Feminist Book Club is a media and e-commerce company that spotlights all things intersectional feminism, social justice, and literature. In addition to our blog, podcast, and video content, our signature offering is our monthly subscription box that pairs feminist books with products from small businesses owned by women and minority genders and hosting online events with authors like Roxane Gay, Jane Fonda, and Mira Jacob.
We give back 5% of total revenue to different social justice organizations each month. They also encourage the shopping of women and women of color businesses. Find a directory of businesses here.
I started this business in 2018 when I dropped out of grad school and moved to Minneapolis. I had been a part of a book club before and wanted to find one in my new city. What began as a group of us reading the same book and chatting on Facebook became an entire movement of intersectional readers around the world hungry to read their values and shop their values.
Renee’s story
I have my BA, MA, and PhD coursework in Gender Studies. But when I was in my PhD program, I was told that my research was “too feminist to be funded.” So I decided to trade in my academic robes for an entrepreneur hat to prove that business doesn’t have to sacrifice profit for social good. Though capitalism is compulsory, I’m working to shift the approach of participating in this economic system to be more community-focused. I value people over profit, whether that be the vendors we work with, the small businesses we highlight, our customers and book club members, or our own team members, and ensure that all are compensated fairly. In addition to my academic background in media and feminist theory, I’m also a trained racial justice facilitator through the YWCA. As a white woman, I’m aware that I have been awarded countless privileges and I’ve been working over a decade to find my blind spots and learn how to hold my whiteness responsibly. It is a work in progress. There is no such thing as a perfectly anti-racist or perfectly feminist business or human. At the same time, my whiteness grants me favor in certain spaces and I am deeply committed to wielding my privilege in service of BIPOC and folks in other historically marginalized communities. I’m harnessing my privilege to propel our mission-driven business forward through the magic of books, reading, and online community building.