Sasha Talks with Sasha Laghonh

Sasha Talks with Sasha Laghonh

Crafting an Impactful Pitch: Do's, Don'ts and Pitching Etiquette for Radio and Podcasts

In this solo edition of Sasha Talks, host Sasha Laghonh breaks down how to craft an impactful pitch for any radio show, podcast or media platform, sharing real-life do's and don'ts drawn from years of reviewing submissions herself.

Setting The Stage For Pitch Etiquette

Sasha Laghonh opens the broadcast from sashatalks.com, telling listeners the hour builds on advice she has shared previously on her private platforms about submitting a pitch to any community, network, radio station or host. She notes that terms of service and disclaimers apply, and that she speaks only from her own professional and personal experience as an independent contributor, not on behalf of BBS Radio Network. Having received pitches through many channels worldwide, she says she has seen plenty worth emulating alongside pitching etiquette and behaviors she discourages on any platform, in any capacity, on any continent. She promises listeners real-life examples of do's and vague real-life examples of don'ts before diving in. Recalling a lesson from a mentor years ago, she repeats that everything in life has a function, and if it lacks function, it doesn't matter. A pitch, she explains, is a chance to make an impression and share a preview of who you are and what you do, but it only matters if you let it.

Reading The Form Before You Submit

Sasha walks listeners through what she looks for when an open call or opportunity appears, whether posted on a website, mentioned in a magazine, or found on a show page. She urges candidates to study the format and requirements before filling anything out, asking whether there are guidelines or prerequisites and whether every field truly gets completed. She describes a recurring frustration: people rush through an entire form, check a box admitting they did not read the rules, then submit anyway, which she treats as an automatic delete. Pitches have come her way in the five figures, she says, and she deletes a large majority, by her estimate 65 to 70 percent, often without reading them fully. She explains how her own show's submission form works, noting that any blank required field shows up as incomplete on her end and gets discarded. Filling out the candidate's actual name matters too, she says, since agencies and representatives sometimes submit on someone else's behalf without making that relationship clear, leaving the eventual guest confused about who contacted them.

Terms, Availability, And Lending Your Voice

Sasha moves into the mechanics of a strong submission, encouraging a brief bio rather than a full life story, since a short overview helps a host judge fit quickly and narrows down scheduling against the show's own availability. She distinguishes complimentary community engagements from pay-to-play arrangements, cautioning that paying for access never guarantees acceptance and that a dignified pitch aligned with the host's genre still matters either way. She highlights the question most pitches skip entirely: whether the candidate explicitly accepts the terms of service and disclaimers that make the appearance a mutually beneficial, protected collaboration. Turning to the idea of lending one's voice and image, she explains that guests who appear on dozens of other podcasts sometimes balk when a station's terms spell out, in writing, that their voice and likeness will be used to promote the episode. She tells such reluctant guests plainly that declining to grant that permission defeats the purpose of pitching at all, since an interview cannot run on silence.

The Three Elements Every Pitch Needs

Sasha breaks down what she considers the basics of a well-built pitch: a premise, a frame of reference and a clear objective. The premise, she says, is the foundation that sets the focus of a proposed interview within its limited start and end time, and she faults many submitters for offering their whole life story instead of a single thread. The frame of reference asks how the proposed topic actually connects to the network or genre being pitched, and she contrasts long rambling pitches with one-line notes that simply say "include me as a contributor," both of which she deletes without hesitation. She compares a pitch lacking that connection to announcing you went to the bathroom without saying what happened afterward. The objective, she explains, is the optimal goal of the engagement, whether promoting a brand, continuing an educational conversation or resuming a prior professional dialogue. She singles out Hollywood brush-in encounters as one of the most overrated pitch themes she sees globally, since a passing celebrity sighting rarely carries enough substance to fill a 45- to 60-minute conversation.

The Do's: Manners, Patience, And Opportunity

Sasha offers a run of practical do's for anyone on the pitching circuit. Good manners, she insists, go a long way regardless of title or status, and exercising decorum when filling out a form shows respect for the time of everyone involved. She recounts a story from years ago of a male candidate with genuinely useful survival and prosperity content who, after being followed up on about a skipped question, responded with a multi-page written tirade; she deleted it after two sentences and treats the memory as proof that bad behavior is remembered no matter how far someone climbs. She encourages candidates to give every engagement their best, describing her own experience as a guest on major-market live radio where a strong five-minute appearance led a producer to invite her back weeks later for another slot. Being yourself, having fun without ego, and communicating promptly if an emergency prevents an appearance round out her list, alongside a reminder that pitching is a collaboration, not a transaction where the guest holds more leverage than the host.

