Madame Speaker Says

Magogodi

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. 

  1. 6D AGO

    If You Feel Called to More, This Episode Will Help You Stop Playing Small

    🙋🏽‍♀️Like this Episode? Text me If You Feel Called to More: Stop Playing Small and Build a Bold Public VoiceWhat 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 ancestral wisdom, lived experience and creative strategy can help founders, speakers, creatives and executives step into their power and expand their impact. We talk calling, confidence, community building, public speaking and why your voice matters more than ever in today’s attention economy. If you’ve been feeling stuck, unseen or ready for your next level, this episode is for you. In this episode of Madame Speaker Says, Magogodi shares: Why playing small keeps talented leaders invisibleHow to build a strong public voice through storytellingWhat real community building looks like (without gatekeeping)How to step into leadership visibility with confidenceWhy imagination is a serious leadership skillHow Season 3 is being shaped by listener inputIf you feel called to more, this episode will help you stop holding yourself back. Chapters 0:00 — Welcome to Madame Speaker Says 1:52 — The business of storytelling 2:30 — Leadership through lived experience 5:39 — Building real community 6:28 — Shaping Season 3 together 10:55 — Stop playing small 11:35 — Answering your calling Connect with Madame Speaker Says 📲 Instagram: @madamespeakersays 🎙 Subscribe: Madame Speaker Says Podcast Connect with Magogodi 📲IG: @magogodimakhene 👩🏽‍💻Website: https://www.magogodi.com -- 👉🏾 TAKE QUIZ - Stop guessing what your vibe is. Take the quiz to discover your thought leadership type, your secret superpowers, and—let's be real—exactly where you're getting in your own way. Spoiler: it's probably not where you think. 📧 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.

    15 min
  2. We Are the Ones: Imani Ellis on Purpose + Building CultureCon

    JAN 18

    We Are the Ones: Imani Ellis on Purpose + Building CultureCon

    🙋🏽‍♀️Like this Episode? Text me 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 founder of the largest creative conference for Black professionals. She reveals her definition of purpose (spoiler: it's not what the self-help industry sold you), why she believes "the dream evolves as your courage evolves," and the uncomfortable truth about the gap between what audiences say they want and what they actually need. We talk leadership, loneliness, living room beginnings, and why sometimes the scariest thing isn't failure—it's realizing you might actually be qualified. If you've been waiting for permission to start the thing that's been keeping you up at night, this is your sign. In this episode of Madam Speaker Says, Imani Ellis shares the raw truth about: → Why she believes "purpose = your gifts solving a specific problem" → The mistake she made signing her first venue (no bathrooms, no AC 😬) → Why big things HAVE to start small → How to build self-trust as a leader → The gap between what audiences say vs. what they actually want If you've been waiting for permission to start YOUR thing, this conversation is your sign. Chapters 0:00 — "We are the ones we've been waiting for" 3:13 — How CultureCon started with 10 friends in a living room 5:02 — Why seeing your full vision too early would terrify you 8:09 — Your easy skill is still a skill (stop discounting it) 10:33 — Purpose = your gifts solving a specific problem 12:31 — The magic of starting when nobody's watching 17:31 — Building self-trust: "80% of the time, I make good decisions" 21:00 — What audiences say they want vs. what they actually need 25:14 — Inside the CultureCon war room: Reverse engineering success 29:39 — Stop letting no's make you bet against yourself Connect with Imani  📲IG: @imaniimani 👩🏽‍💻Website: https://www.imaniellis.com/info -- 👉🏾 TAKE QUIZ - Stop guessing what your vibe is. Take the quiz to discover your thought leadership type, your secret superpowers, and—let's be real—exactly where you're getting in your own way. Spoiler: it's probably not where you think. 📧 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.

