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permission to pitch
the short, immersive Audio guide SO your pitches work.
Too many brilliant ideas never see the light of day.
Not because they weren’t good enough.
But because the people behind them didn’t know how to pitch them.
That’s a tragedy of the highest order.
The ideas that rise shape our world.
I built this so yours rise.
THERE’S A Better way
Too often, pitching’s treated as a moment of performance.
The panic, the fear of seeming too self-promotional, the extreme vulnerability paired with high stakes—it makes sense to try to hide it all with bravado or manic over-preparation.
But there’s a better way to prepare.
So you show up and shine with your humanity intact.
So you lead out loud and feel good doing it.
So you get all the yeses.
Permission to Pitch is my bite-sized private experience designed for high-functioning humans who are ready to stop white-knuckling the spotlight and start running the room.
You’ll get my guided audio, my revolutionary reframe, and an intro to the proprietary pitch method I use with my on-the-verge founders and teach my students at USC.
That got me a massive book deal in a 13-way bidding war.
It’s a power tool for $45—because getting good at pitching your ideas shouldn’t feel out of reach.
Samara Bay
meet your guide
Author of Permission to Speak, #1 Bestseller in Women & Business AND Public speaking
I’m Samara—global expert on leadership out loud, Professor of Practice at USC Annenberg, and your champion in the moments that matter. I’ve spent my career helping leaders and creative spirits turn their ideas into impact. It’s communication, yes, but it’s also culture change.
Because every voice we free reshapes what power sounds like.
And permission is a movement.
I’ve supported Hollywood stars, political candidates, and Fortune 500 leaders, as well as rising leaders at nonprofits around the world, founders on the cusp, and emerging voices discovering their power.
Recent clients have included Google, Hyatt, Telemundo, The Tory Burch Foundation, Estée Lauder, CHIEF, and Emerge America. My work’s both urgent and optimistic: to help leaders show up human and whole—to move their people and move the needle. Pitching is often where it begins.
featured in…
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“Extraordinary. The most fun I’ve ever had prepping for anything, but also the easiest. I felt so relaxed, Samara—you sprinkled some dust on me!”
Oscar-nominated actress Rachel McAdams
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“I walked away with clarity: when we stand before investors we bring more than ideas; we bring a revolution. Our pitches are not serenades of conformity but roars of defiance. We are the mischievous minds presenting solutions to big problems. We are humanizing.”
I. S., psychotherapist and entrepreneur
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"Working with Samara was like going to public speaking church."
Spade Robinson, Hollywood writer
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“Wow wow. I’ve hired copywriters and coaches but no one’s been able to listen to the random plot of my life and turn it into a STORY I can tell—about my values and my why. And Samara did it LIKE THAT. It was utterly mind-blowing and left me feeling not just better equipped to go into pitch meetings and podcast interviews, but also better seen.”
C.K., founder and business leader
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"What an incredible atmosphere you create to wrestle with questions deep in our soul that impact how and when we speak. Our time together left me emboldened to speak up about the things I care about so that the care can spread. Thank you, Samara!"
Trina McCarroll, CPF, CPHR
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"You stretched me in the most productive ways. When the work felt a little too difficult, you'd hold up a mirror for me to be able to see myself - reminding me of things I had said, as a way to stoke the little fire burning inside my belly. How do you do it, what is this wizardry?? I love you, I love the work you are doing. And I love that I get to continue to float around in this shared, sacred, solar system with you."
Alina Caceres, Healthcare Leader
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“Working with Samara was a total gamechanger as I began pitching my product to high profile retailers. I went to one of the best business schools in the country. But you know what they don’t teach? How to show up in a pitch meeting with a story that reveals your heart. Or how to own your voice. Or how to speak so investors lean in. Samara’s coaching was an essential piece of my company’s success story.”
Hannah Diop, Co-Founder, with Issa Rae, Sienna Naturals
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"Samara's energy and singular approach unlocked a hidden part of me that was aching to be exposed and seen. Her fresh perspective to voice coaching, filled with empathy, wit and wisdom, offered me a trusting hand, or more of an extension to it: a bungee cord safe enough for me to go out, challenge myself, and jump."
J.L., entrepreneur
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"THAT WAS PERFECT."
Ricky Martin, Global Superstar
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"I won a session with Samara in an auction and I can honestly say, it was more valuable than the guitar I once won signed by Dolly Parton."
D.K., CEO
What you’ll learn
PERMISSION TO PITCH IS FOR…
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Founders & Creative Spirits
Your work deserves a wide (and obsessed!) audience. Your voice—how you show up and lead out loud, pitching and otherwise—is how your work spreads and how that audience becomes devotees.
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Rising Leaders
Execs and entrepreneurs preparing for panels, presentations, or promotion conversations—those are all pitches. Influence with integrity is powerful leadership and here’s your shortcut!
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Thought Leaders
I made this for anyone ready to turn fear-based self-promotion into big-idea sharing with heart and humanity. Permission to Pitch isn’t just how we ask for money—it’s also how we spread ideas with love.