Payal Nanjiani Got 17 Publisher Rejections. One Email Said Nobody Would Buy a Book by an Indian-American Woman. She Published Anyway.
What do you do when a publisher tells you — in writing — that no one will read your book because of where you’re from?
Most people would stop. File it away as proof that the world wasn’t ready for them. Go back to something safer.
Payal Nanjiani sent the manuscript to the next publisher on her list.
And the next. And the next. Seventeen times in total before someone said yes. That book went on to win the New York Best Books Award and Canada’s Excellence Award — and launched one of the most unlikely careers in the leadership industry. Today, Payal Nanjiani is recognised by the Times Group as one of the most influential leadership speakers and executive coaches in the world, a Fortune 500 advisor, a bestselling author, and the founder of her own leadership company.
This is how she got there.
From India to America — and Back to Square One
Payal grew up in India in a close, loving family where education was everything. She built her early career at Copper Chimney Restaurants in India, working in HR and rising steadily.
Then, in 1999, she relocated to the United States with her husband. And everything she had built reset to zero.
Corporate America did not care about her Indian credentials. Company after company rejected her, despite her skills and qualifications. “There was a lot of rejection. Everywhere I went, I failed to get a job,” she said of that period. She was either overqualified on paper, or too unfamiliar with the American system, or both. Eventually, she found her footing, established herself, and built a career in corporate America. She also became a mother to two daughters during this time.
But nine years in, she made a decision that put her back at square one all over again — deliberately.
Walking Away From the Paycheck
In 2008, Payal left corporate America. Not because she had failed, but because she had a different vision: she wanted to help people become better leaders. She set out to build a career in leadership coaching, speaking, and writing. (Authority Magazine)
What she walked into was a wall.
Leadership speaking and executive coaching in America was — and largely still is — a white-male-dominated industry. There were almost no Indian-American women in this space. No role models to look to. No established path. And no stable income — she had given up the predictability of a regular paycheck for the complete uncertainty of building something from nothing. (Authority Magazine)
Every company she approached with her coaching and leadership training rejected her. Then came her first public appearance on stage as a leadership speaker.
It was, by her own account, a disaster. She failed — visibly, painfully, in front of an audience. Her career went into freefall. (Authority Magazine)
And then she did something that nobody was watching her do.
4:30 am. Every Day.
After hitting rock bottom, Payal made a quiet, private decision. She was going to outwork everyone around her — not for applause, not for an audience, but because she believed she had something worth giving the world, and she wasn’t willing to leave it unfinished.
She began waking up at 4:30 am every morning to start work. She spent hours every day mastering her craft — studying the science of leadership, practising her speaking skills, creating content, refining her methodology. Session after session, rejection after rejection, she kept going. (Authority Magazine)
She also had to do something harder than the early mornings: she had to learn to accept herself. In an industry that looked nothing like her, she slowly became comfortable in her own skin — comfortable with her accent, her background, her perspective. She stopped trying to fit in and started leaning into exactly who she was.
Gradually, companies started saying yes. She began building a reputation. The rejections didn’t stop — but they stopped defining her.
17 Publishers. One Email That Said It All.
In 2016, Payal began writing her first leadership book. She had spent years coaching executives and leaders, and she had a clear vision for what the book would do — help people understand that success starts from within. She finished the manuscript. Then she started submitting it to publishers. (Routledge)
Rejection one. Rejection two. Rejection three.
She kept going. Four. Five. Six.
At some point along the way, a publisher sent her a rejection email that made the real reason explicit. The message said, in effect: no one would read or buy a leadership book written by an Indian-American woman.
Read that again. Not “the content isn’t strong enough.” Not “the market isn’t ready.” The reason was her identity.
She submitted to the next publisher. (Authority Magazine)
Seventeen rejections in total. Then Routledge Publishers — one of the world’s most respected academic and professional publishers — said yes.
Success Is Within was published and became an instant success. It won the New York Best Books Award and Canada’s Excellence Award. Payal went on to publish three more books with the same publisher. (PayalNanjiani.com)
The Indian-American woman nobody would buy a book from now has books in the hands of executives, CEOs, and leaders at Fortune 500 companies across the world.
Where She Stands Today
Payal Nanjiani is today the founder of Success Within Leadership and one of the most sought-after executive coaches and leadership speakers globally. She has been named by the Times Group as the most influential leadership speaker and executive coach in her field. She advises leaders at Fortune 500 companies, CEOs, SMEs, and government officials across the world. (PayalNanjiani.com)
In 2019, she launched The Payal Nanjiani Leadership Podcast, which is rated in the top 10% of podcasts globally and features some of the world’s most prominent leaders and CEOs as guests.
She has been featured on Fox 50 News, the Times of India, Mumbai Mirror, and across global media. She has been honoured with the Golden Key state award and recognised as a corporate influencer in Singapore. (SheSight Magazine)
She has been open about every part of her difficult journey — not because she enjoys revisiting it, but because she knows someone out there needs to hear that it can be done.
What Her Story Actually Teaches
Payal’s journey is not just about resilience. It is about a specific kind of courage — the courage to keep going when the rejection is personal. When it is not your work being rejected, but you. Your gender. Your background. Your name. Where do you come from.
That kind of rejection cuts differently. And it takes a different kind of strength to respond to it by sending the manuscript to the next publisher anyway.
She has said it herself: “Wherever there is self-doubt, there is self-belief. It’s all a matter of what you choose.”
And: “Success never discriminates between a man or a woman. Success only sees if you are truly committed.”
If you are in the middle of your own rejection streak right now — if the doors keep closing, if people keep telling you the market isn’t ready for someone like you — take the lesson from the woman who got 17 nos and sent the manuscript out an 18th time.
Stay in the game. Do the 4:30 am. Keep going.
Never give up.
Want more stories like this? Read about how Amitabh Bachchan was rejected for his voice and still became India’s greatest actor, or how Jyothi Reddy went from earning ₹5 a day in a rice field to running a $15M IT company in the US.
Sources
- PayalNanjiani.com — Official Website
- PayalNanjiani.com — Media & Awards
- Authority Magazine — They Told Me It Was Impossible
- Routledge — Win the Leadership Game Every Time
- Amazon — Success Is Within
- ERG Leadership Conference — Payal Nanjiani Profile
- CEOWORLD Magazine — Payal Nanjiani
- SheSight Magazine — Unveiling Payal Nanjiani
