Hacking Luck with Stephanie Melodia

Stephanie Melodia almost didn't exist. In 1979 her mom took one look at a French campsite, declared she wasn't spending a single night there, and marched back to the travel agent. That rerouted her to a hotel in Sicily, where her dad was working as a barman. Cue: meeting, marriage, and Stephanie. That's the setup for her signature talk on hacking luck. The luckiest thing that's ever happened to any of us is being born. The odds are so absurd they'd fill 12 Harry Potter books with zeros. But this episode isn't a feel-good lottery story. It's a working session on speaker market fit, money mindset, and why charging your worth isn't selfish. It's the opposite. Eve and Stephanie met as mentors on the One Day MBA program. Two ex-actresses, two marketing founders, two speakers. They agree on almost everything and have a blast fighting about the rest. --- ## Key Takeaways **On hacking luck:** - The luckiest thing you'll ever have in common with anyone is being alive right now. Run the odds and the number is too big to say out loud. - Stephanie's framework is 8 core principles across mindset and practical action to stack the odds in your favor. **On the confidence nosedive:** - Little girls strut around like princesses. Then puberty hits and confidence falls off a cliff. Stephanie pinpoints her exact moment: 14, outside a classroom, on an overcast morning. - Boys develop slower, so they skip that brutal early soul-search. Stephanie's take: women come out the other side more self-aware for it. Eve's take: it's a pain in the ass either way. **On getting paid to speak:** - Conferences don't pay unless you're the headliner (Gary Vee, Michelle Obama). The people who least need the fee are the ones who get it. - The real budget lives in private client gigs, workshops, and training. Keynotes are a slow-burn personal-brand play, not a paycheck. - Speaker market fit is real. Try to speak to everyone and you speak to no one. Stephanie burned 3–4 years on dead-end topics before "hacking luck" caught fire. - Your speaking should earn money now, later, or both. If it isn't, you're wasting your time. **On women and money:** - Speaking for free doesn't just shortchange you. It conditions every client to expect free from the next woman too. Charge fairly and you protect your whole industry. - Doing good in the world and getting paid well are not in conflict. If you want to make the world better, start with your own. - Eve's $17,500 day, and why making money should make you feel like a goddess, not guilty. --- ## One thing to do today Put your speaker rate on a piece of paper. Pick the biggest number that doesn't make you laugh. Send it. --- ## About Stephanie Stephanie Melodia is a speaker, trainer, and mentor who incorporated her first business — a bootstrapped marketing consultancy for startups — on 24 November 2017. Public speaking grew out of that, and reawakened a childhood dream of performing. Today she splits her work between practical training workshops and keynote speaking on hacking luck. **Find Stephanie:** - LinkedIn: Stephanie Melodia - Instagram: @stephmelodia - Web: Visit her site --- ## Connect with TBE - Membership: tbe.ditchthebra.com - All episodes: https://ditchthebra.com