763: Emily Paulson: On Sales, Sisterhood and Supremacy in MLMs

Emily Lynn Paulson is a Shameless Mom of 5 and the author of Highlight Real: Finding Honesty and Recovery Beyond the Filtered Life, and the forthcoming Hey, Hun: Sales, Sisterhood, Supremacy, and the Other Lies Behind Multilevel Marketing (May 2023). She has given two powerful TEDx talks, both challenging the status quo of parenting, alcohol use, and feminism as we know it. Paulson has also been featured in major publications such as the Today Show, New York Times, Washington Post, The Seattle Times, Chicago Tribune, Next Question with Katie Couric, and the Tamron Hall Show. 

I found Emily and her work by way of Instagram and was instantly obsessed with the conversations she was having around the cult-like behavior of MLMs. As she was sharing about the overlap between MLMs, cults, and Supremacy culture, I knew 

I had to reach out to ask her to come on the show.  

I know so many moms have participated in MLMs at one time or another. This conversation is in no way intended to shame, but to shed light. Whenever I talk about MLMs in a negative light, I get messages from women who say, “But the MLM I’m in is different.” Maybe it is, but I want to make sure you have as many tools as possible to be a critical thinker and observer of what happens inside the organizations that benefit and profit from your participation. 

Listen in to hear Emily share:

• What inspired her first book, Highlight Reel, on her journey to sobriety
• What an MLM (multilevel marketing) company is, why they are so seductive, and how they are problematic, if not harmful
• The commonalities between the seductiveness of mommy wine culture and MLM culture
• The exploitative nature of targeting moms in MLMs
• The connection between MLM culture and White Supremacy
• How those working in “women’s empowerment” can be part of systematic brainwashing and indoctrination

Links mentioned:

• Connect with Emily: emilylynnpaulson.com
• Emily’s Sober Mom Squad: sobermomsquad.com
• Emily on IG: instagram.com/emilylynnpaulson
• Emily on TikTok: tiktok.com/emilylynnpaulson

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