Rejection. We all hate it and sometimes fear it.
It can be hard when someone tells you "no", as it feels like all the hard work you put in was for nothing.
But if you want to succeed, one little word should not get in your way. Just look at these famous and brilliant women, who once upon a time were told "no" also.
Jessica Alba
This year Jessica Alba graced the cover of Forbes for the incredible success of her The Honest Company.
But it wasn't always so easy for the actress. In a recent interview with Forbes, Jessica was asked about the reactions she got while pitching The Honest Company during its first few years.
“It took three and a half years of condescending nods or pats on the back good luck.”
“Instead of the resistance holding me back, it pushed me forward. I almost needed it."
"I needed people telling me ‘no’ for me to figure out exactly what I was going to do and how I was going to do it.”
Anna Wintour
It surprised us all to hear that Anna Wintour was originally told “no” by the very industry she runs.
Yes, as a junior fashion editor, Anna was fired from Harper’s Bazaar for being too “edgy.” At a fashion industry conference in New York, she told the audience, “I worked for American Harper’s Bazaar. … They fired me."
"I recommend that you all get fired. It’s a great learning experience.”
Chloe Grace Moretz
Chloe is quite open about the prevalence of rejection in Hollywood. The 18-year-old star spoke to The Telegraph about how she handles constant rejection.
"You go up for hundreds, thousands of roles, and you get told no, no, no so many times. You have to have a tough skin; otherwise you'd get beaten down."
"But I'm not. I love getting told no ’cause then I fight even more."
Lady Gaga
Gaga was rejected from her first music label. She signed on with Def Jam Records in 2006 but then dropped three months later.
It was devastating to be dismissed from her dream vocation, but being rejected gave Gaga the time to experiment.
In an interview with E! News, Gaga said, “It was one of the worst days of my life and it happened quite quickly."
"If you give up after something like that, you were never destined to be an entertainer. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger."
Mindy Kaling
Not only is Mindy a phenomenal comedienne and actress, but she also writes and runs her own network television show, The Mindy Project.
In an interview with The Guardian, Mindy talked about a “humiliating experience” in which she was forced to audition for a sketch show that she was asked to write.
Yep, Mindy was asked to audition for the part of herself and was then rejected because she was “not considered attractive or funny enough.” Ouch.
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah started her on-air career as the first black female evening news anchor for Nashville CBS. After a few years, Oprah moved to Baltimore to be the evening co-anchor for WJZ-TV.
After only seven and a half months as a co-anchor, she was demoted to a poorly rated daytime show for being “too emotionally involved in the stories.
Within a year, that tiny show was renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show, and as her success scaled, she reached millions of people every day.
J.K. Rowling
Can you imagine life without Harry Potter? Nope,either can we. If J.K. Rowling hadn’t been fired from her job as a secretary, we might have had to suffer that sad reality.
Thankfully, when the HR department told Ms Rowling she was not cut out for secretarial work because she spent all of her working hours writing stories, she went on to write one of the most epic stories of our generation.
And we are so thankful!