    40 min
  3. The Real ROI of Public Speaking - with Ellen Yin of Cubicle to CEO

    JAN 11

    The Real ROI of Public Speaking - with Ellen Yin of Cubicle to CEO

    🙋🏽‍♀️Like this Episode? Text me 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, Ellen breaks down: Why thought leadership isn't about having the "holy grail" to say — it's about showing up over timeHow she landed her first paid speaking gig (and turned it into recurring revenue)The truth about whether you should speak for freeWhy public speaking is the fastest way to hyper-nurture relationships and build trustHer income report transparency and what it taught her about businessPlus: Why every sales call, coffee chat, and podcast interview is actually public speaking practice — and how to use it. TIMESTAMPS:  00:00 — Why podcasts teach more than elite degrees  05:28 — What thought leadership actually is (you already have it)  06:06 — Why women hide their expertise (and how to stop) 14:22 — Every conversation is public speaking practice  19:37 — How to pitch yourself instead of waiting  21:08 — Should you speak for free? The real answer  23:26 — Why speaking builds trust faster than anything else  32:29 — Income transparency: what Ellen learned from sharing her numbers CONNECT WITH ELLEN: 🎧 Cubicle to CEO Podcast: https://www.cubicletoceo.co/podcast  📱 Ellen on Instagram: @missellenyin 🌐 Website: cubicletoceo.co -- 👉🏾 TAKE QUIZ - Stop guessing what your vibe is. Take the quiz to discover your thought leadership type, your secret superpowers, and—let's be real—exactly where you're getting in your own way. Spoiler: it's probably not where you think. 📧 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.

    1h 2m
  4. JAN 4

    Why Wanting Scares You More Than Failing: Your 2026 Thought Leadership Reset

    🙋🏽‍♀️Like this Episode? Text me Why does wanting scare you more than failing ever will? In this solo episode, Magogodi Makhene unpacks why thought leaders, founders, and creatives shrink from naming what they actually want—and how that silence is costing you more than any failure could. 📚You'll learn:  → Why desire feels dangerous (especially for women and marginalized leaders)  → The 3-part Magogodi Method to get clear on what actually lights you up  → How to build your thought leadership platform without burning out  → One fear reframe that will change how you approach 2026 If you're building a personal brand, writing a book, launching a speaking career, or stepping into visibility—this episode is your mirror and your map. 🔗 CONNECT with Magogodi: 📲 Instagram: @madamespeakersays @magogodimakhene 👉🏾 Website: http://www.magogodi.com 📚 Book: Innards CHAPTERS: 00:00 — Why I stopped writing (and what it revealed) 02:15 — The hidden cost of avoiding what you want 06:30 — How playing small is more expensive than failing 09:45 — The 3-part clarity framework to u****k your direction 10:30 — Find your light-up zone (check your body, not your résumé) 13:00 — Identify who you'd serve even without the paycheck 15:30 — Match how you communicate to how they learn 18:00 — Your thought leadership is an ecosystem, not one platform 21:30 — Reframe: Failure is guaranteed, humiliation is optional 24:00 — Three paths to accountability (pick one today) 26:30 — Help me build what you actually need in 2026 28:00 — Your thesis: If you don't want it, you won't build it -- 👉🏾 TAKE QUIZ - Stop guessing what your vibe is. Take the quiz to discover your thought leadership type, your secret superpowers, and—let's be real—exactly where you're getting in your own way. Spoiler: it's probably not where you think. 📧 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.

    33 min
  5. Speaking Without Filtering: Thought Leadership as Spiritual Work with Rha Goddess

    12/28/2025

    Speaking Without Filtering: Thought Leadership as Spiritual Work with Rha Goddess