The Don'ts, AI Warnings, And Closing

Turning to what to avoid, Sasha lists no shaming, no hating and no preaching, reminding candidates they will sometimes share a panel with strangers they may not personally like and must still remain respectful for the sake of the collaboration. She distinguishes aggressiveness, which she calls a neutral characteristic that can be mindfully channeled, from abrasiveness, which carries its own negative side effects. She warns candidates not to take it personally if a host does not recognize their name, noting there are billions of people on the planet and that anonymity can sometimes work in a new candidate's favor. Her strongest caution concerns artificial intelligence: she tells listeners to write their own pitches rather than rely on AI, since an obvious gap between a polished pitch and an unprepared guest gives any show the right to cut an interview short, and misrepresenting yourself wastes everyone's time. She closes by inviting writers, speakers and guests to visit sashatalks.com and the BBS Radio Network page to submit a profile, signing off for the week wishing listeners to be good, safe and blessed.

Sasha Talks with Sasha Laghonh

Win, Lose or Draw: Recognizing and Embracing Life's Opportunities

In this solo edition of Sasha Talks, host Sasha Laghonh explores how to recognize, create and respond to the opportunities that cross our paths, weaving in lessons on failure, flexibility, readiness and trusting one's own direction.

Recognizing Opportunities Hiding in Plain Sight

Sasha Laghonh opens the broadcast from sashatalks.com, framing the hour around the theme Win, Lose or Draw, and tells listeners that exploring opportunities is one of the top reasons people reach out to her for private services. She asks how many chances go unnoticed simply because people fail to recognize them, describing an opportunity as something offered by people, life or the universe to help a person grow, learn or succeed. These openings can be educational, business related, personal or social, she explains, and they arrive through both expected and unexpected means. Rejecting the idea that opportunity always announces itself brightly, she repeats advice she has given clients since her early days in practice: be careful what you wish for. She urges listeners to examine their own motives, warning that chasing something without understanding the why behind it, or without alignment to a higher good, can cause more harm than simply missing out.

Doors, Blessings, and Disguised Curses

Sasha turns to the idea that not every opportunity is meant to strengthen a person, noting that some chances look polished and feel good yet still fall outside someone's greater purpose. She explains that success can only be defined by the individual pursuing it, and that recognizing an opportunity depends on what a person looks for and whether they act on it. Not every opening is handed down by life or society, she says; sometimes a person must create their own opportunity by knocking on doors rather than waiting for one to appear. She cautions that a door opening does not automatically mean it is meant for someone, and that a closed door can be a blessing in disguise, sparing a person from detours into places they were never meant to belong. Whether a chance turns out to be a blessing, a curse or a breakthrough, she says, often cannot be known until it is actually embraced, since the same opportunity can affect different people in very different ways.

Learning From Loss and Failure

Sasha reframes loss as part of the process rather than something to fear, telling listeners that a small-margin loss does not discount hard work, and that failures often set people up for eventual success. She traces the philosophy behind Sasha Talks back to lessons learned through life experience, insisting there is no need to reinvent the wheel and that people should work with the resources, energy and knowledge already in front of them. Drawing on conversations with entrepreneurs she has interviewed over the years, she notes a common refrain to fail fast and move on, then asks what lessons are actually taken from that failure. She observes that ability and effort do not always travel together, since some people apply themselves without natural ability while others coast on talent without effort. Self development and professional development, she argues, cannot be fully separated, and she encourages listeners not to get too attached to titles, since holding onto them too tightly can become limiting over time.

Staying Flexible Through Life's Curveballs

Sasha shifts to the theme of flexibility, warning that people who dig in on decisions and outcomes without the ability to think differently can damage their mental, emotional and physical health over time. She reminds listeners that some changes unfold over months or years rather than hours or days, and that the real question each day is whether a person is progressing or regressing. Taking two steps back is not a failure, she says, so long as it does not become a lifestyle of backsliding that erodes the desire to keep moving forward. She gives listeners permission to have a bad day or several bad weeks, insisting what matters is the ability to eventually overcome those hurdles. She also addresses the unpredictability of life directly, noting that no one is immune to a curveball that turns life upside down overnight regardless of how organized or self-managed a person believes themselves to be, and that tomorrow is never truly promised to anyone.

