In the right restaurant, every plate arrives with its provenance — the farm, the fisherman, the name of the cheese. Fashion tells you none of that. Most brands can't tell you where their own fabric comes from.

Co-Founder Natalia Mazzaia can name every hand hers passes through, because she called each one. Fibers spun from seaweed, soy, and milk. A supply chain traced backward one phone call at a time. A brand built slow, on purpose, against everything the fashion calendar rewards.

This is a conversation about knowing your ingredients — and what it costs to build a company that can answer the question.

If this is the conversation you've been needing to have, start here. thinkvoen.com

Where to find the latest on TerraTela happenings:
TerraTela — terratela.com / insta: @shopterratela

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This episode was produced by Cat Fincun and VOEN Consulting.

In this conversation, Cat explores the systemic hierarchical structures that have shaped our economy and society over thousands of years. The discussion delves into the concentration of wealth, the myths surrounding funding and business structures, and the evolving landscape of marketing in the modern economy. Cat emphasizes the importance of founders making deliberate choices to preserve their values and independence in a world increasingly dominated by consolidation.

Takeaways
The systemic structures date back to the beginning of civilization.
Wealth concentration leads to a disappearance of meaning in products.
Independent businesses are absorbed into consolidated structures.
Cultural and financial measurements reveal the impact of consolidation.
The tipping point concept explains sudden shifts in systems.
Small changes accumulate until a critical threshold is reached.
Funding models often dictate the outcomes for founders.
Alternative business structures can preserve founder values.
Marketing strategies have evolved with the rise of the influencer economy.
Founders must consciously choose paths that align with their values.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Systemic Structures

04:17 Understanding Wealth Concentration

10:26 The Tipping Point of Change

18:42 Myths of Funding and Business Structure

39:17 Marketing in the Modern Economy

54:51 The Path Forward for Founders

Keywords
systemic structures, wealth concentration, funding myths, business structure, marketing strategies, founder economy, consolidation, social change, economic systems, cultural impact

Part Four is coming.

If this is the conversation you've been needing to have, start here. thinkvoen.com

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This episode was produced by Cat Fincun and VOEN Consulting.

This is Part Two of How the Hell Did We Get Here? And Can We Do Anything About It?

Most people who defend systems that are hurting them aren't stupid. They aren't weak. They aren't uniquely susceptible to propaganda. They're human — and the human brain was wired, across hundreds of thousands of years of evolution, to accept existing power structures because challenging them was genuinely dangerous. It still is.

This episode gets into the science. Social dominance orientation — the psychological tendency to accept hierarchy — has a measurable, heritable component. The average American scores a 2.98 out of 7. Most people aren't enthusiastic enforcers of the system. They're defaulters to it. And the conditions that shift that score aren't individual willpower. They're narrative. The stories absorbed about what work is, what success looks like, what you're worth.

The question isn't how to break through the psychological immune system that defends existing beliefs. It's how to create conditions where people feel safe enough to lower it.

Part Three is coming.

If this is the conversation you've been needing to have, start here. thinkvoen.com

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https://substack.com/@thestartlisteningpodcast

This episode was produced by Cat Fincun and VOEN Consulting. It was edited by Angelina Gurrola.