My Rejection Story

What would you do if a media giant stole your idea—and then went viral with it?

In this deeply personal and surprisingly funny episode, Alice sits down with Marina Iakovleva, the creator of Dating Beyond Borders, a wildly popular YouTube channel with over 675,000 subscribers. Marina built her brand from a scrappy video experiment in Panama to a global platform exploring intercultural relationships—and she did it without a team, a big budget, or any media backing.

But along the way, her ideas were copied by Buzzfeed and other production companies with massive teams and bigger marketing power. Instead of quitting, she pivoted—and found a new format that reignited her creativity and brought her closer to her audience than ever before.

You’ll hear:

• How a three-day vacation romance inspired Marina’s entire business

• What she did after Buzzfeed copied her video concept (and commenters said she was the copycat)

• Why she pivoted from studio shoots to street interviews—and never looked back

• Her honest take on the loneliness of digital nomad life and not having a place to call “home”

• Why you’re more attractive when you’re in a city you actually like

• How to make peace with fractured identity—and keep showing up anyway

This is an episode about content, connection, and carving your own lane when no one hands you a map.

Chapters:

00:50 Intro
02:44 Being the anxious kid and earliest rejections
05:53 Why teaching felt safe—but wrong
08:13 Choosing regret minimization over predictability
13:41 “Where do I belong?”—living between cultures
24:49 The vacation romance that started it all
27:40 How Sebastian the German became Marina’s origin story
31:09 Building a business from rejection
36:20 How she grew to 100K+ subscribers in under a year
43:49 The Rebel Wilson problem—pivoting when your audience doesn’t want you to
48:54 Buzzfeed, copycats, and being accused of stealing your own idea
51:13 What to do when you’re the underdog in a production war
56:25 Boundaries, burnout, and reactivity in business
01:00:08 How Marina approaches content growth (and why obsession > perfection)
01:05:16 Where to find Marina and hire her as a speaker

• Marina’s YouTube: Dating Beyond Borders

• Marina’s podcast: Dating Beyond Borders Podcast

• Marina’s book: Sex Before Coffee: A Guide to Dating in Scandinavia

• Speaking inquiries: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/marina-iakovleva-dbb

Why does criticism feel like a punch to the gut when you have ADHD? And why do so many women with ADHD go undiagnosed for decades?

In this bold and eye-opening episode, bestselling author and podcast host Tracy Otsuka joins Alice to unpack how rejection shows up in the ADHD brain, and why it’s often misunderstood, minimized, or masked.

Tracy shares the brain science behind rejection-sensitive dysphoria, the gendered shame baked into our understanding of ADHD, and how her son’s diagnosis ultimately led to her own. You’ll hear candid stories of failure, identity shifts, and the powerful moment a psychologist told her to lower her expectations for her child.

You’ll hear:

• What rejection does to the ADHD brain (and why your mind feels like it “goes offline”)

• The truth behind why girls often go undiagnosed until adulthood

• How masking, people-pleasing, and perfectionism fuel burnout

• The timer trick Tracy swears by for getting started (even when it feels impossible)

• Why ADHD is not a productivity problem—it’s an identity one

This is an episode about shame, stigma, and how to rewrite your internal narrative, on your terms.

Chapters:

00:50 Intro
01:18 The label 'too much' and early rejection
03:38 Shame, gender norms, and ADHD in women
06:53 What happens in the ADHD brain during rejection
10:28 Learned helplessness and internalized criticism
12:44 Why girls are misdiagnosed with anxiety and depression
13:41 Hormones, dopamine, and maturity-onset ADHD
17:02 Moving from inaction to identity-based action
22:26 Fun, challenging, and social—the ADHD productivity trifecta
25:52 Building a trustworthy identity with micro-habits
30:31 Tracy’s time cube hack for procrastination
35:00 How her son's diagnosis led to her own
38:28 “Your son is too ambitious”—a psychologist’s rejection
42:34 How diagnosis changed Tracy’s self-perception
45:14 The rejection that comes from not trusting yourself
50:50 Where to find Tracy and her work

Resources & Links:

• Tracy’s book: ADHD for Smart Ass Women

• Tracy’s podcast: ADHD for Smart Ass Women

• Website & Programs: ADHDforSmartWomen.com

What if success wasn't the reward for grinding through work—but the result of actually enjoying it?

