Extractive Capitalism Is Collapsing: The Generative Economy Has Entered the Chat
The system we're leaving behind is extractive by design. Women own 42% of U.S. businesses, generating $1.9 trillion in revenue. The generative economy is here.
We Are Here to Design It
We, the people who are doing more than just dreaming of a better world, we are here to design it. Yep. I said what I said. And I say this because since 2017 I've been interviewing and actively surveying women in business, women in leadership, and just bad ass women in general about what we need to feel supported, to feel truly generative, and to feel like our work actually matters.
And for the past five years I've been taking the consensually shared data from those people and building the safest place on the internet for women and our friends. I have tested and retested. I have built the plane as I (re)train my team to stay viable during a COVID pandemic pivot. We got our MVP into the market in 2021 and made some traction, even some revenue. I wrote (and received) grants, I pitched and was given feedback on my font choices, lols, seriously.
And even as women are still being written out of our shared history as major contributors to our global economy and much needed innovation, we persist. We are beyond resilient. We are true collaborators.
That collapse is the initiation: to better innovation, to better collaboration, to better systems built for everyone and not just those at the top. In fact, f*ck the top. Let's flip the script!
I am here to learn from what failed. My intention is to respect and value the future-forward predecessors who paved the way for my work to land right now, when the world needs it most so that I can continue to be a change architect of the kind of economies and technologies that serve the many, not just the few.
Trickle-down, Reagan-inspired, neo-liberal money is dead. Versions of collaborative currency are what comes next. And I invite you, dear reader, to join me and women across the States and the world in building a new, collaborative series of economies.
Concentric circles of change makers who prioritize our shared humanity. When women have what we need, everyone wins.
Generative Economy vs. Extractive Economy
The system we're leaving behind is extractive by design. It rewards hoarding, burns through labor and natural resources, and calls exploitation "efficiency." This model is collapsing mathematically, which means it is collapsing economically.
A generative economy is circular by nature. It values regeneration over growth-for-growth's-sake. It doesn't value the top-down structures that late-stage extractive capitalism sees as fundamental. In fact, it flips the entire script. The tools and resources that are inherently abundant are not anyone's to gatekeep.
I'm talking about the long game, because it creates long-term wealth, not just short-term wins. This is more humane and more kind, which makes it our time to shine as humankind. It is also more sustainable, more equitable, and therefore more intelligent.
Women are leading this transformation.
These Numbers Don't Lie
As of 2025, women own 42% of all U.S. businesses: that is 12.9 million companies generating $1.9 trillion in revenue and employing 9.4 million people.
During the pandemic, while traditional institutions froze, women-led businesses added 1.4 million jobs and brought in $579.6 billion in revenue.
This massive contribution to our annual GDP is the natural outcome of what happens when women get sh*t done. PERIOD.
From First Wave to Womanism: The Evolution
1870s feminism was foundational, but built for a narrow slice of society. 1970s feminism expanded the fight, but kept many systems intact. Both eras centered assimilation, not transformation. Both eras notably excluded priorities for women of color.
For those women of color who led their own movements, against even more pressures of the patriarchy, those women have been largely written out of the history books altogether.
Womanism can be applied as a social theory based on the history and everyday experiences of Black women. According to womanist scholar Layli Maparyan (Phillips), Womanist theory seeks to "restore the balance between people and the environment/nature and reconcile human life with the spiritual dimension."
We are operating from Humanism grounded in this collective vision of Womanism: a framework rooted in intersectionality, community care, and collective liberation for all women. This translates to freedom for all of our communities. When ALL women have what we need, everyone wins.
Women are not interested in representation without redistribution. We want top-to-bottom change: from policy to platform, from the office to the boardroom, at the breakfast table and the exam table, inside and out. We are calling for a full-on flip of the script. When we change how resources are distributed, we change the way business is done.
And from my vantage point of using tech as a tool, just like a hammer was once considered technology, we can use the tools of business to shift inequities. This is tech as equity. I like to call it #Tequity.
How to Get Involved: Work With Business 4 Good
Gone are the armchair days of theoretical shift! Girl, I don't need to tell you, but I am low key kind of shouting: it's happening now!
Season 3 of Money, Sex and Politics is live. And this season is for the co-builders.
If you're like me and totally over extractive systems that use the f*ck out of you until you don't recognize yourself, and you're ready to stop waiting for the future and start building better into the present, press play and let's f*cking go.
All futures MUST be based in community, collaboration, and humane kindness because sharing is actually f*cking caring.
LFG!
Read how the flywheel model turns collaboration into currency, or explore the #Tequity framework for the full vision.
