Jodi Felton is a Freelance Social Justice Writer, former Non-Profit Editor, Women’s Studies Alum, Paralegal Intern, and Feminist Consultant. A non-profit director saw Jodi’s writing and voice on the Black Lives Matter movement, and in 2020 asked Jodi to join the organization’s task force, which took their first, national anti-racist stance in their 98 year history. Jodi studies Law, Social Justice, Virtues Science, Ecofeminism, Feminist Epistemologies, Jesuit Theology and Buddhism.

Jodi began her community service and writing career at 11 years old in the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls in California, where she rose through the ranks as a local reporter, then got appointed to the Editorial staff at 16 interviewing really fascinating people. She was known for her detail-oriented and charismatic writing style. She was then appointed to a state office of Assistant Grand Editor at 17, and Grand Editor at 18 with an international circulation, thus missing most high school parties her senior year. She left rainbow at the age of 20, with college scholarships from nine years of vigorous non-profit activism as well as some proclamations commending a decade of consistent, outstanding volunteerism from her local Mayor, California Governor, Gray Davis & members of Congress including Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein.

In college, Jodi got up to more activism as usual. She helped run the on campus Women’s Resource Center, participated in Take Back the Night rallies/marches, CR events and was also featured as an extra on Kristen Bell’s TV show filmed on her SDSU college campus. When asked, Jodi declined wearing a bikini on the TV show and instead wore an awesome turquoise sundress– because “We didn’t walk around in bikinis on the San Diego campus or lay on the grass in bikinis outside the library…we only wore bikinis to the beach and we usually surfed anyway”. By some weird twist of fate Jodi was featured in the Take Back the Night episode of Veronica Mars. She really enjoyed watching Kristen Bell act up close and remains a big fan watching Kristen grow…before and after Dax.

Before graduating, Jodi traveled to Europe with her Women’s Studies professors to study Joan of Arc in France and other female saints across Europe. She does not consider herself ‘religious’ but spiritual and a theological education definitely informs her belief system and writing. Jodi was also active in college with Planned Parenthood and was part of the campaign that made Emergency Contraception over the counter: “This felt like a vital proposition to get passed and we succeeded”. She left college with a priceless degree in Women’s Studies, where her phenomenal professors raised the female bar for her and that is the legacy Jodi works to pass on to the world. She especially enjoyed lectures given by Midge Costanza, who was the first Woman to be a Presidential Advisor (PR) in the White House (to Jimmy Carter). She also left with an immense appreciation for Women’s History and got to meet an original Rockford Peach from ‘A League of Their Own’ (Pitcher!)…and yes she sang the song: “Batter Up, Hear the Call”….it’s the only baseball card Jodi owns. When it’s signed, by a *woman* that’s in the Baseball Hall of Fame– you only need one for your collection. She also had to play in a softball game with zero experience and the baseball mitt felt awkward. So, Jodi approached America’s greatest game the only was she knew how: as a tennis player. At bat, Jodi decided to bat on her best side, her strong two-handed backhand that fires a speedy ball with lots of top-spin to keep it in, just inches above the net. Because of being able to hit on the left and right in tennis, Jodi discovered that she’s also a switch hitter at bat & went home with her home run game ball. Maybe all tennis players are switch-hitters? It’s kinda sad though, that softball game never got to see her serve. Her male, tennis friends back up when she serves and have nicknamed her, ‘Malificient’ because her fastest serves get lodged in the metal fence. Now Jodi likes to hit at the batting cage, in addition to the tennis court…but as a batter, she likes them low like tennis balls at 35 mph. The beauty of Women’s Studies, is that it takes you to places in the world and in yourself that you never knew existed.

Jodi’s main loves are Women’s Studies and Law, and her writing tackles these subjects with detailed insights to understanding human behavior and the human condition on a deeper, mindful level through a lens of many virtues. She views the world through a variety of lenses, and studying the virtues has been one of her favorite and most useful lenses. Assertiveness is Jodi’s favorite virtue and she believes women and men can benefit from it to combat a climate rampant with too much aggression.

Part of Jodi’s tutelage in the virtues, came from working in the infirmary of a Jesuit monastery for six years in her 30s. She met Jesuits from around the world and valued conversations she had with the Jesuit Chaplins at Alcatraz & San Quentin. They taught Jodi contemplative spirtuality, virtues, guitar, watercolor, poetry and that men can be quite gentle…while Jodi taught them ballet, sewing, tea parties, smart phones, tech, TED talks and feminist philosophy. The priests jokingly liked to refer to her as a Jesuit Nun, because she thoroughly enjoyed throwing their sly jesuitical sass right back at them….she liked to ask the 70 year old priests if they were really sad when all those dinosaurs died? Just to make them roar with laughter on Bingo night.

