Madame Speaker Says

🎙️ 💥 Learn how to Speak up for Your Excellence: https://lovekindcure.kit.com/b80a66aa37 They clapped. They cried. They told you it was the best thing they'd ever seen — and then nobody hired you. That's not a talent problem. It's not even a confidence problem. 👀 What's actually going on?  THIS VIDEO UNPACKS: -- Why your talk needs a "job" before you ever walk on sta...

Learn how to  Speak up for Your Excellence  - The Whole Damn Talk. We've told brilliant women one of the most expensive lies in the world--that if the work is good enough, it'll speak for itself. It won't. I just closed out a season of interviews with women whose work has shaped institutions, ideas, their communities and countries—Wanuri Kahiu, who became the first Kenyan director t...

Rachel Cargle on the quiet years behind "overnight" success — building The Loveland Foundation from one Instagram post, self-knowledge, and real thought leadership. You keep watching other people blow up overnight. Meanwhile you've got the idea, the skill, the whole thing — and it's still just sitting in your notes app. So what are they doing that you're not? "All I h...

What does it cost to keep waiting for the world to confirm what you already know about yourself? Djamila Ribeiro's answer will stop you: "People didn't give the opportunity to me, so I created the opportunity — because I knew my value." Djamila Ribeiro is one of the most important philosophers at work in the world right now. She coined a concept that gave Brazil new language fo...

What does it cost to let a machine make you sound smooth? Because the machine is trained for smooth. And smooth is forgettable. In this solo episode, Magogodi —host of Madame Speaker Says— goes deep on the move most people get exactly backwards. Feed AI "here's the assignment, just write it for me," and you'll sound like a corporate talking machine — forgettable, in a room you...

What does it cost to put something sacred on a term sheet? For women in leadership and impact investing, this question is everything. Alicia DeLia's answer will stop you: "I don't think there's a cost in putting it there. I think there's a cost in not putting it there. And that's what we've seen this world become." In Part 2 of this two-part conversation, Al...

What does it cost to spend 20 years raising money for other people's stories — and then decide your story is worth funding? Alicia DeLia has been in the impact investing sector since before it had a name. She worked at FINCA International when microlending was a radical idea. She raised capital for movements. She built a consulting firm. And somewhere in the middle of all of that, she watched...

You said yes to the keynote. The panic slammed into you, right after. Because yes, you have the expertise. You have the receipts. What you don't have is a way to turn twenty years of knowledge into a keynote that lands. Because knowing your field and knowing how to give a keynote are two completely different skills — and nobody told you that until right now. Your expertise won't give the...

You have been excellent your entire life. You did the work nobody else would do. You stayed late. You got the credentials. You built the thing — and then you kept quiet about it, because somewhere along the way someone told you that talking too much would make you look like you weren't serious. And so you stayed silent. And excellent. And invisible--This episode is your wake up call! Dr. Kemi...

You've spent years making other people powerful. You built the thing, ran the coalition, trained the leaders, held the room together. Somewhere in all of that — you stopped asking what you want. Not the organization. Not the mission. You. This episode is the intervention. Joan Godoy is the CEO of Radical Partners, co-founder of Fuckup Nights Miami, and one of the most quietly radical builders...

From Creative Vision to Cultural Movement: Wanuri Kahiu on Funding Bold Ideas and Building a Brand Bigger Than Your Work In this rich and unfiltered conversation, award-winning Kenyan filmmaker Wanuri Kahiu — the director behind Rafiki and Hulu's Washington Black — gets radically honest about what it actually takes to bring a bold, unconventional creative vision to life. Because having the id...

From Body Shaming to Reclaiming Her Voice (Part 2): Lebo Mashile on Turning Pain Into Power In Part 2 of this raw and unfiltered conversation, Lebo moves beyond the origin story and into something even more powerful: what it actually takes to trust your voice, follow your calling, and bring a bold vision to life. Because the truth is, having the idea is one thing.  Having the courage to act on it?...

