Flex Your Heart Radio

Y'ALL! This is the last episode of Flex Your Heart Radio! If you wonder why, you should totes listen. In this episode I talk to Molly of Gender Reveal Podcast! Molly Woodstock is a journalist and podcaster based in Portland, Oregon. They spend their work-days writing and editing for Travel Portland and Portland Monthly Magazine, and spend the rest of the time producing their brand new trans-normative podcast, Gender Reveal. Molly is queer and vegan and has a cat named after nutritional yeast.    In this episode we talk about FEELINGS. We love each other, we have poor mental health, we have survived so much and we're here to tell ya all about it.      A very special thank you to our 10$ level and up Patreon Patrons: Leslie Bennett, Meg Tracy, The Shiners, Jen, Mickey Boille, Julia Gibson, Jordan Faulds, Andi Olsen, Aja Vines, Bianca Phillips, Sky Chari and Kelly Knight! I love you all.   If you like the podcast: Support our Patreon! Leave us an iTunes review! Join our facebook group! Email us a

First and foremost: our Reclaim and Revolt program is LIVE and tickets are available NOW! Spots are limited, it is DEFINITELY going to sell out, so sign up now!   Now for the episode:   In this episode, I am SO STOKED to be talking to Nicole Antoinette Nicole Antoinette is a writer and host of the Real Talk Radio podcast, where people come together to have honest conversations about their real lives. A recovering self-help addict and former goal-setting coach, Nicole is obsessed with helping people get to the heart of what’s true without judgement, and to exploring how we can use grit and grace to close the gap between what we say we want and what we actually do. Join the conversation at nicoleantoinette.com.   In this episode we talk about doing hard things! Specifically: Her fitness journey (knowing when to start and when to end an activity, recognizing when it's time to change paths) Real Talk Radio / self-employment / money Opening a business, watching it grow, and closing it down despit

Welcome to Flex Your Heart Radio! This podcast is about body, fat and gender positivity, fitness, feminism, recovery, risk, and crushing it at life.  On this episode, I get to talk to one of my favorite buddies, Travis! Travis started his life as a tomboy in rural Maine, blossomed into queer life in the early 00's in Boston and now enjoying being 40 and residing in Portland, Oregon. He loves hobbies and activities - especially when he can share them with other people.   Here is a list:  guitar, banjo, fiddle, quiltmaking, acting, contra dancing, square dancing, step aerobics, skateboarding, mountains and every sport one does on a mountain - snow or sun.   Last summer he thru-hiked The Long Trail in Vermont with his long-time best friend Tam.  He organizes and leads queer wilderness and backpacking trips for a living with The Venture Out Project.   Life goals include biking across the country on a tandem bike with his partner and living with queer community in the woods.   In this episode we talk all about fi

Welcome to Flex Your Heart Radio! This podcast is about body, fat and gender positivity, fitness, feminism, recovery, risk, and crushing it at life.    On this episode, I get to talk with Vanessa Friedman! Vanessa is a 28 year old queer feminist writer and photographer based in Portland, OR. She's fat, femme, and opinionated. Her words have been published at Nylon, SHAPE, and Autostraddle, where she is also the community editor. In 2017 she hiked 450 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail and 230 miles on the Camino de Santiago; in 2018 she plans to embark on another long hike, hopefully with 100% less toxic masculinity on trail! When she's not sharing all her feelings on the internet or walking long distances, you can find her cooking, crafting, caring for kiddos, and talking about astrology. She's a Capricorn sun, Gemini moon, Virgo rising, in case you were wondering. Follow Vanessa on twitter, instagram, and at her personal blog, vanessapamela.com. In this episode we discuss: goals, intentions and adventure,

Welcome to Flex Your Heart Radio! This podcast is about body, fat and gender positivity, fitness, feminism, recovery, risk, and crushing it at life.    On this episode, we have Alex Zaragoza!   Alex Zaragoza is a writer covering the intersection between culture and social issues, feminism, the border and other random stuff. She's currently an editor at We Are Mitú, the largest digital media organization serving the Latinx population, and a columnist for San Diego CityBeat. Her work has appeared in O Magazine, NPR, LA Weekly, Rolling Stone and others. Alex grew up in San Diego and Tijuana, crossing the border every day for school and work. She currently lives in Los Angeles.   In this podcast we discuss Alex's experience growing up in both Mexico and the US, what it was like to cross the border for school on a daily basis, body image and how that relates to familial relations (Specifically as it relates to her experience as a Latinx woman), pissing off white men, and so much more!   --- You can find

