Kogod School of Business and teaches various courses in Negotiation and Management in the Department of Management. Her research and study outline how trust and emotions, race and gender, affect negotiat...

Women face a unique set of financial challenges. Women have more hidden costs in their daily lives, like the pink tax, and the potential for more financial setbacks in the future, including the gender pay gap. Around the globe, women are generally less educated about personal finance – partly due to perceptions that finance is a "man's issue." This week we welcome Mariska Reinerink, Certified Beha...

Are you the master of your money, or is money the master of you? April is Financial Literacy Month — at VBB it's Women & Money Month. We could talk about the six components of financial literacy — earning, spending, saving, investing, borrowing, and protecting, or using financial skills for personal financial management, investing, and budgeting, but what about your feelings about money? Are y...

Throughout March, International Women's Month, it’s been one conversation after another with inspirational women born, living, or working globally in China, India, Iran, and Puerto Rico. Today a visit to Ghana, Africa. Gifty Serbeh-Dunn is co-founder of Baraka Shea Butter and owner of Shea Butter Market in Victoria, Canada, but what she has created for the women in her home village epitomizes what...

Michelle Hrycauk Nassif is a loving mother and a wise matriarch whose business is being a powerful Feminine leader. Her deep and genuine passion is to build and nurture Communities that support women and girls in their journey to fulfill their dreams and ambitions. We feature Michelle during International Women’s Month. In her professional role inside the corporate world, Canadian-born Michelle st...