50 Rejection Stories: That Will Inspire You To Keep Going

Lauryn Hill was booed at Amateur Night at the Apollo

Hill’s debut album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill has sold 19 million copies worldwide and it is considered one of the greatest albums of all time by many music publications
Oprah was fired from her first job as a news anchor

She would later become one of the world’s first African American billionaires and launch a media empire
Jay-Z was turned down by every label in the industry

The rapper eventually started his own record label, Roc Nation
President Barack Obama loss his first run for Congress

Barack Obama is our 44th President and the first African American to become president in the United States of America
Justice Sonia Sotomayor was denied a job as an Associate at one of the nation's top firms

The Princeton graduate is the first justice of Hispanic heritage
Salma Hayek had once been told that her accent would remind people in Hollywood of their Mexican housekeepers.

Hayek has been nominated for both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award
Chinese entrepreneur, Jack Ma was once rejected from a job at KFC

Ma is currently worth 20.4 billion dollars
Tyra Banks was rejected by 6 modeling agencies

Tyra Banks is the first black model to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition
Michael Jordan failed to make his high school basketball team

Jordan has earned five NBA MVP titles
Jose Hernandez was rejected from NASA's astronaut program eleven times.

Hernández was selected for NASA’s Astronaut training program in May 2004.
Jennifer Hudson loss Season 3 of American Idol

After acting in the film Dreamgirls Hudson won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Michelle Bachelet was exiled from the country she was born in, Chile

She later became the nation’s first woman president
Bruce Lee was rejected for US military service

Lee is considered by many media critics one of the most influential martial artists of all time,
Vanessa Williams was stripped her title as Miss America 1984

Williams will later launch a successful singing and acting career
The Queen of Rock Tina Turner was brutally abused by her ex husband Ike Turner

In 2013 Turner married music executive, Erwin Bach
Tina Knowles the mother of Beyonce and Solange filed for divorce after her now ex husband Mathew Knowles cheated on her. Tina was fearful that she would never marry again.

In 2015 Tina married actor, Richard Lawson
In 2002 India Arie was nominated for 7 Grammys and won none

Arie has since won 4 Grammys.
Sidney Poitier was once told by a director to get a job as a dishwasher

In 1964, Poitier became the first black actor to win an Academy Award for Best Actor
Charles Barkley was cut from Team USA Basketball in 1984

In 1992 Barkley joined the “Dream Team", the first American Olympic team to feature active NBA players
Anita Baker was told she did not have star potential

Ms. Baker currently has eight Grammys
Kanye West was rejected by many record labels before signing to Def Jam Records

West currently has 21 Grammy Awards
Iyanla Vanzant had a talk show, which was canceled and she was forced to file for bankruptcy.

The spiritual leader currently has a hit show on the Own network named Iyanla Fix My Life
Allegedly by the end of 2009 Rihanna was bankrupt

According to Forbes magazine the pop star is currently worth more than 100 million dollars
Harry Belafonte was blacklisted from acting during the McCarthy era

Today Belafonte has won three Grammy Awards, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, an Emmy Award, and a Tony Award. In 1989, he received the Kennedy Center Honors.
Notorious BIG: “Girls used to diss me.”

“Now they write letters cause they miss me.”
Steven Spielberg was rejected twice by the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts.

Spielberg is currently believed to be one of of the most popular directors and producers in film history. Directing films like The Color Purple and Schindler’s List
The first Harry Potter novel was rejected by a series of publishers

The success of the Harry Potter series turned novelist, JK Rowling to a multibillionaire
Lady Gaga was once dropped from Def Jam Recordings

Gaga has sold over 146 million singles and has a series of number one albums
Vera Wang became an editor at Vogue, but was passed over for the editor-in-chief position

Wang is currently one of the world’s most celebrated fashion designers
Soichiro Honda, was turned down by Toyota Motor Corporation after interviewing for a job as an engineer

The Japanese engineer later established the corporation Honda
Pop star Shakira was rejected from School Chorus

Her official song for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, "Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)" is the biggest-selling World Cup song of all time selling 10 million units.
In 2007 George Lopez ‘s TV series was canceled

In 2016 George Lopez started a new semi-autobiographical show called “Lopez.”
Before getting the lead in Scandal, Kerry Washington had trouble getting roles for not being “Hood Enough.”

Washington’s role as Olivia Pope has scored her nomination for two Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series, and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Series.
The Supremes were initially deemed too young to be signed to Motown Records

The group is Motown’ most commercially successful acts to date
Lisa Kudrow was fired from Frasier after the pilot

Kudrow later got a gig as Pheobe Buffray on Friends
Anna Wintour was fired from American Harper’s Bazaar

Wintour is currently the Editor in Chief of Vogue, arguably the bible of fashion
Ellen DeGeneres was fired for being gay

In 2016, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her achievements in the arts.
Beyonce and Kelly Rowland lost on Star Search when they tried out in 1993

Destiny's Child is one of the best selling girl groups of all time
Carmen Yulín Cruz ran for an for District representative in Puerto Rico’s 2000 general elections, but lost.

Cruz is the current mayor of San Juan
Nicki Minaj was fired from her job as a waitress at the restaurant, Red Lobster

The rapper has most hits on the chart of any female artist.
When Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard he launched a business called Traf-O-Data, which flopped

Bill Gates is currently the richest game
Marian Anderson was refused permission to sing to an integrated audience in Constitution Hall.

Critics have called Anderson one of the most celebrated singers of the twentieth century.
Madonna was fired from Dunkin Donuts

The entertainer has sold over 300 million records worldwide
Solange's debut album “solo star” was criticized by Slant magazine Where they gave her ⅖ stars and said she sounded too much like Beyoncé.

Solange released "Seat at the Table," winning her first Grammy and touching millions of black women
Issa Rae was told to water down her writing from major Hollywood companies

Insecure is now one of the most viewed shows on HBO
Shameless Maya was rejected from multiple acting gigs

Maya is now the owner of her own YouTube network and production company
Rupaul was rejected from Kinky Boots Broadway musical and the Rocky Horror Show

Rupaul now has hit show, Rupaul's Drag Race
Pharrell Williams was once rejected by Tyra Banks and it was awkwardly revealed to a live audience on her TV show

Pharrell is now happily married to model Helen Lasichahn With triplets
Before attending Yale, Hillary Clinton was fired from her brief job at a Salmon Cannery in Valdez, Alaska.

Hillary became secretary of the US
Wizkid was rejected by Roc Nation

He has become one of the most famous Nigerian artist