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

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.

When Failure Is the Point: Joan Godoy on Why Taking Up Space Takes Nothing From Anyone Else

You've spent years making other people powerful. You built the thing, ran the coalition, trained the leaders, held the room together. Somewhere in all of that — you stopped asking what you want. Not the organization. Not the mission. You. This episode is the intervention. Joan Godoy is the CEO of Radical Partners, co-founder of Fuckup Nights Miami, and one of the most quietly radical builders in the social impact sector. She spent $1.5 million dollars a year amplifying other people's leadership. And then her executive coach asked her one question that froze everything — and set her free. By the end of this conversation, you will know exactly why you keep giving your authority away, what it is actually costing you, and the one move that starts building it back in your own name. Here's what you'll walk away with: * The question that will make you stop hiding behind the institution you built — and start claiming authority in your own name * Why failure is not a lesson to extract — it's the thing that made you brave enough to jump * How to know when a crisis is actually an invitation to build something nobody else has the guts to build * The hybrid model that saved Radical Partners — and why it applies to every woman sitting between two worlds afraid to claim either * Why the most dangerous move a builder makes is staying invisible inside the thing she created * The three Cs that tell you exactly where your authority lives — independent of any title, any org, any room that hasn't let you in yet * What it actually costs to step into the center — and why your coach has never asked you that question This is not an episode about Joan. This is an episode about the moment you stop building authority for everyone except yourself. CONNECT WITH JOAN:  radicalpartners.org  Instagram: @radicalpartners MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: 🔥 Fuckup Nights Miami — the global movement in 200+ cities built on one radical premise: go public with what didn't work 🏛️ Leadership Lab — Radical Partners' flagship five-month cohort for BIPOC community leaders, nearly 200 graduates deep 🌍 Global Shapers Community — World Economic Forum initiative where Joan first refused to give the accomplishment speech — and accidentally started a movement 📖 The Fuckup Nights Manifesto — the document that broke open a two-hour conversation that changed everything 🧠 Arathi Ramapushnam — the executive coach whose one question dismantled years of self-erasure 🎙️ Abstract on Netflix — why bold work always divides the room, and why that means you're doing it right TIMESTAMPS: 03:00 — The accomplishment speech she refused to give — and what happened when she told the truth instead 09:15 — Failure sucks, but it instructs: what shame actually is, where it comes from, and why you'll never outrun it 18:40 — How to know when to stay silent and when to act: the George Floyd moment that built Radical Partners' most powerful program 27:00 — The hybrid bet: how she moved from 90% grants to selling more than they raise — and what that unlocks for you 36:20 — The $1.5 million question: what it actually costs to make everyone else visible when you're still invisible yourself 42:00 — The one question your coach has never asked you — and why answering it changes everything 51:00 — The three Cs: how to locate your authority when it has nothing to do with your title, your org, or anyone's permission 55:30 — Rapid fire: Guatemala or Miami, the failure she won't applaud, bachata, and chocolate-covered humanity 📧 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.

Fear, Faith & Afro Bubblegum: Wanuri Kahiu on Following the Idea That Won't Let Go

From Creative Vision to Cultural Movement: Wanuri Kahiu on Funding Bold Ideas and Building a Brand Bigger Than Your Work In this rich and unfiltered conversation, award-winning Kenyan filmmaker Wanuri Kahiu — the director behind Rafiki and Hulu's Washington Black — gets radically honest about what it actually takes to bring a bold, unconventional creative vision to life. Because having the idea is one thing. Finding the belief, the village, and the funding to make it real? That's something else entirely. Wanuri breaks down: * Why excellence alone will never be enough — and what you actually need beyond craft * How she spent seven years pitching Rafiki before getting the yes that changed everything * Why a no is never the end — and how to turn rejection into the beginning of a relationship * How naming a movement (Afro Bubblegum) gave her community permission to claim their right to joy * What it means to understand yourself as a brand — and why that realisation set her free * Why the ideas that keep haunting you are the ones you're meant to follow * How to pitch your creative vision to funders when your story sits outside the dominant narrative Plus: Wanuri shares the daily four-hour practice that keeps her creative output consistent — and the dead-simple phone hack that makes it actually work. Chapters:  05:00 — When excellence isn't enough: redefining success on your own terms  07:14 — The creative process: from blank page to unshakeable belief  09:40 — The idea that keeps coming back — and why you must follow it  12:11 — Self-doubt, spirals, and the cycle every creative goes through  15:28 — Directing Washington Black and making mistakes at the highest level  21:50 — How to turn a no into the beginning of a relationship  40:44 — How to pitch when you're outside the dominant narrative  45:00 — The four-hour daily practice that changes everything Connect with Wanuri:  Website: wanurikahiu.com Instagram: @wanuri Resources mentioned in episode: 🎬 Washington Black — now streaming on Hulu 🎬 Rafiki — Wanuri's landmark Kenyan love story, funded in part by the World Cinema Fund 🎉 Blankets & Wine Festival, Nairobi — Wanuri's most Afro Bubblegum real-life experience 🎨 Afro Bubblegum — the cultural movement Wanuri co-founded celebrating African joy, imagination, and creative freedom 🎥 Children of Men (Alfonso Cuarón) — the film Wanuri credits with changing how she thinks about what the camera can do Nigerian designers mentioned: * Fruché * Zero + Maria Cornejo 📧 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.