In this candid and deeply insightful episode, multi-time founder and former Airbnb leader Jason Silver joins Alice to unpack the often backwards narratives we hold about work, ambition, and rejection.

Jason shares the raw story of crashing his startup—and the surprising way that failure led to a life-changing opportunity at Airbnb. He also dives into the neuroscience behind why so many people regret changing jobs, what "hedonic adaptation" has to do with your career dissatisfaction, and how he redefined productivity after a personal tragedy.

You’ll hear:

• Why Jason believes enjoyment is a practice, not a perk

• How he almost got fired after presenting the “perfect” plan to Airbnb leadership

• A dead-simple question that helped him 9x his results

• The personal loss that transformed how he approached work and life

• Practical frameworks for finding more energy, meaning, and satisfaction in your current job

This is an episode about failure, but also about designing a working life you don’t need to escape from.

Chapters:

00:50 Intro
02:44 Why quitting your job doesn’t make you happier
06:26 Hedonic adaptation at work
09:22 The difference between fun and enjoyment
13:34 Doing the same task differently
19:45 The iPhone list exercise
28:00 The 10x Airbnb challenge
35:57 What would need to be true?
41:46 Defining rejection
43:52 Crashing a startup
52:24 The grief that changed everything
59:51 How Jason has changed
1:03:13 Advice to enjoy growing a podcast

Resources & Links:

• Jason’s website: thejasonsilver.com

• Jason’s book: Your Grass Is Greener – yourgrassisgreener.com

• Follow Jason on LinkedIn: Jason Silver

  
  

Uncertainty can feel like standing on the edge of a cliff, waiting for instructions that never arrive.

In this solo episode, Alice reflects on her early career decision to turn down traditional jobs and lean into freelancing—not because it felt brave, but because it made a strange kind of sense. Years later, she’s still navigating the discomfort of not-knowing, and learning to stay present through the fog.

This is a gentle, personal reflection on:

• The subtle self-rejection baked into chasing certainty

• How clarity doesn’t always come with a five-step plan

• Micro-decisions that help you feel more grounded

• Why uncertainty often brings up shame, even when we’re doing the “right” thing

Alice also shares tools that help her hold the discomfort without rushing through it—like labeling what’s still certain, making room for nuance, and trusting that inner clarity takes time.

🎧 If you're in the middle of a career shift, life decision, or quiet personal reckoning… this one’s for you.

with Senamile Zungu

In this episode, Alice sits down with her best friend Senamile Zungu for the most personal conversation ever recorded on My Rejection Story. Sena opens up about what it took to unravel—and survive—after years of perfectionism, people-pleasing, and pushing through pain.

From two psychiatric hospitalizations to setting boundaries that cost her relationships, this is the story of what happens when a woman chooses herself for the very first time.

Together, Alice and Sena reflect on friendship, anger, grief, and the violent pressure to be everything to everyone. It’s a raw and unfiltered conversation about burnout, identity loss, and what it takes to reinvent your life from scratch.

This episode is about loving someone through the ugliest seasons of their life—and holding onto yourself when the world tells you to disappear.

In This Episode, We Cover:

• Why burnout was just the symptom—and how much deeper the wound went

• What people-pleasing costs you (and who you have to grieve to stop doing it)

• What it’s like to survive a suicide attempt and still feel like a burden

• The rage that comes when you finally stop self-abandoning

• Why boundaries feel like betrayal—even when they’re saving your life

• How it feels to lose family, faith, and career—and still want to try again

• What it means to be witnessed in your full, messy, human self

This episode is about loving someone through the ugliest seasons of their life—and holding onto yourself when the world tells you to disappear.