Welcome to Flex Your Heart Radio! This podcast is about body, fat and gender positivity, fitness, feminism, recovery, risk, and crushing it at life.  On this episode, full time practical witch, Erin Aquarian! Erin Aquarian is a radical mystic, anti-oppression, pro-people pro-planet intuitive healer. She uses tarot and a mash up of other modalities to support people in healing and soul-truth living. Erin is an opinionated college dropout who quit her restaurant job in 2015 to be a full time witch. She is a trauma survivor, a late blooming artist, dream job maker, and a compulsive humanitarian. You can find her reading and teaching tarot in Portal-land Oregon or on the Interwebs.  In this podcast we discuss using magic to heal depression and anxiety, tapping into our creative power as a mode of wellness, what being a full time witch means, what it means to seek individual and collective liberation, and so much more!  --- You can find Erin on her website and Instagram. --- A very special thank you to our 10$ lev

Welcome to Flex Your Heart Radio! This podcast is about body, fat and gender positivity, fitness, feminism, recovery, risk, and crushing it at life.  On this episode, we talk to powerlifter, mother, and all around bad ass, Cassie Haynes! Cassie lives in Philly with her wife, 2 yr old daughter, and 2 dogs. She has a BFA in theater from Pace University School of Performing Arts, a masters in public health from Tufts University School of Medicine, and a JD from Northeastern University School of Law. Currently she works as the Executive Director of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA), the global governing body of the sport of roller derby. Cassie is also a prolific powerlifter, and she holds EIGHT PA state records across 2 weight classes. She is competing in IPF World Powerlifting Championships this November!  In this podcast we discuss: - How Cassie went from self identified "indoor kid" to champion powerlifter - Balancing motherhood with training and other responsibilities - How Cassie experiences

Welcome to Flex Your Heart Radio! This podcast is about body, fat and gender positivity, fitness, feminism, recovery, risk, and crushing it at life.  On this episode, we talk to activist, musician, and social justice minded vegan entrepreneur Emiko Badillo! Emiko has been involved in ethical veganism and animal rights since 1997. As a Chicana/Japanese-American vegan living in a very white-populated Portland, OR, she works to bridge the gap between ethical veganism and other social justice movements by volunteering as a member of Social Justice Fund NW, Asians4BlackLives Portland, Portland Vegans of Color, and Better Eating International. She's dedicated to working, volunteering, and collaborating with different communities to fight against all forms of oppression against humans and non-humans. Her not-as-exciting day-job is as co-owner of Food Fight! Vegan Grocery.  In this podcast we discuss: - Veganism and how it has changed over a 20 year span - Punk rock ethics in business / not being taken seriously as a

Welcome to Flex Your Heart Radio! This podcast is about body, fat and gender positivity, fitness, feminism, recovery, risk, and crushing it at life.  On this episode, we talk to feminist hero, Erica Smith! Erica Smith is a feminist sexuality educator and consultant based in Philadelphia. For 15 years, she has worked as a sexuality educator and advocate for young women and LGBTQ youth in the juvenile justice system. Her work also involves supporting trans and gender non conforming youth and educating other professionals on LGBTQ youth health and sexuality.  She holds a M.Ed. in Human Sexuality Studies and and a BA in Women's Studies.  She is a working class raised riot grrrl queer femme from a small town. Erica loves kettlebell training, powerlifting and being in the woods with her dog.  In this podcast we discuss: - Self identifying as a feminist since she was a small child - Erica's eating disorder struggle throughout high school and college - How she turned her eating disorder into college feminist activism

Welcome to Flex Your Heart Radio! This podcast is about body, fat and gender positivity, fitness, feminism, recovery, risk, and crushing it at life.  On this episode, we have a vegan, feminist podcast roundtable with Molly of Smash Everything, Raechel and Mel of Feminist Killjoys, PHD and me- Lacy Davis! In this podcast we discuss: - Inclusivity in activism - Tips for eating for your gym goals while recovering from an eating disorder - Combatting workplace harassment and so much more!    You can find Smash Everything here and Feminist Killjoys, PHD here.  ---   A very special thank you to our 10$ and 25$ level Patreon Patrons: Jen, Mickey Boille, Julia Gibson, Jordan Faulds, Andi Olsen, Aja Vines, Bianca Phillips, Sky Chari and Kelly Knight! I love you all. If you like the podcast: Support our Patreon! Leave us an iTunes review! Join our facebook group! Email us at flexyourheartradio@gmail.com!    ----   And now for me!   I wrote a graphic novel with my partner and it's on pre-order NOW. If you've ev