When the Jesuits shipped their library to Africa to make room for a second infirmary, the Jesuit who Jodi processed book orders for, took six 3rd edition iconic Jane Austen novels printed at Oxford with illustrations and left them on Jodi’s desk. She was completely beside herself. The Jesuit copy of Pride & Prejudice was read by so many Jesuits, it had to be rebound and does not match the blue set..Jodi likes that about it. She visits the Jesuit cemetery regularly and leaves gerber dasies on the graves of over 70 Jesuit priests she cared for and learned from. If she listens carefully, she can still hear one of her favorite priests yelling at her from the grave to, Get Married!! like he used to assert at her while pushing his walker down the hallway….since his deepest disappointment in life was that Jesuit priests could not marry or have children.

As a parting gift, Jodi would like to recommend you watch 2 Ted talks: 1. Fr. Greg Boyle’s, S.J. a California Jesuit Priest explains how he built the country’s largest gang rehabilitation center, Homeboy Industries in LA through trial and error, witnessing violent losses and many success stories that removed female and male gang members from the most dangerous LA district and the prison system to walk in their own shoes. (This work continues to further teach and impact Jodi: she worked in east Oakland during the pandemic to assist the folks on government assistance. In her life, people have told Jodi she is disarming, but she didn’t fully grasp the power of what that meant until she, an Oakland-born woman herself, immersed herself in Oakland, San Francisco and other bay area cities to find work while being furloughed from her job as a manager. She greatly valued the conversations she had with victims of gun violence, so much so, that they showed Jodi their physical scars from shootings while Jodi contemplated how one could just get shot at while at a gas station? White people do not fear getting shot, or get shot, while pumping gas. This is white privilege in pedestrian living. Another conversation she had was with an elderly man that was curious how Jodi was planning to vote in the upcoming election as well as her BLM views as a white feminist. The conversation that affected Jodi the most, was a mother that lost her son in an Oakland shooting a week prior that Jodi remembers being in earshot of the sirens that afternoon around 3:00pm. Any unease or discomfort Jodi could have felt in these honest conversations were quickly replaced with a bothered empathy. She expressed to the mother who was already wearing a R.I.P. face mask with her sons photo on it that: “It bothers me how normalized the violence is in the black community, but the most shocking part is how accepting the parents are that lost their kids to gun violence–a week ago or years ago. Not that a parent just ‘accepts it’ (how can they?) but that they’re expected to. It’s a “this is our reality” mindset that no parent should ever be forced to get accustomed to. That’s what upsets me most about violent, internalized racism.” Several parents showed Jodi photos of the children they lost, that they had saved on their cell phones. She never asked to see the photos, it’s just something that kept happening. Because this is what happens when you take a compassionate interest in someone’s life and in your community– you want to understand it, so you can dismantle it. This wall of fear and disconnect between black and white can be demolished one brick at a time via connection, one conversation at a time. The last set of folks she was fortunate to assist, was meeting new prison releasees and helping them get back into the necessary programs to help their transition back into the community. Her most memorable was a young man that told Jodi, Fr. Greg Boyle had written a letter on his behalf to be released from prison: “It was neat that we, complete strangers, could bond over this shared connection and there was this emotional opening up that felt instant and meaningful”. After Jodi gave him cell phone, navigation & DMV assistance, he tugged at Jodi’s heartstrings with his honest vulnerability stating: “I kinda feel like a stranger in my own town”. Jodi responded with, “You got this — you just have to keep your head up and stay productive and hopeful.”)

The second TED talk is on Safety, Consent & Inclusion by Jeffrey Bucholtz, the first man to earn a M.A. in Women’s Studies at SDSU. He was a vital mentor to Jodi that taught feminism to men when she was an undergrad.

Jodi is currently most passionate about writing the F*ckgirl Series on Elephant Journal. We hear these terms F*ckboy and F*ckgirl thrown around social media and pop culture and this narrow and toxic stereotype is created. Jodi believes there’s more to it….that….there’s beauty, magic, humanity and precious stories to be told about intimacy, fuckery, and interpersonal relationships in modern, toxic dating. It doesn’t have to be toxic– you can be a mindful F*ckgirl or a mindful F*ckboy….forget categories– it’s all about how you treat others whether it’s for one night, a few months or a lifetime. 

“If you are hardened and weak, allow the virtues to soften and strengthen you” -Jodi Felton

You can catch up with Jodi on:Instagram: BohoBlondeGoddessTwitter: Feminizzle @loveafuckgirl