Links & Resources:

🎧 Listen to Sena’s podcast, Colour-full
https://pod.link/1736137543

📘 Read: When The Body Says No by Dr. Gabor Maté
https://www.amazon.com/When-Body-Says-Understanding-Stress-Disease/dp/0470923350

📱 Follow Senamile on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/sena_zungu/

💼 Connect with Senamile on LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/senamile-zungu-a8375627a/

Chapters:

00:00 The Friendship Behind the Mic
06:11 What Burnout Really Looked Like
10:42 Surviving Hospitalization—and the Shame That Follows
15:33 People-Pleasing and the Loss of Self
21:58 Rage, Religion, and Rejection
26:40 What Happens When You Start Saying No
32:14 Grieving Who You Used to Be
36:59 The Rebuild: Boundaries, Healing, and a New Kind of Success
41:46 How to Love Someone Who’s Falling Apart
47:18 Being Seen and Loved in the Middle of the Mess

We all know we’re going to die. So why do we live like we have unlimited time?

In this episode, author and life design coach Jodi Wellman joins Alice to talk about the surprising power of using your mortality as a motivator for living a bigger, bolder life. Jodi shares how rejection, boredom, and “just fine” living are often symptoms of a life stuck in autopilot—and how death can wake us up to the urgency of now.

From the “stapler moment” that made Jodi realize she was stuck in a corporate loop she didn’t want, to the mindset shift that helped her trade regret for action, this is a conversation about the kind of clarity that only comes when you confront the one truth we’re all avoiding: our time is running out.

If you’ve been postponing joy, waiting to feel ready, or secretly wondering if this is all there is—this episode is for you.

Resources & Links:

📘 Order Jodi’s Book: You Only Die Once, https://www.amazon.com/You-Only-Die-Once-Regrets/dp/0316574279

🌐 Learn more about Jodi’s work:
https://www.fourthousandmondays.com/

Chapters:

00:00 The Moment Jodi Realized She Was Sleepwalking Through Life
06:45 Refilling the Stapler—and Other Signs You’re Playing It Safe
11:33 Death as a Productivity Tool
16:58 Why Rejection Is Better Than Regret
23:40 How to Stop Waiting to Feel Ready
30:22 The “Monday Countdown” That Will Change Your Perspective
36:50 Designing a Life That Feels Fully Alive
42:14 Jodi’s Final Question: What Would You Do If You Knew You Were Dying?

What happens when you reach the next level—and feel worse, not better?

In this episode, confidence coach and podcast host Nicole Kalil shares the story of climbing the corporate ladder, earning the promotion she thought she wanted… and realizing she was completely misaligned with the life she was building.

We talk about what it’s like to have external success and internal disconnection, why so many women feel like frauds in rooms they worked hard to enter, and how Nicole began untangling her identity from titles, praise, and other people’s expectations.

This episode is for anyone who’s ever thought, “If I’m doing everything right, why does it still feel wrong?”

Links

This is Women's Work Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-is-womans-work-with-nicole-kalil/id1493225373

Nicole's website: https://nicolekalil.com/

Order Nicole's book, Validation Is For Parking: https://www.amazon.com/Validation-Parking-Women-Beat-Confidence/dp/1544532695

Chapters

00:00 Introduction & Confidence vs. Appearance
03:27 Why Success Didn’t Feel Like Success
07:53 The Breaking Point After Her Promotion
10:01 The Messy Middle of Rebuilding Confidence
14:20 Defining Confidence as Internal Trust
18:42 From Achievement Addiction to Alignment
23:50 Rejection Sensitivity and People-Pleasing
27:33 The Book Launch Disaster: A Meltdown Moment
32:00 The Invisible Rejections of Publishing
36:51 Why She Doesn’t Lead With “Author”
39:13 Writing a Book = Birthing a Business Baby
42:23 How the Book Changed Her Business
47:22 Social Media, Comparison & Mental Health
50:44 Quitting Instagram—and What Happened Next
53:13 The Podcast as Her Most Authentic Platform
56:11 The “Secret Society” of Top Podcasters
59:42 Does the Podcast Make Money? (And Why She Keeps Going)
1:02:31 How to Find Nicole & What to Do Next

What happens when everything you’ve worked for starts to feel misaligned—but you’re too successful to quit and too scared to stay?

