She Grew Up Between Two Worlds. Now She's Changing How Money Moves Between Them | Alicia DeLia Part 2/2

AI Wants to Erase You. Here's How I Use Clause to Sharpen My Talks & Essays.

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 fought to get into.  The fix isn't to stop using AI. It's to stop letting AI write for you, and start using it as the most ruthless editor you've ever had. Magogodi walks through the exact process she used to write an application against 1,300 people — owning every first draft herself, then handing it over to sharpen, fact-check and remember what she forgot. And she's been edited by big thinkers at the Iowa Writer's Workshop, Harvard Review and W.W.Norton, so she doesn't say "ruthless editing" lightly. In this episode, Magogodi breaks down: * Why you own the first draft, every time—so the thinking stays yours, plus the voice-note hack for when you freeze * The five words that turn AI into a beast editor—and why they surface what most human editors miss * How to use AI as your fact-checker and your memory bank—the kind that sifts your own life and hands you back the story you forgot was the best part * How to protect your idiosyncrasies—your singular unique phrasing, weird jokes and tone— so your talk still sounds like a human, not a panel * Why ethics matters around here, and why use Claude over the rest. Your authority is in how unmistakably yourself you sound when you connect with folks through the real AF human stuff they're navigating. Used right, AI doesn't flatten that —it makes you clearer, sharper and more obviously, you. When you're done, do the one thing no machine can do for her: rate Madame Speaker Says 5 stars on Apple Podcasts and leave a review. 🔔 Subscribe to Madame Speaker Says — new episodes every Sunday. madamespeakersays.com Chapters  00:00 Introduction & What You'll Learn Today  02:00 The Fear: AI Is Making You Sound Like Everyone Else  04:00 The Machine Is Trained for Smooth — and Smooth Is Forgettable  06:00 Move 1: Own the First Draft — Pretend the Internet Doesn't Exist  08:30 The Voice-Note Hack for When You Freeze  10:30 Move 2: "Show Me My Blind Spots" — AI as Beast Editor  14:00 Move 3: AI as Your Fact-Checker — More rigorous than The New Yorker  17:00 Move 4: AI as a Memory Bank That Sifts for What Matters  20:30 Move 5: Protect Your Idiosyncrasies — Keep the Weird Jokes  24:00 Why Claude, and Why Ethics Matter Around Here  27:00 Your Move This Week  29:00 The Whole Damn Talk — Work with Magogodi Resources Mentioned:  🤖 Claude — claude.ai  📚 Innards — https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324051008 [https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324051008] Work with Magogodi  The Whole Damn Talk — 3 hours, one-on-one. Your hook, your spine, your one-liner, your business case. Built from scratch. Five spots a month.  Learn More → madamespeakersays.com 📧 JOIN [https://lovekindcure.kit.com/9a6eb6b63e] -  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 [https://madamespeakersays.com] for 1:1 coaching to transform your voice into your greatest asset.

She Grew Up Between Two Worlds. Now She's Changing How Money Moves Between Them | Alicia DeLia Part 2/2

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, Alicia — founder of Buen Vivir Capital Institute — goes deep on the building of something entirely new. She tells the story of growing in a multi-class family, with ambassadors on her Cameroonian chief father's side and watching her Salvadoran immigrant mother put in overtime to make sure the check cleared for her school field trip. That childhood became the architecture of everything Alicia is building.  Alicia breaks down: * What Buen Vivir actually means — the Ubuntu of Latin America — and why pairing an Indigenous philosophy with a capital institute is not an oxymoron, it's the point * How growing up multi-class — not just multiracial — shaped her entire approach to fundraising and who gets funded * Why she built an institute and not a fund — and what thinking in 40-year infrastructure actually looks like * The real reason she chose Mexico City over New York or DC for her launch — and what it teaches women in leadership about where to seek your first yes * Why "it's fun to do capital this way" is not soft — it's the most subversive thing you can say in a funding room * How to curate a room where power shifts without anyone having to announce it Haven't listened to Part 1? Go back. This conversation builds on everything there. 🔔 Subscribe to Madame Speaker Says — new episodes every Sunday. madamespeakersays.com Chapters  00:00 Introduction & What You'll Learn Today  03:30 Why She Left the Consulting Seat  07:00 Growing Up Multi-Class — Ambassadors and $15 Field Trips in the Same Week  13:00 What Buen Vivir Actually Means — The Ubuntu of Latin America  18:30 Pairing Something Sacred With a Term Sheet  24:00 "I Don't Think There's a Cost in Putting It There"  29:00 Why She Chose Mexico City Over New York or DC  35:00 How to Curate a Room Where Power Shifts  40:00 It's Fun to Do Capital This Way  44:00 Right Relationship — Credit to Jessica Norwood and RUNWAY  48:00 Building for 40 Years — Why It's an Institute Not a Fund  52:00 The Money Game — Rapid Fire  57:00 The Whole Damn Talk — Work with Magogodi Resources Mentioned:  📚 The Body Keeps the Score — Bessel van der Kolk  🌺 VidaAfroLatina — Lori Robinson → vidaafrolatina.org  Connect with Alicia  🔗 LinkedIn: Alicia DeLia  🏢 Buen Vivir Capital Institute: linkedin.com/company/buen-vivir-capital-institute Get Madame Speaker Says Coaching The Whole Damn Talk in 3 hours. Your hook, your spine, your one-liner, your business case. Built from scratch. Five spots a month. → madamespeakersays.com #ImpactInvesting #WomenInPhilanthropy #BlackWomenLeaders #BuenVivir #MadameSpeakerSays 📧 JOIN [https://lovekindcure.kit.com/9a6eb6b63e] -  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 [https://madamespeakersays.com] for 1:1 coaching to transform your voice into your greatest asset.

