#57: Merel Kriegsman on How Cancel Culture Impacts Women's Wallets

THE IDEALISTS.

This week, THE IDEALISTS. podcast host and entrepreneur Melissa Kiguwa speaks with globally-recognized Queer women’s wealth coach and high-net-worth money muse, Merel Kriegsman—known for empowering clients to grow their business bottom lines by over $25 million last year. A one-of-kind, neurodivergent mother of three, former opera singer, and regenerative farmer, Merel has been featured in Forbes, Fast Company, Business Insider, ABC News, CBS News, and Good Housekeeping.

In this freeform and thought-provoking episode, Merel shares her thoughts on how the constraints engendered by the huge trend of “ethical marketing” can lead to a kind of “purity” culture that can prove so detrimental to a founder’s creativity. At its core, fear of “cancel culture” can hijack necessary bold decision-making and conversations women need access to in order to thrive. She also reflects on her journey to coaching through brand and web copywriting and what it means to be the first woman in your lineage to break through and make an authentic transition to sustained wealth.

In this episode:

- Merel leads off the episode by describing the controversy surrounding a recent article she’d written about ethical marketing being disguised as purity culture, and how important it is to not be hamstrung by all the so-called rules—or if you are going to play by them, do so, consciously—with intent.

- Next, Merel dives deeper into issues of “cancel culture” and asks what happens when women are “canceled” for pursuing money or ambition or power? How does that detract from overall social justice work so necessary for women’s equity?

- She then relates a piece of key wisdom: we tend to undervalue what comes to us most easily to us. Yet what comes to us most easily is usually our most valuable work and most often, we do not charge for that work. We don’t even consider creating packages around those specific skill sets. We so often feel discomfort at taking money for something that feels too easy or fun. It takes a recasting of the spell.

- Lastly, Merel shares her audacious wish to make more magic in the world and help women everywhere become the wealthiest in their lineage, to fund the kind of change they want to see—online, locally, or globally. For Merel, this has meant contributing to her own local indigenous community as it continues to cope with poverty, hunger, and addiction.

Join the conversation about THE IDEALISTS. and break*through.

At our website: https://www.theidealistspodcast.co/
On Instagram: @theidealistspodcast_
On Twitter: @theidealistspod
Help us grow! Leave a review of the show on Apple or Spotify
Order a copy of the*journal