Last updated: February 2026
Revenue to date: $0
Women-owned vendors paid: TBD
Times I’ve fucked up: Counting
Where I Actually Am
I’m writing this at the very beginning. Zero revenue. Zero clients. Just rage, conviction, and a decade of watching women get screwed by tech bros who don’t listen.
I’m not writing this from success. I’m writing it from commitment.
This manifesto is my line in the sand. These are promises I’m making publicly so you can hold me accountable. This is me saying: I will build a business that redistributes wealth to women, or I will fail trying.
And I’m inviting you to do it with me.
Why This Exists
The Rage Part
I watched a male supplier tell me he’d “never hire women again” because they “go crazy once a month” – in the same office where his male staff were literally throwing punches. That moment crystallized something: who gets paid is political.
Every dollar you spend is a vote. Every contractor you hire is a choice about who holds power.
Women-owned businesses generate $3.3 trillion in revenue and employ 12.9 million people, yet we still get 2% of venture capital. We grow faster than male-led firms, reinvest more in our communities, and outperform on innovation.
The problem isn’t that women can’t build businesses. It’s that we’re starved of capital and support.
So I decided: I will never give another man my money for the critical infrastructure that keeps my business alive. Not ever.
The Business Case Part
This isn’t charity. It’s strategy.
- Women-led teams deliver 1.7x more innovation and 15-35% higher performance
- Companies with women in leadership outperform financially by 9% (McKinsey 2025)
- Women reinvest more in health, education, and community – your money fuels actual change, not just shareholder returns
When I hire women, I get better outcomes, fewer miscommunications, and providers who actually understand that my values aren’t optional add-ons – they’re operational requirements.
Hiring women isn’t a feel-good choice. It’s optimizing for resilience, context, and ethics.
My Public Commitments
These are the promises I’m making. Screenshot this. Send it back to me when I violate it.
1. I Hire Only Women-Owned Businesses
Commitment: 100% of contractors and vendors will be women-owned or women-led businesses.
What this means:
- No male-owned hosting providers
- No male developers as subcontractors
- No male-led agencies for services I can’t do myself
- If a women-owned option doesn’t exist in my research, I document that gap publicly and keep searching
Current reality check: I use Kinsta for hosting because I haven’t found a women-owned WordPress infrastructure provider. I’ve searched. They don’t appear to exist at scale. This is the problem – women aren’t getting the capital to build hosting companies.
What I’m doing about it:
- Actively searching and asking my network
- Will switch the day I find a viable alternative
- Documenting where women-owned options DON’T exist in my quarterly vendor reports
- Advocating publicly for why this gap matters
Accountability: I will publish my vendor list quarterly (starting when I have vendors to list), including where I’m still searching for women-owned alternatives.
2. I Prioritize Intersectional Hiring
Commitment: I actively seek and prioritize BIPOC women, disabled women, and queer/trans women for all vendor relationships.
What this means:
- I research beyond the first page of Google
- I ask my network for referrals to marginalized providers
- When choosing between equally qualified vendors, I prioritize those facing multiple systems of oppression
- I acknowledge I’m learning and will fuck this up
Accountability: I will track demographic info (with consent) and publish percentages annually. When my vendor list is majority white women, I’ll say so and explain what I’m doing to change it.
3. I Track and Publish Where Money Flows
Commitment: Financial transparency at growth milestones.
What this means:
- At $10,000 revenue: I publish where it went (% to women-owned services, % to BIPOC-owned, % to operating costs)
- At $50,000 revenue: Quarterly vendor reports
- At $100,000 revenue: Annual impact report including how many women I directly paid
Why I’m scared of this: It shows how unsuccessful I am right now. But that’s the point – we normalize starting from zero so other women don’t feel like failures for being new.
Accountability: These reports will live on my blog, dated and archived.
4. I Have Hard Client Boundaries
Commitment: I do not work with:
- Men (solo male business owners or male-led companies)
- Weight-loss businesses or diet culture practitioners
- Anyone promoting practices that harm marginalized bodies
- Anyone I assess as unethical or not actively lifting women up
What this means:
- I turn down money that violates my values
- I prioritize women who are actively lifting other women up
- I reserve the right to fire clients who reveal values misalignment mid-contract
Accountability: If I violate this, I’ll publish why, what I learned, and how I’m making it right.
5. I Build Accessible, Inclusive Systems
Commitment: Every website I build meets WCAG 2.1 AA standards minimum. Every system I design considers neurodivergent users, disabled users, and people with limited tech literacy.
What this means:
- Accessibility isn’t an upsell – it’s baseline
- I test with screen readers, keyboard navigation, color contrast
- I write in plain language
- I design for overwhelmed humans, not tech-fluent ones
- I design from lived experience – as someone who’s neurodivergent and chronically ill with mobility challenges, I know what barriers feel like
Accountability: I publish accessibility audits for my own sites and hold myself to the same standards I require of clients.
When I Fuck Up (Not If)
I will make mistakes. I will accidentally hire a white-owned business when a BIPOC alternative existed. I will use ableist language. I will center my own experience as a white woman.