Fundraising for Other People's Stories: Alicia DeLia on Taking Up Space in Impact Investing — Part 1

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 the sector she believed in get watered down — from bold, disruptive activism into "profit as usual with a sprinkle of impact." In Part 1 of this two-part conversation, Alicia breaks down what it actually takes to take up space in impact investing when the sector wasn't designed to see you — not as a leader, not as a founder, not as someone whose story is fundable. Alicia breaks down : * Why following your curiosity is more reliable than following your purpose  * How to know when you've outgrown your plant pot — before you talk yourself into staying  * What the impact investing sector got wrong — and what taking up real estate in a broken space actually looks like  * How a woman singing in Spanish in a side room at a conference in Atlanta became one of the most important partnerships in Alicia's work  * Why the ancestors conspire — and how to train yourself to follow the signal In Part 2, Alicia breaks down the building of Buen Vivir Capital Institute — the philosophy, the Mexico City launch, and what relational infrastructure actually means for women moving capital in 2026. Subscribe now so Part 2 lands straight in your feed. Chapters 00:00 Introduction & What You'll Learn Today  03:30 Meet Alicia DeLia — 20 Years in the Money Game  07:00 The Belief You Have to Shed Over and Over to Take the Leap  11:30 Your Body Knows Before Your Brain Does  14:00 Follow Your Curiosity — Not Your Purpose  17:30 "I Never Feel Like the Boxes Are Checked. I Just Do It."  22:00 Where Does Audacity Actually Come From?  26:00 The Worst Case Scenario Is Lovely Most of the Time  30:00 What's Wrong With Impact Investing Right Now  35:30 "The Gatekeeping Is So 40 Years Ago"  38:00 The Woman Singing in Spanish — And What the Ancestors Knew  44:00 On Not Shedding What Is Sacred to Do This Work  48:00 Right Relationship — What Capital Can Actually Feel Like  51:00 The Whole Damn Talk — Work with Magogodi Resources Mentioned: 📚 The Body Keeps the Score — Bessel van der Kolk  🌺 VidaAfroLatina — Lori Robinson → vidaafrolatina.org Connect with Alicia 📸 Instagram: @adelia4peace  🔗 LinkedIn: Alicia DeLia  🏢 Buen Vivir Capital Institute: linkedin.com/company/buen-vivir-capital-institute Get Madame Speaker Says Coaching The Whole Damn Talk — 3 hours. Your hook, your spine, your one-liner, your business case. Built from scratch. Five spots a month. → madamespeakersays.com #ImpactInvesting #WomenInPhilanthropy #BlackWomenLeaders #BuenVivir #MadameSpeakerSays 📧 JOIN [https://lovekindcure.kit.com/9a6eb6b63e] -  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 [https://madamespeakersays.com] for 1:1 coaching to transform your voice into your greatest asset.