  Welcome to Flex Your Heart Radio! This podcast is about body, fat and gender positivity, fitness, feminism, recovery, risk, and crushing it at life.  On this episode, we talk to one of my personal fitness heroes, Courtney Marshall!  Courtney is a former English and Women's Studies professor turned community-accountable feminist fitness instructor and personal trainer.  Along the way she got interested in body positivity, but now she falls solidly in the fat positive camp- and she does think there's a big difference between the two. She is a member of the Body Positive Fitness Alliance and want to open a feminist fitness facility one day. She fully expects to go broke doing this work, because her goal is almost always to give it all away for free. She can't wait to tell you why!  In this podcast we discuss: - How Courtney handles people food shaming themselves or shit talking their bodies - What anti-racist, feminist fitness entails - The joy of giving her work away for free, and how free access to fitnes

Welcome to Flex Your Heart Radio! This podcast is about body, fat and gender positivity, fitness, feminism, recovery, risk, and crushing it at life.  On this episode, we talk to Nicole J. Georges! Nicole J. Georges is a writer, illustrator, podcaster & professor from Portland, OR. Her Lambda Award winning graphic memoir, Calling Dr. Laura, was called “engrossing, lovable, smart and ultimately poignant” by Rachel Maddow, and “disarming and haunting, hip and sweet, all at once” by Alison Bechdel, author of Fun Home. “ Allô, dr Laura? was an Official Selection at the Angoulême International Comics Festival. Nicole currently lives in between Portland and Los Angeles with her chomeranian best friend, Ponyo Georges. Nicole has a brand new book out, called Fetch: Fetch: How A Bad Dog Brought Me Home and in celebration she answers listener questions of all stripes.  In this podcast we discuss: - Relationships, polyamory, and big feelings - Creative projects and focus - How to make out with potential suitors - Sn

Welcome to Flex Your Heart Radio! This podcast is about body, fat and gender positivity, fitness, feminism, recovery, risk, and crushing it at life.  On this episode, we talk to Melissa Fabello! Melissa A. Fabello is a body acceptance activist, sexuality scholar, and patriarchy smasher living in Philadelphia. Currently, Melissa works as a Managing Editor of Everyday Feminism, the largest independent feminist media website in the world, and is a doctoral candidate in Widener University’s Human Sexuality Studies program, where her research focuses on how women with anorexia nervosa experience skin hunger. Her body acceptance work focuses on making peace in eating disorder recovery, striving toward eliminating size stigma, and bringing a more radical lens to the mainstream body positivity conversation.   In this podcast we discuss: - Thin privilege, and how it functions in our society - Health as just another performance of beauty - How body positivity cannot exist without feminism - How and why dieting just do

Welcome to Flex Your Heart Radio! This podcast is about body, fat and gender positivity, fitness, feminism, recovery, risk, and crushing it at life.  On this episode, we talk to Kulsoom Abdullah of Lifting Covered! Kulsoom Abdullah is a Pakistani-American competitive Olympic Weightlifter and was Crossfit Level I certified.  She attended the University of Central Florida and received her doctorate in electrical/computer engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology.     Her website, LiftingCovered.com and Facebook page documents her experiences weightlifting in an effort to compete at U.S. national competitions.  She advocated to compete in clothing that adheres to religious codes, opening the door for women from cultures around the world to compete and move beyond preconceived notions of gender, race, and religion.  Her athletic feats and determination culminated in an invitation to deliver remarks following Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the U.S. State Department’s Eid ul Fitr reception 2011.  S