Readiness Over the Perfect Moment

Sasha challenges the common belief that people miss opportunities by waiting for a perfect moment, arguing that a perfect moment rarely exists and that readiness is the better word to use. She describes clients who show signs of being ready to jump in but hesitate, and others who rush in only to crash and burn, reminding listeners that when they are truly ready, they will know, unless fear is allowed to dominate the decision. She warns against relying on another party to dictate one's own readiness, since not everyone learns their lessons on the same timeline, and stresses that the only person anyone can truly control is themselves. She frames free will as one of life's greatest gifts and encourages listeners of sound mind and health to exercise it. Turning to decision-making itself, she notes that people are often discouraged by fear of getting it wrong, but that practicing with small decisions, made from a grounded place rather than fear or impulsiveness, builds the ability to make larger ones well.

AI, Risk, and Finding Your Own Direction

Sasha turns to broader forces shaping opportunity today, addressing the anxiety many businesses feel about the rise of AI. Drawing on roughly twenty-five years in tech spaces, she says she has seen organizations operate years ahead of the learning curve and others fall significantly behind, and argues that fear about AI taking jobs is partly hype, comparing the moment to the dot-com boom of the mid and late nineteen-nineties, when much of what existed online later disappeared. Her advice to those who remain skilled and keep developing themselves is that they can coexist with the changes. She closes by urging listeners to take calculated, educated risks, to apply good judgment rather than blind trust in titles or seniority, and to audit which opportunities this year turned into blessings, challenges or problems still unresolved. Quoting Rumi, that what you seek is seeking you, she reminds listeners to be careful what they wish for, and invites them to visit sashatalks.com and reach out through the contact page before signing off for the week.

Sasha Talks with Sasha Laghonh

Around the World in More Than 80 Days: Faith, Freedom, and Global Perspective with Larry Alex Taunton

Author and cultural commentator Larry Alex Taunton joins Sasha Laghonh to talk about his book Around the World in More Than 80 Days, sharing stories from Nigeria to China and warning about growing threats to free speech in America.

A Book Sparked By Colin Kaepernick

Sasha Laghonh opens the show by introducing Larry Alex Taunton, the American author, columnist and cultural commentator known for appearances on CNN, Fox News, Al Jazeera America and the BBC, and for previous books including The Grace Effect and The Faith of Christopher Hitchens. She welcomes him to talk about his newest work, Around the World in More Than 80 Days, and asks how long the project took to complete. Taunton explains that three years of research and travel preceded roughly eight months of actual writing. Asked what prompted him to test whether America still deserves its reputation for greatness, he points to Colin Kaepernick, the former NFL quarterback whose kneeling protests and alliance with Nike struck Taunton as symptomatic of a generation ignorant of both its own opportunities and the realities of life elsewhere. He set out, he tells Sasha, to demonstrate both points at once.

Mapping A Global Itinerary

Sasha asks whether Taunton planned his route or improvised as he assessed each country's climate. He describes a carefully constructed itinerary built around a short list of nations that could plausibly compete for the title of world's greatest country, alongside former Marxist states and African nations grappling with the spread of Islam, chosen to give readers a fuller picture of how most of the world actually lives under some form of authoritarian rule. The project, he says, visited 35 countries in all, though eight were left out of the final book to keep it readable, with 26 countries making the cut. He credits Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days as inspiration for the adventure format, noting that his team used the same variety of transportation Phileas Fogg once did. The result, he says, is meant to entertain while quietly educating readers about the wider world beyond America's borders.

Surprises, Middle Class, And Traveling Sons

Despite having already visited roughly 40 countries before this trip, Taunton tells Sasha he still encountered surprises, discovering that Donald Trump carries real popularity in non-Islamic parts of Africa and that Americans are unexpectedly well liked in Vietnam. He insists the book is not a blanket celebration of the United States, since the journey also revealed things worth admiring elsewhere. Sasha asks about the American middle class compared with its counterparts abroad, and Taunton argues it remains better off, though he warns that could erode under different tax and economic policy. Two of his three sons, Christopher and Zachary, joined him for portions of the trip, though he kept them away from the most dangerous stops. Zachary documented the journey in video blogs for his own generation, and Taunton says both sons, already well traveled and loving of their country, came home with a deepened appreciation for the United States.

Danger In Nigeria And A Denied Visa

The conversation turns to risk, and Taunton recounts traveling to Nigeria at the invitation of a bishop to document Christian persecution, citing a figure of roughly 100,000 Christians killed globally each year, mostly by Muslims. He describes being driven six hours through territory patrolled by Fulani herdsmen militia, hidden in a darkened Toyota Sequoia, and visiting villages where families had been murdered or enslaved. He declined an offer of armed security, reasoning it would make him a bigger target, and instead relied on blending in and following local advice, noting that even a concealed handgun would be useless against the AK-47s common in such regions. Sasha asks about visa troubles tied to his profession, and Taunton reveals China denied him entry after he refused to sign a pledge not to write anything negative about the country, though he had already visited Hong Kong seven times during the trip.

