Listen, Learn & Love Hosted by Richard Ostler

Episode 781: Exponent II Celebrates 50 Years with Katie Rich and Heather Sundahl

·1 hr 16 min·5 clips

Katie Rich felt too intimidated to introduce herself to Claudia Bushman, but that moment sparked a book project celebrating 50 years of Exponent II.

This episode of Listen, Learn & Love features guest host Tanya Miller, a licensed clinical social worker, interviewing Katie Rich and Heather Sundahl, co-authors of '50 Years of Exponent II.' Rich and Sundahl explain their personal connections to Exponent: Rich, a history enthusiast, was inspired after meeting founding editor Claudia Bushman, while Sundahl found immediate community with Exponent women upon moving to Boston. They detail Exponent's founding in 1974, stemming from a Boston Relief Society project that created a guidebook selling nearly 23,000 copies, empowering the women involved. The episode explores Exponent's dual platforms of Mormonism and feminism, its expansion to include diverse voices, and its historical grappling with topics like LGBTQ inclusion and abortion. Rich and Sundahl describe how Exponent helped them overcome personal fears, with Rich regaining her voice after writing about women in General Conference and Sundahl processing a miscarriage through a blog post. They discuss Exponent's retreats, where trust is given as a gift to foster vulnerability, and its current formats including a quarterly magazine and blog. The conversation emphasizes Exponent's role in challenging LDS cultural scripts, encouraging discomfort as a path to growth, and widening circles of inclusion.

As heard by us

A patient conversation about Mormon feminism, belonging, and the discomfort that can keep community open.

Exponent frames Mormon community as something tested, and deepened, by members who do not all think the same way. The conversation turns on the friction between Mormonism and feminism, and on the pressure Mormon women can feel to keep their views within a narrow vein.

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Why you'd press play

You get a candid conversation about Mormon women, feminism, and the kind of difference that can make a community feel more alive.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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