Madame Speaker Says
Madame Speaker Says is the podcast for women of colour ready to own the mic, drop that book and get paid like a legend.
Join Magogodi oaMphela Makhene - author, speaker and coach - for real talk, shortcuts and receipts to help you lead with confidence — on stage, on the page and way beyond the 9–5. No caucacity, no crusty old school leadership.
Edges snatched. Script flipped. No apologies.
Fresh episodes drop weekly.
Pull up.
Madame Speaker Says
Rejected from TED? How to Turn Rejection Into Rocket Fuel | Pitch Mastery for Women Leaders
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Pitch Anyway When Rejection Is Likely: Authority Without Permission
What do you do when you pitch your heart out… make it to the finalist round… and still get rejected?
In this powerful mini episode of Madame Speaker Says, host Magogodi shares what happened when she was rejected from a major TED main stage opportunity and how she turned that “Big R” into rocket fuel instead of self-doubt. So the real question becomes:
Is pitching yourself really worth the rejection?
Short answer: yes and “no” is part of the receipt.
And no, that doesn’t mean you’re not ready.
This conversation reframes rejection as refinement as redirection and authority training. Because if your authority depends on one institution green-lighting you, you don’t have authority you have permission anxiety.
In this episode of Madame Speaker Says, get clear on:
- Why rejection clarifies your assignment instead of defining your worth
- How to extract the asset from every pitch (even the ones that don’t land)
- The difference between authority and permission anxiety
- Why pitching is part of leadership and why you can’t afford to stop
- How to reassign the stage when a gatekeeper says “not right now”
Chapters
0:00 — The Big R: What Happened
5:00 — Rejection Is Information, Not Identity
11:00 — Clarifying the Assignment
15:00 — Reassign the Stage
17:00 — Rejection as R&D (Research & Development)
20:00 — Authority vs Permission Anxiety
23:00 — Your Homework: Reuse the Pitch
Connect with Madame Speaker Says
📲 Instagram: @madamespeakersays
🎙 Subscribe: Madame Speaker Says Podcast
Connect with Magogodi
📲IG: @magogodimakhene
👩🏽💻Website: https://www.magogodi.com
📧 JOIN - Expect fresh newsletters every week or so, where I share bare truths, storytelling tips and plenty of F-bombs.
Ready to turn your ideas into influence?
APPLY for 1:1 coaching to transform your voice into your greatest asset.