From Body Shaming to Reclaiming Her Voice: Lebo Mashile on Turning Pain Into Power Lebo Mashile was publicly shamed for her pregnant body. Instead of shrinking, she turned her fury into a groundbreaking play about Saartjie Baartman — and a five-year excavation of how the exploitation of Black women's bodies shapes our world today. In this raw, two-part conversation, the iconic South African p...

Becoming the Authority: The Moment You Stop Waiting and Start Claiming It You don’t become powerful the moment everything is perfect.  You become powerful the moment you decide you’re enough as you are. In this raw and deeply personal episode of Madame Speaker Says , Magogodi steps out from behind the mic and into the hot seat stripping away the “expert” layer to reveal what it really looks like t...

The Worker Bee Trap Women Leaders Fall Into Being the hardest worker in the room does not make you the leader. Vision does. In this powerful mini episode of Madame Speaker Says, host Magogodi breaks down a transition many brilliant women leaders struggle to make: The shift from worker bee energy to queen bee leadership. For years, your success may have come from proving yourself through execution...

Reintroducing Your Next Level Self: When Your Work Outgrows How You’re Seen Your work hasn’t outgrown your ambition. It has outgrown how you are seen. In this powerful mini episode of Madame Speaker Says , host Magogodi breaks down why so many brilliant women  founders, executives, and industry leaders  feel like they’ve outgrown the rooms they’re in, yet people still introduce them as an older ve...

Multi-Talented vs Multi-Scattered: Why Focus Builds Real Authority Range is powerful but focus is what builds authority. In this powerful mini episode of Madame Speaker Says , host Magogodi breaks down why so many brilliant women founders, executives, creatives, and industry leaders struggle with one quiet but costly problem: Trying to do too many things at once. When you’re multi-talented, you ca...

Narrow Your Message to Build Authority: Why Broad Messaging Is Costing You Influence Broad messaging feels safe but safety is not what builds authority. In this powerful mini episode of Madame Speaker Says , host Magogodi breaks down why so many brilliant leaders, founders, and impact-driven experts dilute their authority by trying to speak to everyone. When your work is broad enough to include ev...

Build Authority Without Waiting for Confidence: Structure Over Self-Doubt Confidence is not what builds authority. Structure does. In this powerful mini episode of Madame Speaker Says , host Magogodi breaks down why so many brilliant women  even high-achieving executives, founders, and industry leaders still wrestle with the question: “Who do I think I am?” From Michelle Obama to Serena Williams t...

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...

Stay Visible When Backlash Is Inevitable: Authority in the Age of Critique How do you step into visibility and authority when being seen comes with critique, backlash, and resistance? In this episode of Madame Speaker Says , host Magogodi names the reality many experts, founders, and leaders are quietly navigating right now: Is visibility really worth the cost?  Short answer: yes — and backlash is...

Stay On Brand While the World Is Burning: Authority in a Time of Crisis How do you show up with authority during global crisis without being tone-deaf, performative or reactive? In this episode of Madame Speaker Says , host Magogodi addresses a question many experts, leaders, and thought leaders in public-facing work are asking right now: Is it appropriate to speak when the world is burning?   Sho...

If You Feel Called to More: Stop Playing Small and Build a Bold Public Voice What happens when you stop playing small and finally use your voice the way you were meant to? In this episode of Madame Speaker Says , host Magogodi Makhene closes out Season 2 by breaking down the real work behind storytelling, leadership visibility, and building authority without selling your soul. She shares how ances...

CultureCon's Imani Ellis: From Living Room to 12,000 People  What happens when you stop waiting for someone else to build the thing you've been craving? CultureCon founder Imani Ellis knows—because she built it herself, starting with 10 friends in her New York City apartment. In this episode of Madam Speaker Says, Imani takes us inside the journey from publicist at NBCUniversal to founde...

From Cubicle to CEO: Ellen Yin on Turning Expertise Into Speaking Revenue Ellen Yin went from corporate marketing employee to multimillion-dollar entrepreneur — without a backup plan. Now the host of the globally charting podcast Cubicle to CEO, she's taught 14,000+ entrepreneurs (mostly women) how to build authority, land speaking gigs, and turn expertise into revenue.  In this episode, Elle...