How to Give a Keynote When You're an Expert — Not a Speaker

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 keynote for you. Clarity will. Structure will. The right story will. In this solo episode, host Magogodi gives you three concrete moves to build a keynote that sounds like you, commands the room, and travels long after you leave the stage. You will walk away knowing how to:  * Name what you actually stand for, not your title, your argument * Find the one story that makes your authority land and stick * Build the 90-second spine that becomes your keynote and rewrites your bio No speechwriter. No TED coach. Three public speaking moves. Doable before your keynote date. Ready to build your whole talk?  The Whole Damn Talk is a 3-hour one-on-one intensive. We build your keynote from scratch — hook, spine, one-liner, business case. Five spots a month. madamespeakersays.com. Chapters: 00:00 You're Not Being Rejected. You're Not Even on the List.  02:30 What You're Walking Away With — Stay for All Three Moves  04:00 Your Excellence Is Not Going to Save You. Here's What Will.  06:30 "I Don't Have a Talk Right Now" — And Why That Sentence Is the Problem 09:00 Lebo Mashile: She Built the Vision Before Anyone Co-Signed It 13:00 Wanuri Kahiu: She Named the Genre Before the Genre Existed  17:30 Dr. Kemi Doll: She Made Her Excellence Impossible to Ignore  21:30 Move 1 — Name It. Your Argument. Not Your Title.  25:00 Move 2 — Find the One Story That Proves You're Right  28:00 Move 3 — Build the 90-Second Talk That Gets You on the Shortlist  31:00 The Whole Damn Talk — What We Build Together in 3 Hours  34:30 Your Work Will Not Speak for Itself. That's Your Job. Episodes Mentioned 🎙️ Dr. Kemi Doll: Your Excellence Is Not Enough. On Black Women's Health, Authority & Building in Public → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/madame-speaker-says/id1814213243?i=1000767012758 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/madame-speaker-says/id1814213243?i=1000767012758] 🎙️ Fear, Faith & Afro Bubblegum: Wanuri Kahiu on Following the Idea That Won't Let Go → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/madame-speaker-says/id1814213243?i=1000763653315 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/madame-speaker-says/id1814213243?i=1000763653315] 🎙️ Fame, Shame & The Freak Show Part II: Lebo Mashile on Turning Pain Into Power → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/madame-speaker-says/id1814213243?i=1000762218836 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/madame-speaker-says/id1814213243?i=1000762218836] Work With Magogodi  The Whole Damn Talk — 3-hour private coaching intensives. Learn More → More madamespeakersays.com 📧 JOIN [https://lovekindcure.kit.com/9a6eb6b63e] -  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 [https://madamespeakersays.com] for 1:1 coaching to transform your voice into your greatest asset.

Dr. Kemi Doll: Your Excellence Is Not Enough. On Black Women's Health, Authority & Building in Public

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 Doll is a double board-certified gynecologic oncologist, Professor at the University of Washington, Founding Director of The GRACE Center, co-founder of ECANA — the first-ever national advocacy organization for Black women with uterine cancer — and the author of A Terrible Strength, out now. She spent over a decade inside the institution doing the science no one else would do. And then she posted on Instagram and sent out a survey — and built a movement. By the end of this conversation, you will know exactly why your excellence has been working against your authority, what it actually cost her to build in public, and the one move that changes everything — starting this week. Here's what you'll walk away with: * Your work will never speak for itself — and brilliant women who keep waiting for it to become footnotes * A fellowship office, 5:30 PM, one tap on the shoulder — and who gets to write the story of your excellence * The Instagram post and survey that became ECANA — and the architecture behind turning a decade of expertise into a movement * She stopped doing one thing — and it unlocked everything * Why she flew Black women with uterine cancer to Hawaii — and what institutional tools look like in service of community * What visibility actually costs — and the thing everyone's scared of that nobody says out loud * What your body has been trying to tell you that the medical system decided you didn't need to know * Fearlessness is a scam — here's what you actually do with the fear This is an episode about the moment you stop letting other people write the story of what your excellence means. Chapters 00:00 — Introduction 03:00 — The tap on the shoulder: who gets to write the story of your excellence 11:00 — The one thing she stopped doing that unlocked everything 19:30 — The Instagram post, the survey, and the birth of ECANA 28:00 — The Hawaii meeting: institutional tools in service of community 36:00 — Survivor-led, not physician-led: how stepping back compounds authority 43:30 — The real cost of visibility — and the fear nobody names out loud 50:00 — A Terrible Strength and what your body has been trying to tell you 57:00 — Rapid fire: fearlessness, the wildest dream, and building your ECANA 📧 JOIN [https://lovekindcure.kit.com/9a6eb6b63e] -  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 [https://madamespeakersays.com] for 1:1 coaching to transform your voice into your greatest asset.