Dates: Four Fridays from March 4
Time: 7-8pm PT
Location: Online

Please note: The third class, March 18, will have an optional extra hour for Q&A.

Tier A Pricing: $199 ($30/hr or above wage earners)
Tier B Pricing: $149 ($16-$29/hr wage earners)
Tier C Pricing: $99 ($15/hr or below wage earners)
See our Pricing + Generosity Policy for more information on tiered pricing.

Commerce is as old, if not older, than humanity itself. Capitalism has only been here for about 300 years. As a business-minded person, you have probably been called a capitalist, or even taught that capitalism is the best economic system for someone like you. But if that's true, why is it that capitalism so often pushes us to do things completely against our personal values?

In this course you will:

• Confront the capitalist myth of "hard work"

• Explore the concepts of self-worth and self-care

• Learn exercises to help you reconnect with and be lead by your body and spirit

• Go back into your professional life with the tools you need to resist capitalism and center your values in the workplace

• Develop an ongoing practice of awareness and self love that will have an impact on your business

This course was designed and born on Zoom and utilizes all of the advantages of a digital platform to maximize participant experience. Participants can choose their level of engagement and use Zoom private messaging to ask anonymous questions in an otherwise public venue.

Expect to engage in a frank discussion about how capitalism shows up in our lives.

Week 1: What is Hard Work?

We examine the concept of hard work, which kinds of hard work are rewarded and which are ignored, and we talk about how we have been encouraged to tie our self worth to those aspects of work that earn money, usually for others.

Week 2: My Body, My Business

We introduce some body-awareness exercises and learn how to apply them to our work-week in ways that benefit us.

Week 3: Anti-Capitalism in Practice

We talk about what anti-capitalism looks like in the context of our roles as business leaders. We examine business policies and best-practices and talk about how these principles can be applied to our working environments today.

Week 4: Continued Learning

After 3 weeks of learning, we convene a final time to talk about what our experience has been applying this knowledge, what we plan to carry with us after the class is over as well as any wins or challenges. Many of the concepts we learn here are extremely new or, only recently re-introduced and we are all always growing in our awareness.

Your Instructor: Marina Martinez-Bateman

Marina Martinez-Bateman (they/them) is an experienced public speaker, storyteller and serial entrepreneur. They started speaking to audiences as small as 5 and as large as 500 when they were a teenager in the 90s, mobilizing youth in California and Arizona to engage in activism, self-development. 

They’ve been owning and managing small and solo businesses since 1999 when they were the picture of a capitalist boss: anorexic, insomniac; riddled with anxiety and entitlement. A veteran of the 17-hour workday and the 7-day work-week, they had to come face to face with the unexpected loss of a business before they sought recovery and began their journey with body-lead, anti-capitalist working. After many years of practicing body-lead working techniques to calm and center their values in their labor, they are once again managing their own successful equity and consulting firm. This time in an entirely new way.