On Rejection: Alexander Mae
This week, Alexander Mae is joining us from Rodeo Break and I’m pumped to have her because she’s not only one of the funniest women I’ve ever had the pleasure of sharing a Zoom call with, but she also does some really great pop culture analysis. See: “Valley Girls can be born anywhere” a post that manages to roast Justin Bieber, correctly dismiss the Super Bowl as pointless, and analyze the Paris Hilton to Julia Fox pipeline.
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Tell us about a time you experienced rejection.
My signature line is that I moved to LA to become a star and all I became was blonde. I was in and out of auditions multiple times a week, sometimes several in a day, and I heard ‘no’ what felt like every time. But, if I’m looking back with that promised 20/20 vision, I see that I wasn’t in the right space to hear ‘yes’. Sometimes I think rejection is protecting you from a path you weren’t meant to be on yet.
How did you get over it?
There is a trend going around on TikTok right now encouraging kids to be delusional: assume you’re capable of achieving whatever you want, expect that you can have any life you dream up. I think my innate delusion and subtle god complex is my superpower. Even in the face of rejection, something in the back of my mind just reminds me that it’s not my time *right now* but I never have wavered on if my time will come.
If you could go back and tell yourself anything right before that experience, what would you say?
Stop feeling like you’re “lucky to be here”— you made this happen for yourself, stand in that power!
Are there any big pop culture moments that inform how you think of rejection and moving on? (Honestly the Jen & Brad split is one for me!)
I mean, there are so many.
I still think about the commencement speech Beyonce gave to the class of 2020, specifically this quote: “Don't talk about what you're gonna do. Don't just dream about what you're gonna do. Don't criticize somebody else for what they're not doing. You be it. Be about it. Be about that action, and go do it.”
I remind myself of this quote all the time because it is just so me to talk about something with every person I come across before I actually “be about that action.” I’m still working on this!
I even look at Kravis (which pains me to mention): Kourtney asked Scott for exactly what she wanted/needed for so many years and never wavered on if she deserved that from him or not. Now here she is, with MGK’s tethered, living her best life in short shorts.
Or what about Spencer Pratt?? He was a professional villain for the entirety of my adolescence and now he’s making homemade nectar for his hummingbirds and talking— ad nauseam— about the inner workings of reality tv. I love this redemption story because instead of shying away from the industry that labeled him a bad guy, he’s leaned all the way in and is exposing their hand. And doing it in flower crowns!
What are you working on now?
Rodeo Break podcast is underway! This has been a goal of mine since Rodeo Break was but a sparkle in my eye. I’m excited to exercise my biggest passion in this life: speaking.
Other than that, Rodeo Break comes out every week on Substack and I’m working hard on growing our social presence on Instagram.
