Still Alice the book, sold 1M copies worldwide – a national bestseller. Still Alice the movie, sold $45M worth of tickets at the box office – and won an Academy Award. But back when neuroscientist Lisa Genova first penned the novel, it was rejected by 100 book agents. She was told no one would read a book about Alzheimer’s Disease, that the subject matter was too depressing and that neuroscientists shouldn’t write fiction.

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Cuban pitcher Yennier Cano was told he’d never make the Cuban National Series. Then when he tried to leave Cuba to play in the Majors, his government banned him from playing baseball. When he finally made it to America, Cano floundered in obscurity in the minors. Today he’s one of the best relievers in Major League Baseball.

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Tell us YOUR rejection story:

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Cataracts are the leading cause of blindness worldwide – 50% of the world’s blindness is a result of cataracts. For 200 years, treatment of the condition involved removing the lens of the eye and substituting the function of that lens with a pair of thick glasses. But in 1949, Dr. Harold Ridley had another idea. What if he replaced the natural lens of the eye with an artificial one? Well, let’s just say the field of ophthalmology didn’t see the vision.

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Each week on this podcast, we tell the stories of famous names who overcame debilitating career rejection. We’ve talked through the careers of actors, artists, authors, athletes and even an astronaut. But rejection affects us all. So this season, we wanted to hear from you.

We put out a call for your rejection stories.

You sent us voicemails, emails, comments, posts and messages. Take a listen.

Tell us YOUR rejection story, and you may be featured in an upcoming episode:

Record your voice: https://speak-to.us/rejection

Write to us: hello@apostrophepodcasts.ca

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This week it's our mid-season break, and that means an encore presentation of one of our most-loved episodes: Rejecting Pedro Pascal.

Pedro Pascal is the man of the moment. In 2020 he was named one of Entertainment Weekly’s Entertainers of the Year, and in 2023 he became one of the highest-paid actors on television. But only 10 years ago, Pascal was struggling to make rent, rejected for parts and told he was aging out of Hollywood – quick. Until one afternoon, when he picked up a script for a 30-something bisexual Lothario from the 15th century...

Tell us YOUR rejection story, and you may be featured in an upcoming episode:

Record your voice: https://speak-to.us/rejection

Write to us: hello@apostrophepodcasts.ca

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Online graphic design platform Canva is worth $26 billion. 85% of Fortune 500 companies utilize Canva, and its users span 190 countries. But when Australian entrepreneur Melanie Perkins pitched Canva to investors, she got the following feedback:

“Your headquarters are too far from Silicon Valley.”

“You didn’t go to Harvard, Stanford or MIT.”

“Your idea is too ambitious.”

“Your idea isn’t ambitious enough.”

And, “The market is too small.”

185 million monthly users later, Canva holds the title of world’s most valuable startup founded and led by a woman.

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Tell us YOUR rejection story:

Record your voice: https://speak-to.us/rejection

Write to us: hello@apostrophepodcasts.ca

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Over the past five years – and 85 episodes – we’ve come across so many rejection stories that aren’t long enough to fill an entire episode. But that doesn’t mean they're any less filled with insight. Join us this week for a special “Short Stories” podcast – the inspiring pint-sized rejection stories of Melissa McCarthy and Jennifer Aniston.

Before getting their big breaks on Gilmore Girls and Friends, both Melissa McCarthy and Jennifer Aniston were struggling actors in New York City. McCarthy landed auditions, but not parts. And eventually, she stopped landing auditions altogether. Meanwhile Aniston was landing parts – in low-budget sci-fi and horror comedies. Their careers were going nowhere and the rejection was crushing.

Aniston’s father, Days of Our Lives actor John Aniston, begged her to quit the business. McCarthy set a do-or-die date for her 30th birthday.

Tell us YOUR rejection story:

Record your voice: https://speak-to.us/rejection

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Hi – Sidney here. You may not recognize the name Bessie Coleman, so you may be wondering whether or not to tune into this episode. But, I highly encourage you to give it a listen. It’s a story our team – from our director Callie to our engineer Geoff – all declared one of their favourites of the entire series. Because it’s a story about the ripple effects of bravery. Coleman battled racism, sexism, poverty and rejection to – just 20 years after the Wright Brothers successfully flew the first controlled airplane – become the first Black woman pilot. What Coleman didn’t know, was that her resilience would inspire another incredible woman – whose story we’ve already told on this show. Turns out, the sky is not the limit.

Hope you’ll join us.

Tell us YOUR rejection story:

Record your voice: https://speak-to.us/rejection

Write to us: hello@apostrophepodcasts.ca

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