Sometimes the service I need doesn’t exist in a women-owned version. When that happens, I document it publicly, keep searching, and commit to switching when I find an alternative. This isn’t failure – it’s exposing the infrastructure gaps that keep women out of capital-intensive industries.
Here’s my accountability process:
- I own it publicly – on my blog, not buried in an Instagram story
- I name what I did wrong – specifically, not vaguely
- I explain what I’m doing differently – with concrete actions, not just “doing better”
- I make financial amends where appropriate – redirect money, pay for education, fund the people I harmed
You can hold me accountable by:
- Emailing me directly at janelle@thrivewellnesssystems.com.au
- Commenting on blog posts
- Calling me out publicly (I won’t tone-police you)
I commit to responding within 7 days and publishing my response within 30 days.
Intersectional Practice: What I’m Learning
I’m a white, cisgender woman in Australia. I’m also neurodivergent, chronically ill with mobility challenges, from an extreme poverty background, and high school educated. I have privilege. I also know what marginalization feels like.
Here’s what I’m actively doing to not just redistribute wealth among white women:
Research & Outreach
- I spend time finding BIPOC-owned, disabled-owned, queer/trans-owned businesses before defaulting to who’s easiest to find
- I ask for referrals in marginalized communities, not just my existing network
- I follow and learn from Black feminists, disability justice advocates, and Indigenous business owners
Pricing & Access
I don’t offer sliding scale because I’m protecting my own financial stability as a disabled person from a poverty background. But intersectional practice isn’t poverty pricing. It’s:
- Payment plans – breaking lumpy costs into manageable chunks
- Prioritization – when capacity is limited, BIPOC/disabled/queer women get first spots
- Transparent pricing rationale – I explain what I charge and why
- No poverty shaming – I never make clients feel bad for budget constraints
The Uncomfortable Questions I’m Sitting With
- Am I centering white women’s comfort in my marketing?
- Is my vendor list diverse or am I just hiring white women?
- Am I performatively intersectional or materially redistributing power?
- How do I balance my own marginalization with my privilege?
- Am I designing systems that work for ALL bodies or just the ones I understand?
I don’t have all the answers. I’m committed to the questions.
Your Turn: What Wellness Practitioners Can Do Today
This manifesto means nothing if it’s just me. Here’s what you can do RIGHT NOW:
1. Audit Your Vendor List (30 minutes)
List everyone you pay:
- Hosting provider
- Email service
- Scheduling software
- Payment processor
- Designer/developer
- Bookkeeper
- Business coach
- Photographer
Count: How many are women-owned? BIPOC-owned? Disabled-owned? Queer/trans-owned?
If you’re in Australia: Are you paying the rent to First Nations people?
2. Make One Change This Month
You don’t have to flip everything overnight. Pick ONE service and actively research a woman-owned alternative.
- Switching hosting? Search for women-owned options (and tell me if you find one)
- Need design? Hire a woman designer
- Paying for stock photos? Buy from BIPOC photographers
3. Audit Your Marketing
- What bodies do you center in your imagery?
- Do you use ableist language (“crazy,” “lame,” “tone-deaf”)?
- Is your website accessible to screen reader users?
- Do your forms require information marginalized people might not have (traditional names, binary gender, phone numbers)?
- Are your physical spaces accessible to wheelchair users, people with limited mobility, neurodivergent people?
4. Commit Publicly
Post your own vendor list. Share where your money flows. Invite accountability.
Use the hashtag #AngryFeministVendorList so we can find each other.
Building the Collective
This isn’t solo heroism. This is collective action.
I’m building:
- A public vendor directory of women-owned tech, wellness, and business services
- A template manifesto you can adapt for your own business
- Quarterly accountability check-ins where we share numbers and hold each other up
I need:
- Women-owned businesses to add to the directory (I’ll reach out for permission)
- Wellness practitioners who want to commit alongside me
- People who will call me out when I miss the mark
Join me:
- Email me: janelle@thrivewellnesssystems.com.au
- Tag #AngryFeministVendorList when you publish your commitments
- Share this manifesto if it resonates
The Vendor Directory (Living Document)
This section will be updated quarterly as I build relationships and discover providers.
Currently using:
- Hosting: Kinsta (male-owned – actively searching for women-owned alternative)
Currently researching:
- Women-owned WordPress hosting infrastructure (not resellers)
- BIPOC-owned design services
- Queer/trans-owned business coaching
- Disabled-owned accessibility consultants
Know someone? Tell me. I’m building this list together with you.
Final Words
Money is power. Hiring is political. Business is feminist or it’s bullshit.
I’m not waiting until I’m successful to commit to these practices. I’m committing NOW, publicly, so success is only possible if it’s intersectional.
This manifesto is a living document. I’ll update it as I learn, as I fuck up, as the collective grows.
Screenshot this. Send it back to me. Hold me accountable.
Let’s build businesses that don’t just survive the patriarchy – let’s build ones that actively dismantle it.
Janelle Baird
Thrive Wellness Systems
Melbourne, Australia
February 2026
Last updated: February 12, 2026
Next accountability report due: When first revenue milestone hits
Updates & Accountability Log
[This section will document fuck-ups, learnings, and course corrections]
None yet. Waiting.