    🙋🏽‍♀️Like this Episode? Text me Thought Leadership Is Spiritual Work. No Ego, No Performance. What if thought leadership isn’t about influence — but about responsibility? In this powerful conversation, we explore why thought leadership is spiritual work, and what becomes possible when you speak not to be impressive, but to serve humanity. Ra invites us to reconnect with our deepest longings, reclaim imagination, and stop settling for 20% of what’s possible. We talk about courage as a practice, honoring intuition, speaking truth in rooms where silence feels safer, and what happens when you deny the voice you came here to give. This episode is for leaders, creatives, and visionaries who feel called to use their voice with integrity, depth, and soul — especially in a world that’s unraveling and asking us to dream again. ✨ If you’ve ever felt your voice mattered — this episode will remind you why: → Speaking truth in rooms that resist it → Dreaming again in uncertain times → Why your voice matters more than you think → Courage, intuition, and spiritual leadership Chapters 00:07:26 — You Came With a Charge Why denying your voice blocks joy, freedom, and fulfillment 00:10:25 — Courage as a Practice Honoring intuition and speaking truth even when it’s uncomfortable 00:19:07 — Permission to Dream Again Returning to longing, play, imagination, and childlike wonder 00:52:37 — Stop Settling for 20% What becomes possible when we remove the guardrails 01:01:06 — Thought Leadership Is Spiritual Work Speaking for, with, and to humanity — channeling real power 01:38:02 — The Moment Everything Broke Open Rock bottom, asking for help, and the beginning of healing Connect with Rha: 📚 Intentional Ambition: https://courses.movethecrowd.me/intentionalambitionbook 📱 Rha on Instagram: @rhagoddess 🌐 Website: https://rhagoddess.com/  -- 👉🏾 TAKE QUIZ - Stop guessing what your vibe is. Take the quiz to discover your thought leadership type, your secret superpowers, and—let's be real—exactly where you're getting in your own way. Spoiler: it's probably not where you think. 📧 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.

    1h 9m
  6. 12/21/2025

    Why You’re Tired, Angry… and Weirdly Happy

    🙋🏽‍♀️Like this Episode? Text me Tired. Angry. Happy. The Truth About This Year We Survived What if there’s nothing wrong with you for feeling tired, angry, hopeful, and joyful all at once? This week, I’m pulling back the curtain on why so many of us—especially Black women and marginalized leaders—are carrying emotional contradictions that actually make sense in this chaotic world. From political exhaustion to tiny pockets of joy, from grief to grit, from outrage to laughter…this episode is your reminder that your emotional complexity isn’t a flaw—it’s a compass. IN THIS EPISODE: Why you feel “tired” even after a year of doing everything “right”The anger behind DEI rollbacks, layoffs, and the cost-of-living crisisThe quiet joys keeping us afloat (yes, you’re allowed to have both)How to use your emotions as strategic data in your thought leadershipToolkit – A simple practice to tell the truth about what you feel…and what it’s pointing toward🔗 CONNECT with Magogodi: 📲 Instagram: @madamespeakersays @magogodimakhene 👉🏾 Website: http://www.magogodi.com 📚 Book: Innards CHAPTERS 00:02 You Don’t Have to Choose One Feeling 01:11 The Political & Cultural Exhaustion Beneath the Fatigue 03:25 Anger: The Data Point We’ve Been Taught to Ignore 05:02 Joy as a Survival Practice (And Why It Still Counts) 07:44 Using Emotional Truth to Strengthen Your Thought Leadership 09:15 Permission to Be Tired, Angry, Happy—All At Once -- 👉🏾 TAKE QUIZ - Stop guessing what your vibe is. Take the quiz to discover your thought leadership type, your secret superpowers, and—let's be real—exactly where you're getting in your own way. Spoiler: it's probably not where you think. 📧 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.

    37 min
  7. Organize Against Autocracy: From Fear to Action with Vanessa Priya Daniel | What Women of Color Teach Us About Power

    12/14/2025

    Organize Against Autocracy: From Fear to Action with Vanessa Priya Daniel | What Women of Color Teach Us About Power

