Healing Math Trauma: Why You're Not "Bad at Math," with Geillan Aly

Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/ If you tensed up when you heard "math," this episode is for you. Becky and Faith talk with Dr. Geillan Aly, mathematician, educator, and author of Compassionate Math, about math trauma. They get into where it comes from, why math shame hits harder than shame in other subjects, and how school systems decide who gets to be "a math person." Geillan shares how she went from publishing to a math PhD program, where she was told she wasn't smart enough, and later left the tenure track over how faculty talked about their students. The conversation covers stereotype threat, "show your work," the inequities built into schooling, and how math trauma follows adults into boardrooms. It ends on a simple way to start healing: play. 01:05 Icebreaker: AI proving theorems, cozy fall recipes, and queer Black art 07:06 Catastrophizing, past experiences, and why the stakes feel so high 09:40 Vulnerability in math class, and why math shame cuts deeper 11:02 The "three Rs," standardized testing, and the fear of reading aloud 12:39 Geillan's path from history major and New York publishing to a math PhD program 16:40 The equity problems, and faculty attitudes like "make the first exam hard so they drop" 18:05 Leaving the tenure track and founding Compassionate Math 18:50 Becky's school equity advocacy: AP enrollment, no Black teachers, and Nikole Hannah-Jones' essay 21:28 Faith on the education system as colonizer, and Claude Steele's research on stereotype threat 26:23 "Show your work": knowing the answer but not being able to explain it 32:35 Faith builds mathematical literacy while homeschooling. What is math even for? 36:41 How math shapes life outcomes, Original Sins, and a system working as designed 38:27 Math trauma in adults: perimenopausal women, a rock star still mad about algebra, and KPI-heavy meetings 42:11 How to heal: separating your stories from your skills 48:09 Geillan's wish: a math trauma Netflix special 50:03 Yes and: being more open and celebrating life on purpose 51:44 Where to find Geillan Resources Mentioned: • "Compassionate Math" by Geillan Aly: https://www.619wreath.com/store/p42/compassionate-math.html • Geillan Aly on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geillan-aly/ • "Original Sins" by Eve L. Ewing: https://link.amazon/B0364VKbX • Nikole Hannah-Jones' New York Times Magazine essay: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/20/magazine/ny-public-schools-black-students-segregation.html • Claude Steele's research on stereotype threat: https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1996-12938-001 • Cuisenaire rods: https://link.amazon/B0fHS56gA • Faith Clarke's Decolonizing Work series: https://www.faithclarke.com/listen-to-decolonize-work 🎤 JOIN US IN THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE: https://feministpodcastcollective.com/