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 to take her film to Cannes, Lebo Mashile who turned Sarah Baartman's story into a play and now an opera, Alicia DeLia, reimagining how we move money in the Global South, Rachel Cargle on the personal renaissance, Dr. Kemi Doll revolutionizing gynecologic care for Black and Brown bodies and Dr. Djamila Robeiro, the woman who disrupted a white-centric publishing industry and gave Brazil new language for dissecting power.

On paper, completely different lives. Underneath, the exact same pattern: not one of them got here by quietly becoming excellent and waiting to be discovered.

Each one learned how to make others being understand why her work mattered.That's the skill. And we celebrate it far too little.

In this episode, you learn:

Why "your work will speak for itself" is costing you the opportunities that are actually yours
How you're already a public speaker every single day — whether you'd ever call yourself one or not
Why the skills don't change whether you're in front of 2 people or 2,000
What I actually do (hint: I can't make you smarter — I help the room understand how smart you already are)
And what's coming next

If you're an expert with a body of work you've spent forever building, this one's for you.

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💬 Got a question about translating your own expertise? Send it my way, here.

Chapters

00:00 — The one thing every guest had in common
01:04 — The women of this season, and why they could all speak to their work
02:13 — The expensive lie: "work hard and your work will speak for itself"
03:17 — Translation is a skill (send me your questions)
04:20 — You're already a public speaker, even if you'd never call it that
05:32 — Two people or two thousand: the skills don't change
06:29 — "I can't make you smarter. I make the room understand how smart you are."
07:32 — Turning expertise into bank: 18 crisp minutes that move people to act
08:37 — The throughline I didn't expect to find
09:45 — What's next: turning the lens on you
10:46 — Why I'm betting on Black and brown women

Resources

📚 Innards — My debut, a short story collection and among Guardian Best Fiction Books of 2023.

🎤 The Whole Damn Talk: https://madamespeakersays.com

Connect with Magogodi

Magogodi: http://www.magogodi.com

Madame Speaker Says: http://www.madamespeakersays.com

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