    🙋🏽‍♀️Like this Episode? Text me Unrig the Game: How to Organize Through Autocratic Fear with Vanessa Priya Daniel What's your part to contribute when autocracy tightens its grip and fear becomes a daily ration? For Vanessa Priya Daniel, the answer has always been: organize. But not the performative kind—the kind that might get you attacks...from your own team. The kind that moves $100 million from donor control to community power. The kind that may costs you everything and also, actually work. In her book, Unrig The Game, Vanessa breaks down what organizing actually looks like when Black and brown women social justice leaders come under attack—not from the right, but from our supposed own side. She reveals how to survive when your own team comes for your throat, how to build a thought leadership platform that fortifies resistance (not just your book sales), and why the tools women of color have used since Day 1 are exactly what we need now. But here, Vanessa goes beyond the book to give you the toolkit you need to actually speak the difficult truth that needs to be spoken and take your idea from the pit of your stomach to published and disruptive AF thought leadership, to a book tour that fortifies community power in a time of raids and authoritarian fear.  IN THIS EPISODE: The real-time playbook for when you speak truth and folks on "your side" come for your throat—because if you're doing this work right, they willHow Vanessa found an agent and publisher who align with her values, then built a book tour that fortified community and resistance (real numbers, real strategy, real receipts)Toolkit: How to channel your gifts to stand up to authoritarianism instead of metabolizing fear your body can't process🔗 CONNECT with Vanessa:  📚 Book: Unrig the Game: https://www.vanessapriyadaniel.com/books 📲IG: https://www.instagram.com/vanessapriyadaniel  👩🏽‍💻Website: https://www.vanessapriyadaniel.com/  CHAPTERS: 00:02 What's Your Part to Contribute?[Time] From Farm Laborers to Wealthy Philanthropists: What Organizing Actually Looks Like[Time] The Oligarchy Playbook: How American Philanthropy Still Runs on Donor Control[Time] Telling the Bare-Ass Truth: From Childhood Sexual Violence to Calling Out the Left[Time] When Your Own Team Attacks: The Real-Time Playbook for Survival[Time] How to Build a Book Tour That Fortifies Resistance (Not Just Sales)[Time] Your Antidote to Fear: Channeling Your Gifts Against Authoritarianism-- 👉🏾 TAKE QUIZ - Stop guessing what your vibe is. Take the quiz to discover your thought leadership type, your secret superpowers, and—let's be real—exactly where you're getting in your own way. Spoiler: it's probably not where you think. 📧 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.

    1h 11m
  8. 12/07/2025

    NonStop Productivity Is a Scam: The Lie Killing Your Thought Leadership

    🙋🏽‍♀️Like this Episode? Text me The Productivity Lie That's Killing Your Thought Leadership (Why Rest Is Your Secret Weapon) What if the most powerful move you can make as a thought leader isn't relentless productivity—but radical restoration? After a sudden health crisis forced me to stop everything--including a week off this podcast schedule--I'm here to unpack the toxic lie that pausing makes you irrelevant.  Here, I reveal why clarity and resonance require you to rest deeply. IN THIS EPISODE: The health scare that exposed the hidden cost of constant productivityWho actually profits from the lie that "if you pause, you'll disappear"The science of how restoration fuels clarity and focusToolkit - How to shift from chasing the optics of productivity to operating from genuine resonance🔗 CONNECT with Magogodi: 📲 Instagram: @madamespeakersays @magogodimakhene 👉🏾 Website: http://www.magogodi.com 📚 Books: Innards CHAPTERS: 00:02 Your Most Powerful Move: Restoration Over Productivity01:02 The Treadmill Lie: What Happens When You Give Yourself Permission to Rest01:50 The Health Scare That Changed Everything04:31 The Hidden Cost of Suppressing What Your Body Needs Most06:55 Is Constant Productivity Undermining Your Thought Leadership?07:28 Who Benefits When You Believe Pausing Makes You Disappear?09:12 The Catastrophic Cost to Your Clarity When You're Not Well-Rested-- 👉🏾 TAKE QUIZ - Stop guessing what your vibe is. Take the quiz to discover your thought leadership type, your secret superpowers, and—let's be real—exactly where you're getting in your own way. Spoiler: it's probably not where you think. 📧 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.

    46 min

Trailer

Ratings & Reviews

4.8
out of 5
4 Ratings

About

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.