Welcome to Flex Your Heart Radio! This podcast is about body, fat and gender positivity, fitness, feminism, recovery, risk, and crushing it at life.  On this episode, we talk to Jes Baker of The Militant Baker!  Jes Baker is a Tucson blogger and author who is on a mission to turn our society's concept of beauty on its oppressive head as she knows for a FACT that every person in this world is worthy of respect and feeling valued regardless of their size, shape, shade, sex, ability, gender, age or health records. Jes’s blog covers a mixture of subjects ranging from the delightful to the uncomfortable. These topics include but are not limited to: notes on the hazardous journey of body acceptance, how to take boudoir photos, rape culture, reasons why you should get a million kittens, equality, feminism rants, why you don't have to be everyone's best friend, and general empowerment. Mostly, Jes just wants The Militant Baker to be a place in the blogosphere that offers fresh and colorful perspective on what is pre

   Welcome to Flex Your Heart Radio! This podcast is about body, fat and gender positivity, fitness, feminism, recovery, risk, and crushing it at life.  On this episode, we talk to Kaig Lightner of Portland Community Football Club! Kaig holds a USSF National ‘C’ Coaching License. He has been coaching and working with youth for over 16 years.  In 2005 Kaig moved to Portland where he was the Head Coach of a U12 girls team and Co-Coach of a U15 girls team at Eastside United FC (now Eastside Timbers). During his time at ESUFC he also ran the speed and agility clinics and was the director of the U6-U8 Developmental League.  He left ESUFC in 2007 and returned to coaching recreational teams for Laurelhurst Soccer Club.  It was also during this time that Kaig decided to begin the process of transitioning from living as female to living as male.  This was a challenging and also incredibly rewarding process for him.  In 2007 he also co-founded Transactive, a non-profit that serves transgender children, youth and their

  Trigger warning for this ep! Raechel and I have some real talk about our eating disorders! Feel free to skip this ep if that's not going to work for you and your recovery.

Welcome to Flex Your Heart Radio! This podcast is about body, fat and gender positivity, fitness, feminism, recovery, risk, and crushing it at life.  On this episode we talk to cartoonist, radio maven, and productivity expert, Jessica Abel! Jessica Abel is the author of Growing Gills: How to Find Creative Focus When You're Drowning in Your Daily Life , the graphic novel La Perdida (winner of the the 2002 “Best New Series” Harvey Award), Trish Trash: Rollergirl of Mars, as well as two collections of stories from her omnibus comic book Artbabe, and the graphic documentary (and podcast), Out on the Wire, about how the best radio producers in the world use story to keep us listening. Abel and her husband, the cartoonist Matt Madden, were series editors for The Best American Comics from 2007 to 2013. Together they’ve authored two textbooks about making comics, Drawing Words & Writing Pictures and Mastering Comics. Her latest comics series, Trish Trash: Rollergirl of Mars, debuted in November 2016. Abel recent

Before we start!   Hey! I wrote a graphic novel with my partner and it's on pre-order NOW. If you've ever wanted to read about my recovery from anorexia, bulimia, and compulsive overexercise, this is your chance. Buy today, get stoked, share with your friends!    and now....   Welcome to Flex Your Heart Radio! This podcast is about body, fat and gender positivity, fitness, feminism, recovery, risk, and crushing it at life.  On this episode, we talk to Gloria Lucas of Nalgona Positivity Pride!  Gloria is a Xicana womxn and the person behind Nalgona Positivity Pride. Straight from the Inland Empire, the DIY punk community in Riverside taught her to organize and activate. Since the age of 18 she has helped form Ladyfest IE, IE Riot Grrrls, and Women of Color for Decolonization. In 2014, she founded Nalgona Positivity Pride, after years of dealing with the violent lack of women of color representation in the eating disorder awareness community. Like the chingona womxn of color that came before, she creates spa

Welcome to Flex Your Heart Radio! This podcast is about body, fat and gender positivity, fitness, feminism, recovery, risk, and crushing it at life.  On this episode, we talk to sexually liberated woman, Ev'yan Whitney! Ev’Yan Whitney is a writer, sensualist, and sexuality doula. She helps facilitate, educate, and hold space for women and femmes who are seeking to come into the full expression of their erotic selves. She's also the host of the Sexually Liberated Woman podcast, which is an ongoing sex-positive dialogue that highlights, celebrates, and encourages sexual liberation in all its forms.   When Ev'yan is not writing or working on her podcast, she’s helping women step out of sexual shame and into their erotic power via one-on-one coaching and intimacy counseling. You can find more about her work at sexloveliberation.com and see her brazenly celebrating her sexuality on Instagram at @evyan.whitney. In this podcast we discuss: - Unlearning ancestral trauma in order to tap into our sexual selves - Ho