About Hustling Writers

On a mission to make publicity easy and accessible

The experts in storytelling and podcast publicity for underrepresented entrepreneurs. 🙂
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ABOUT HUSTLING WRITERS

Ready to take

ownership of your stories?

Do you want to live in a world that is more equitable? A world where women have access to 50% of venture capital funding — instead of a mere 2%? Or a world where an entrepreneur in Nigeria can easily access financial services and launch their online business, instead of facing blacklists and sanctions from most financial technology companies?

Us too.

While you go out and create this world, we will get your stories into the world.

As PR strategists, our proudest accomplishment is helping clients build equitable companies that leave a lasting impact in the world.

When disruptive entrepreneurs dare to speak up and tell their stories — remarkable things happen.

Alice launched Hustling Writers in 2020. Tšhegofatšo Ndabane, our Chief Storyteller and in-house psychologist (just kidding, but she is completing her Masters in clinical psychology) joined the team in 2021. In this time, we have helped a small handful of retainer clients (most of whom are still with us) share pivotal stories, boost book publicity, raise their rates, grow their platforms and credibility, and most importantly, transform their clients’ and audiences’ lives. 

Tšhegofatšo and I have written for Refinery29, VICE, Business Insider, Greatist, Well+Good, HuffPost, and countless other regional, national, and international publications.

Are you ready to amplify the disruptive work you were born to do?

Get in contact and let’s make publicity accessible ⚡

Ever dreamt of being a prominent podcast guest?

Have you ever wondered what the most popular speakers, consultants, and authors’ secret was to securing guest speaking spots on top podcasts?

Do they have some magic formula or relationship the rest of us don’t have access to?

You should check out Pitch Your Power — An Expert Training to Increase Sales Using the Power of Podcast Guesting

Zenica Chatman
Working with Hustling Writers was one of the best investments I made in my business. Alice and her team listened to me and helped me create a message that would resonate with podcasts hosts and have them eager to work with me and support me as I work to reach even more people with this message.

Zenica Chatman

So much of my business marketing success is because of Hustling Writers. Alice was instrumental in getting me fully booked for podcasts to promote my book and getting my articles accepted in respected media platforms. She has the special knack of helping me find the right stories to tell, pitch those stories, and if needed, write those stories in my tone of voice.

Kelli Thompson

Kelli Thompson
Brooke Janousek
I started working with Hustling Writers with the hope and intention of getting on seven podcasts. We have already secured, booked, and recorded 24 podcasts. Alice has been a dream to work with. If you are hesitant, or think that nobody is going to pick up your pitch, you are wrong. Alice is tremendous at finding those gems to use for the pitch and really figuring out who it's going to resonate best with.

Brooke Janousek

Clients featured in:

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What we have done​

Secured our clients as guests on over 500 podcasts

Our clients have been invited on many top 1% podcasts including WorkLife with Adam Grant, Unf*ck Your Brain with Kara Loewentheil, How To Be Awesome At Your Job with Pete Mockaitis, Negotiate Anything with Kwame Christian, and countless others.

Turned personal stories into viral authority-building articles

We have coached clients through the process of uncovering and sharing pivotal personal stories. Many of these have gone viral resulting in TV segments, speaking engagements, and moderator opportunities.

Built authority, credibility, and trust

Our PR has expanded our clients’ networks, increased their authority and trust among their existing network, grown their brand awareness, and brought in new leads to their businesses.
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Let's Talk

How can we help?

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Hear From

Our Clients

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Who will you be working with?

Alice Draper smiling and holding a mug
Tshegofatso Ndabane sitting and smiling

Alice Draper

Founder and Chief Strategist

Alice is on a mission to make publicity easy and accessible for underrepresented women entrepreneurs at all stages of their businesses.

When Alice started building her business, she knew that publicity, in the right places, would garner her the authority she needed to position herself as a high-end copywriter. And so, she started pitching magazines like VICE, Refinery29, HuffPost, and Business Insider. This came with an unplanned skill — the art of the pitch — which is how she ended up pivoting her business towards publicity. She has been running Hustling Writers for over two years and in this time, she has secured her clients in over 500 podcasts including countless top 1% and top 0.5% podcasts.

A big part of Alice’s work looks into normalizing rejection, and how rejection resilience ties into success. Her weekly newsletter, The Rejection Chronicles, explores topics like living with rejection sensitivity, building sustainable outreach habits, and normalizing the “rejection sting”.

Alice grew up in a small town in South Africa, but — as Hustling Writers’ clients know — she is rarely in one place for long. You might find her house sitting in Tbilisi, with her partner in Dubai, or strolling along a seaside boardwalk in Cape Town.

Tšhegofatšo Ndabane 

Chief Storyteller and Strategist

Tšhegofatšo is a podcast publicist who is on a mission to make publicity easy  and accessible for under-recognized mental health practitioners. 

Tšhegofatšo’s journey into publicity started three years ago when burnout prompted a career pause and pivot. As it turned out, what had drawn her to psychology was also the thing she had always loved about writing: that our stories are sacred. This is when she discovered the power of the pitch, and started writing for publications like Refinery29, Well + Good, Life & Thyme, and Greatist. Soon thereafter, she merged her passions by circling back to her masters in clinical psychology, while working with psychologists and other mental health practitioners in practice and academia. As chief storyteller and strategist at Hustling Writers, Tšhegofatšo has helped clients tell the personal transformational stories that have informed their work, and gotten their scientific research out from journal paywalls so it might reach the audiences they serve through mainstream media. 

When Tšhegofatšo isn’t sitting with the stories of her clients or working on her thesis, she can be found steeping a cup of tea, taking long walks in nature, or experimenting with a new baking recipe.

A photograph of Samantha Dube smiling
Christina Schild smiling at the camera

Samantha Dube

Online Business Manager

Samantha was awarded the 2022 VA of the Year Runner-Up by PANSA. Her full-service virtual assistant and online business management agency helps female-owned business owners focus on revenue-generating tasks by taking off the administrative load. 

Samantha and Alice first started working together in 2020, and in this time she has helped Alice evolve her business model into a one-stop shop for progressive entrepreneurs looking for a PR presence.

You probably won’t see a lot of Samantha but she is the person behind the scenes making sure your emails and follow-ups are sent out, your spreadsheets are up-to-date, and no acceptances are slipping through the cracks.

When Samantha isn’t running her business, you can find her hiking, reading, traveling, doing crossword puzzles, or sharing advice with aspiring virtual assistants in Africa on her Youtube channel.

 

Christina Schild

Research Strategist

The Ralph Waldo Emerson quote is one Christina has always felt drawn to: â€śThe mind, once stretched by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions.” 

This stretched mind uncurled and devoured while at Rhodes University, during her BA in Journalism and Media Studies, and Anthropology, and later Honors in Anthropology. 

She has strayed at times and indulged in her wanderlust as a yacht stewardess and yoga instructor while moonlighting as a copywriter. In 2021, Christina packed her suitcases and relocated to Edinburgh, where she completed my Masters in Environmental Sustainability from the University of Edinburgh. She’s dabbled in social media management, conducted research for a South African gender and media democracy NGO, and ended up taking charge of brand development for her boxing club in Edinburgh.

When Christina is not working, she is often found traveling, surfing, hiking, doing overly elaborate skincare routines to carefully curated Spotify playlists, and cooking. 

Before you go...

Want a totally free copy of my 5 secrets to landing podcast guest pitches? PLUS the “take and tweak” template that has gotten my clients on hundreds of podcasts?
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