Warnings About Censorship And The First Amendment

Asked whether the First Amendment is being abused, Taunton says he sees Chinese-style censorship taking hold in America, pointing to social media platforms shutting down accounts belonging to the sitting president, his press secretary, and The New York Post. He argues Americans have historically been trusted to weigh distasteful or sensational speech for themselves, and that ceding that judgment to tech companies is dangerous. Pressed on where the First Amendment stands in five years, he predicts the United States is drifting toward the restricted speech norms of Britain, France and Germany, and warns the Second Amendment could face similar erosion if Joe Biden is elected. He places responsibility on a culture that abandoned real dialogue in favor of silencing disagreement, cautioning listeners who cheer today's censorship that the same tools will eventually be turned on them. He also laments widespread ignorance among young Americans about the history and human cost of Marxism.

Debates, Future Books, And Where To Find Him

Sasha asks about Taunton's history of public debate through his nonprofit, Fixed Point Foundation, which pitted him and colleagues like John Lennox and Dinesh D'Souza against atheists including Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins and Michael Shermer. He says he now hopes to challenge media figures pushing Marxist ideas, questioning whether they are ignorant of history or simply indifferent to it. Looking ahead, he mentions a novel in progress and early notes toward a dual biography of Karl Marx and the London preacher Charles Spurgeon, contemporaries who never met but competed for the same souls. He advises aspiring writers to skip journalism school, and shares that his adopted daughter's Ukrainian passport once got her turned away in Paris despite his own American passport working fine. Sasha closes by asking listeners to find him at larryalextaunton.com and to seek out Around the World in More Than 80 Days at major retailers.

Embracing A New Season With Direction

Finding Your True North: Moving Into a New Season With Clarity, Trust, and Direction

Recognizing the Season You Are In

The episode centers on the idea that every stage of life has a beginning, a purpose, and an eventual ending, and that moving into a new season requires more than simply choosing a destination. The host encourages listeners to ask where they are being directed and what kind of transition they are experiencing, whether personal, professional, entrepreneurial, spiritual, or relational. Change may arrive gradually or suddenly, and the speaker emphasizes that methods and coping strategies that worked in the past may no longer be suitable for a new chapter. The recurring principle is that “old ways won't open new doors.” Listeners are encouraged to recognize when it is time to move forward rather than waiting for circumstances to force the decision.

Using Direction to Reduce Confusion

Direction is presented as a way to give purpose to transition and reduce mental, emotional, and practical confusion. The host says that people may seek counsel, consultation, or other sources of clarity, but ultimately they must exercise their own judgment and free will. A destination can change, and a person may decide to continue, pause, choose a period of respite, or pursue something different. The speaker cautions against impulsiveness and encourages listeners to consider what needs to be invited into their lives and what needs to be released. Time itself is also discussed as a resource, with the point that having more hours would not necessarily make an unproductive person more productive if the underlying habits remained unchanged.

Releasing What No Longer Fits

A reflective practice is offered in which listeners periodically ask what they need to change, implement, or remove from their lives. This can include mindsets, speech patterns, decisions, behaviors, habits, relationships, opportunities, or emotional attachments. The host describes beliefs as repetitive thoughts that can be developed and also dissolved over time, and urges listeners to distinguish life-giving beliefs from those that sabotage growth. Letting go may require mourning, but the speaker frames that mourning as part of acknowledging and honoring what once existed. Clearing out what no longer belongs is presented as a necessary part of making space for what is new.

Listening, Solitude, and Personal Judgment

The host emphasizes listening inwardly and repeats the idea that people hear with their ears but listen with their hearts. Opportunities and advice may come from other people, personal experience, intuition, or circumstances, but not every open door is automatically the right door. Periods of reduced social engagement or isolation can help remove noise and distraction so a person can listen more clearly. The speaker also argues that closed doors often become catalysts for growth because they force movement that might otherwise have been postponed. Throughout this section, judgment remains central: even seemingly positive signs require thoughtful interpretation rather than automatic action.

