Salon Participation Terms & Conditions

Objective

Heroine's Salon is where smart women come to think out loud. Each month, we gather around curated essays and challenging questions for the kind of graduate-level discourse that changes how you see yourself and the stories you've been living. We're creating 'ah-ha' moments.

Recording & Privacy

What we record:

• Full 90-minute salon audio and video

• First 30 minutes are livestreamed publicly and published on YouTube

• Final 60 minutes are for paid subscribers only - all recordings are available, but paywalled.

Your privacy options:

• Keep camera off (totally fine)

• Use first name only

• Don't participate verbally if you prefer to listen

What we won't do:

• Sell participant information

• Share your email with third parties

• Use your comments for marketing without permission

Expected Behavior

We expect participants to:

• Engage in good faith

• Respect diverse perspectives

• Listen as much as they speak

• Avoid therapy-speak, coaching-speak, or advice-giving unless explicitly invited

• Keep what's shared in the salon confidential (don't screenshot or share others' vulnerable moments on social media)

We don't tolerate:

• Harassment, hate speech, or discriminatory behavior

• Promotion of your own products/services during salon

• Recording the session yourself

• Using salon content to create derivative products

• Dominating conversation or talking over others repeatedly

LM reserves the right to remove disruptive participants without refund.

Intellectual Property

Everything discussed in the salon (the essays, LM's frameworks, participants' insights) is protected by intellectual property law. You can:

• Use insights for your own personal development

• Share your own experiences elsewhere

• Reference ideas in your own writing with attribution

You cannot:

• Create courses/products based on salon content

• Record sessions and republish them

• Use LM's frameworks commercially without permission

On Creating Inclusive Space

The Heroine's Salon community, like much of Substack, skews heavily toward white women. That's a demographic reality, not a value statement, but it means we need to be intentional about creating space where women of all backgrounds—racial, cultural, religious, ability, sexuality, class—can show up fully without being asked to perform, explain, or represent.

I asked valued community member Karla Hampton (yes, I get the irony, but I wanted to be sure it came from a source with experience) to help us think through what meaningful inclusion actually looks like in practice. Her response below was written from her experience as a Black woman, but the principles she outlines apply to anyone who carries a marginalized identity into predominantly white spaces.

The core insight: Genuine allyship isn't about asking marginalized members to educate us. It's about doing our own work, listening more than we speak, and creating space where everyone can exist in their full humanity.

What follows is Karla's guidance. I'm including it in our terms because these aren't aspirational values we hope to get to someday. Karla’s words support the operating principles of how we must engage here.

On Allyship & Diversity Inclusion
by Karla Hampton

I'd like to use this as an opportunity to talk about how we can practice meaningful allyship right here in our salon. A core principle of this space is to ensure it is one of mutual support and safety for all members, especially for our members of color.

While the idea for a dedicated space to ask questions of black members about allyship comes from a good place, it can unintentionally create a dynamic where Black members are put in a position of having to educate others, which is a form of emotional labor. Many Black women are justifiably tired of being asked to do this work. The goal of our community is for them to be able to exist and share in their full humanity, not to serve as teachers or guides for the rest of the group.

Instead of creating a separate space for questions, we encourage a different approach to allyship that is more impactful and respectful. This is the real work of being an ally:

1. Do the Foundational Work Independently. The most powerful first step is to learn on your own. There is a vast world of books, articles, and documentaries by Black creators that offer profound insight. (For example, books like So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo or documentaries like Ava DuVernay's 13th and I Am Not Your Negro are great starting points.) This self-education is the single most important gift you can give as an ally.

2. Listen and Observe More Than You Speak. Pay attention to the conversations already happening. When Black women share their experiences, listen to understand, not to respond or center your own feelings. Trust that their lived experience is valid.

3. Respect Black Spaces and Black Joy. Part of listening is developing an awareness of space. This includes both online and offline spaces created by and for Black people. Unless you are explicitly invited, the best way to show support is to allow those spaces to remain dedicated to them. This extends to moments of fellowship and joy; it is a form of healing and resistance. When you see Black women connecting and celebrating, the most supportive action is often to appreciate it from a distance and not insert yourself into the moment.

4. Build Authentic, Individual Relationships. The "deeper connection" you're seeking happens genuinely, person to person. Engage with members of the salon, including Black women, based on shared interests. True connection comes from seeing someone as a whole person, not as a representative of their race, from whom you need something.

5. Direct Your Allyship Toward Your Own Community. The most effective allyship a white person can perform is to speak up against racism and microaggressions, especially when they come from other white people. It's about taking the burden off of Black women to always have to defend themselves.

By taking these steps, we move beyond performative gestures and into the meaningful action that builds the "steady TOGETHER" community. Thank you again for opening up this crucial conversation.

Karla

Why This Matters for Salon Culture

These principles directly inform how we conduct salon conversations:

We don't tokenize. If a topic relates to a marginalized identity, we don't look to the one person who holds that identity to "speak for their community."

We do our homework. If you want to understand systemic issues, read the abundant resources already created by people living those experiences. The salon isn't a 101 course.

We listen to understand. When someone shares their experience, we don't center our own discomfort, defensiveness, or need to prove we're "one of the good ones."

We intervene with our own. If you see a microaggression or problematic comment from someone who shares your dominant identity, you speak up. That's the work.

We let joy exist. When marginalized members connect with each other in the salon space, that's not an invitation for the rest of us to join in. Sometimes the most supportive thing is to witness and appreciate from a respectful distance.

This is about building a space where intellectual discourse can happen between whole humans, not between representatives of identity categories.

We'll get this wrong sometimes. When we do, we acknowledge it, learn from it, and keep building.

Changes to Terms

We can update these terms anytime. Major changes will be announced via email.

Questions? Email [Isah's email]