In this episode, Kelli Thompson, leadership coach and author of Closing the Confidence Gap, returns to the show to talk about the messy middle—what she calls the “Poop Soup” phase—when clarity hasn’t arrived, but your gut already knows it’s time for change.

Kelli shares the story of her own career pivot, the rejection that woke her up, and the internal unraveling that followed. We talk about why doubt is a feature, not a flaw, how to recognize the difference between fear and dread, and why some of the most important decisions in life come down to choosing peace over resentment.

If you’re stuck in limbo, secretly fantasizing about burning it all down, or waiting for someone to give you permission—this episode is for you.

Resources & Links:

📘 Kelli’s book, Closing the Confidence Gap
https://www.amazon.com/Closing-Confidence-Gap-Potential-Paycheck/dp/1637554206

🎙 More from Kelli Thompson
https://www.kelliraethompson.com/

📧 Grab Kelli's success toolkit
https://kelliraethompson.myflodesk.com/

Chapters:

00:00 The Rejection That Sparked a Career Change
06:18 What “Poop Soup” Feels Like
12:40 When Confidence Isn’t the Problem—Clarity Is
17:33 Choosing Peace Over Resentment
23:59 The Danger of But-First Thinking
31:21 What Happens When You Wait Too Long
38:05 Kelli’s Rule for Making Hard Decisions
42:47 Why Doubt Is a Sign of Growth
48:20 The Aftermath of Walking Away

Why did so many of us grow up believing we were too loud, too hairy, too much?

In this episode, journalist, author, and personal essayist Iman Hariri-Kia joins Alice to unpack how early media shaped our shame—and how she’s spent her adult life writing herself out of it. From reading Cosmo and Seventeen at an age when she barely understood her own body, to publishing her debut novel and watching it become eerily prophetic, Iman shares what it means to unlearn cultural conditioning, take up space on your own terms, and write the stories you never saw growing up.

They talk about beauty, desirability, being “passable,” and the exhausting performance of palatability. Iman opens up about how her work in personal essays helped her process identity shame—and how it also left her overexposed and burned out.

This episode is for anyone who’s ever felt unseen, unchosen, or forced to shrink themselves just to belong.

Links & Resources:

📚 Read Iman’s debut novel, A Hundred Other Girls: https://www.amazon.com/Hundred-Other-Girls-Novel/dp/1728247950/

📚 Read Iman's sophomore novel, The Most Famous Girl in the World: https://www.amazon.com/Most-Famous-Girl-World-Novel/dp/1728270618/

📝 Follow Iman on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/imanharirikia/

📰 More of Iman’s writing:
https://www.imanharirikia.com/

Chapters:

00:00 The Shame We Inherited From Teen Magazines
06:40 When Representation Still Centers Whiteness
10:15 Trying to Be Passable—and The Cost of It
13:33 Writing as a Way to Reclaim Power
17:55 Personal Essays, Parasocial Fatigue, and Overexposure
23:44 From Cultural Shame to Public Voice
27:52 The Scam Economy and Who We Forgive
31:20 On Writing a Novel That Became Uncomfortably Real
35:05 Rejection, Resilience, and Starting Over in Publishing

What do you do when business slows down, your confidence wavers, and you're tempted to disappear?

In this solo episode, Alice gets real about what it looks like to keep showing up in uncertain time, not because things feel easy or clear, but because she’s learned how to minimize regret, even when momentum stalls.

She shares the mental tug-of-war between self-protection and putting yourself out there, how internal rejection creeps in when you're not paying attention, and the one mindset shift that helps her stay in motion, even when fear tells her to pause everything.

If you’re wondering whether it’s worth it to keep showing up, this episode is for you.

In This Episode, Alice Covers:

• The invisible cost of hiding when things feel hard

• Why perfectionism is just rejection in disguise

• The regret minimization strategy she uses in business (and life)

• The power of internal rejection—and how to spot it before it stalls you

• How to get back in motion when everything feels uncertain

  Questions to ask yourself before hitting pause