Trusting the Process While Staying Flexible

Trust is explored as something that develops over time rather than appearing instantly. The host compares life direction with navigation, explaining that people may have signs and a destination but still need to course-correct as circumstances change. Adjusting a plan does not mean abandoning a goal or losing one's identity; instead, it means living proactively and mindfully in real time. The unknown is described as a kind of fog that can help build patience and trust. The speaker also challenges listeners to consider what they are doing while waiting, arguing that patience should still involve growth, preparation, and meaningful use of time.

Readiness, Action, and the Moving-Car Principle

The final portion distinguishes being merely open to change from being ready to receive and act on an opportunity. Through the example of a client pursuing a career opportunity in another country, the host argues that people sometimes self-sabotage while claiming to want a particular outcome. Readiness involves belief, effort, recognition of opportunities, and willingness to embrace the result when it arrives. The episode closes with the metaphor that the universe can direct a moving car more easily than a parked car, encouraging listeners to take action rather than wait passively for life to change. The host invites people to enter the new season with strength, clarity, gratitude, and a willingness to release what no longer serves them.

SEO Keywords / Key Phrases

embracing a new season, finding life direction, personal transformation, navigating life changes, trusting the process, letting go and moving forward, self-development and clarity, overcoming self-sabotage, preparing for new opportunities, building confidence in change

Please Enough With The Niceness

The Power Of Choices

Healing Our Bodies Through Forgiveness

Independent Voices, Spiritual Truth, and the Future of Media

A Media Platform Built from Conversation

The episode begins with Douglas Newsom explaining the origin of BBS Radio, describing how his twin brother Donald’s early blogging and recorded phone conversations evolved into live internet broadcasting. Douglas traces the company’s development from Blog-In Service to Blog-In Broadcasting Service and then to BBS Radio, emphasizing that the network grew organically from conversations, recordings, streaming, and live participation. He presents BBS Radio as an early new-media platform built around distribution, independent voices, and a willingness to let hosts bring forward the information they believe matters.

The Challenge of Independent Media

Douglas discusses how media distribution became dominated by aggregators, large platforms, advertisers, and gatekeepers. He describes BBS Radio’s model as an upside-down approach that charges hosts for distribution rather than depending on advertisers or sponsors. In his view, this choice helped preserve editorial independence, because relying on advertising revenue can lead to pressure over what hosts and networks are allowed to say. He frames BBS Radio as a bottom-up platform where many viewpoints can be heard instead of being dictated by a top-down information structure.

Technology, AI, and the Need to Evolve

A major theme of the conversation is the pressure technology places on media companies. Douglas explains that websites, streaming, artificial intelligence, automation, transcripts, social distribution, categorization, and search are all becoming essential to survival. He argues that AI can help transform audio content into written text, summaries, keywords, graphics, newsletters, and stronger promotional systems for hosts. Both Douglas and Donald describe the need to upgrade software, hardware, servers, and systems quickly enough to keep pace with the rapidly changing media landscape.

Truth, Kindness, and Spiritual Understanding

The interview moves into deeper reflections on truth, power, secrecy, and spirituality. Douglas says he believes history is being revised and that truth can be obscured when words and meanings are manipulated. He also explains his spiritual belief that information is written into the body and is never truly lost. Later, he speaks about kindness as “love in action,” describing it as one of the most important qualities people can bring forth in themselves and toward others. This theme carries through his recollections of support after personal hardship.

Writing, Loss, and Inner Transformation

In the Writers Series portion, Douglas describes how poetry first introduced him to writing and how he studied structure, meter, and tone by rewriting poems in his own words. He recounts painful experiences in finance, business deals, and lost opportunities that led him to write an unpublished manuscript called Doom the Deal. He also describes a period of retreat, meditation, forgiveness, and spiritual awakening that inspired another unpublished work, The Bible to Self-Awareness. His writing emerges from personal pain, observation, spiritual experience, and a desire to process what he has lived.

The Future of BBS Radio and the Call for Support

The episode closes with Douglas and Donald discussing BBS Radio’s GoFundMe campaign and broader need for support. They explain that the network has survived fires, a flood, financial strain, and years of personal sacrifice, while continuing to serve hosts and listeners. They invite supporters to contribute through the GoFundMe link or other donation options on the BBS Radio website, while also saying that encouragement for hosts and engagement from listeners are meaningful forms of support. The final message centers on keeping independent voices alive, strengthening the network, and building a future where writers, hosts, and creators can reach a wider audience.

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independent media, internet broadcasting, new media platform, media technology, artificial intelligence in media, GoFundMe campaign, spiritual awareness, writing insights, independent voices, truth and kindness

Loyalty, Do You Have What It Takes

Clinical Psychologist, Dr Tracey Zielinski