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‘Mormon Land’: Why Latter-day Saint women were drawn to LuLaRoe and why that’s worrisome

Writer on economic justice and home and culture discusses the dangers of blending beliefs and business.

(Amazon Studios) DeAnne Stidham and Mark Stidham, the founders of LuLaRoe, are interviewed in the Amazon documentary "LuLaRich."

Women in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are reared to be homemakers, caring for their house and family as a kind of religious obligation, while their husbands work to support the clan.

But that isn’t how it works for all Latter-day Saint women in a modern society and economy, which often fall short in valuing the work they do in the home. Many take on part-time employment to bring in extra money, while caring for kids, and that can open up some of them to the false allure of multilevel marketing scams.

One of those businesses, LuLaRoe, which sells bold-print clothes and leggings, was started by a Latter-day Saint couple and was the subject of a recent Amazon documentary titled “LuLaRich.

Meg Conley, a Latter-day Saint essayist in Denver and publisher of a newsletter called Homeculture, discusses the documentary, why members may be attracted to MLMs, and what this phenomenon says about Latter-day Saint culture, and the blending of beliefs and business.

Listen here:

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