Willie O’Ree made history in 1958, when the Boston Bruin became the first Black player in the NHL. It is a heroic story of strength, courage and resilience. Hope you’ll join us.

The major source for this episode is Willie: The Game-Changing Story of the NHL's First Black Player by Willie O’Ree and Michael McKinley. 

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On “The Beatlology Interviews,” Biographer David Sheff talks to Terry about the rejection and resilience of Yoko Ono.

Listen to more Beatlology Interviews in the Under the Influence feed.

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The novel Slow Horses by Mick Herron tells the story of a team of disgraced MI5 agents assigned to a bureaucratic dumping ground known as Slough House. They’re, by all accounts, failures – demoted from top tier intelligence to basement busy work. That is, until a kidnapping case lands squarely on their dusty desks – thrusting the slow horses into fast paced espionage.

The irony? That book was rejected. For seven years. Then it was pitched as a television series – and rejected by multiple networks. 

To quote Slough House loser-in-chief Jackson Lamb: “They’re losers. But they’re my losers.”

Hope you’ll join us.

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Dawn Staley graduated high school National Player of the Year. She went on to become a two-time National College Player of the Year. She is a five-time WNBA All-Star, a three-time Olympic gold medallist and was the United States flag bearer at the 2004 Games. As a coach, she has won three NCAA titles, four National Coach of the Year titles, and the hall-of-famer coached Team USA to Olympic gold in 2020. Yet, Dawn Staley was told basketball was for boys. 

Hope you’ll join us.

The major source behind this episode is: "Uncommon Favor: Basketball, North Philly, My Mother, and the Life Lessons I Learned from All Three" by Dawn Staley.

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For our first episode back, we bring you the stories of two bad guys. Breaking Bad guys – Bryan Cranston aka Walter White and Giancarlo Esposito aka Gus Fring. Both spent decades bouncing around Hollywood. Both faced major rejection. Both the least suspecting drug overlords of all time. 

ICYMI, Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan has a rejection story of his own. The pilot for Breaking Bad was rejected by Showtime, FX, TNT & HBO. Find our "Rejecting Breaking Bad" episode here.

Hope you’ll join us.

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Hello from our summer hiatus. We hope you’re soaking up the rays. Whether you're on the road, on the job or on the dock, we thought you might enjoy another team favourite. This week our director Callie shares how she first learned about this two-time Academy Award nominated actor in one of her all-time favourite shows. 

Adam Driver is known for his roles in films like Marriage Story, BlacKkKlansman and the Star Wars franchise as Kylo Ren. But before landing his breakout role on HBO's Girls, Driver was rejected from Julliard, turned his Lincoln Town Car around before he reached Los Angeles and was medically discharged from the Marines prior to deployment. Broke and struggling to find his way, Driver made a bold decision: to apply to Julliard again. 

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Each week on this series, 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 one astronaut. But rejection affects us all. So we put out a call for listener rejection stories. Your stories.

They’re inspiring, they’re insightful, they’re remarkable. Take a listen.

P.S. We're on our summer hiatus starting this week – but – we'll be dropping some fun new Minis and listener faves from the past six years. Back into the regular season at the end of August. See you soon.

Tell us YOUR rejection story:

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

Write to us: [email protected]

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