Insisting and being persistent matter more than talent — Risto Mejide
For years, we’ve been told that talent is the determining factor in communicating. That if you have a good voice, strong creative judgment, or a special sensitivity, you’ll eventually find your place. However, the reality of the sector is far less romantic and much more straightforward.
There are people with a lot of talent who never make it. And there are people who do make it… without being, apparently, the best. This happens because between potential and opportunity there is an invisible space that doesn’t fill itself. It’s a space that requires action. Presence. And, above all, persistence.
“I’m not the best in the country… but I was the one who insisted the most.”
This idea, attributed to Risto Mejide, is very clear: it’s not about denying talent, but about understanding that without movement, talent remains on pause.
The Talent Trap
In the world of communicating, there’s a recurring obsession: standing out. Being better. Having more talent. Doing it perfectly. But what if that weren’t the real key to finding your place in fields like radio, podcasting, or sound production?
In one of the sessions at Radiofonics Madrid, Risto Mejide put into words an idea that many professionals experience but few articulate so clearly:
“The most persistent often surpass the most talented.”
The phrase is uncomfortable — and maybe that’s exactly why it’s so accurate. Because it breaks with the classic narrative of talent as the only path to access.
Insisting is also communicating
When we think about communicating, we often focus on the message: what we say, how we say it, with what tone or narrative. However, there’s another layer, less visible but just as decisive: persistence.
- Sending that email.
- Presenting that idea.
- Trying again when there’s no response.
All of that also communicates. It communicates interest, attitude, availability, and, in a way, positioning. In this sense, training spaces like Radiofonics go beyond technique —voice work, scripting, editing, or production— and incorporate this more realistic view of the sector. Because, in the end, opportunities aren’t always for the most prepared, but for the ones who are present when it matters.
Three paths (and one reality)
During the class, another idea was introduced that works almost like a map for navigating a professional path in communication:
There are three ways to grow:
- Being the best
- Being the first
- Being the only
In communication, these three paths are often mentioned as ways to develop professionally. The first is the most obvious… and also the most saturated: there will always be someone with more time, more resources, or more experience. The second is even more demanding, because being the first means innovating, staying ahead, and taking risks without any guarantees. And then there’s the third path, which opens up a different route: being unique. It doesn’t mean being extraordinary at everything, but being identifiable — recognizing yourself in what you do, and allowing others to recognize you as well.
Identity as a professional tool
In an ecosystem full of content, formats, and voices, the difference isn’t always defined by technical quality. Often, it’s defined by personality.
- The way you tell a story.
- The rhythm.
- The criteria you use to build a sonic narrative.
“We are all unique in some way. Your editing is unique. What you carry inside is unique.”
This idea has a direct implication: identity isn’t an extra — it’s a professional tool. It not only defines how you communicate, but also the place you occupy within the sector. That’s why imitation can be useful at the beginning, as an exercise or reference. But over time, it falls short. The real path appears when you develop your own way of doing things.
Learning by doing (and by making mistakes)
Here’s the English translation, Irene — clean, natural, and keeping your cadence:
Now then, this identity doesn’t appear all at once. It’s built.
- Recording.
- Editing.
- Making mistakes.
- Repeating.
So learning in communication isn’t just the accumulation of knowledge, but the accumulation of experience. Every mistake sharpens your criteria. Every attempt defines your voice a little more.
In this process, the classroom stops being a theoretical space and becomes a laboratory. A place to try things without pressure, but with intention. Where technique and creativity move forward together.
Don’t wait to be ready
In this sector, one of the biggest blocks is the constant feeling of not being ready — the perception that something is always missing before taking the next step: a bit more training, a bit more confidence, a bit more external validation. It’s a wait that can stretch on indefinitely. But in reality, things often work the other way around. Opportunities don’t appear when you feel prepared, but when you’re active, when you move, when you make yourself visible.
That’s why persistence isn’t just a stubborn attitude, but a form of deep commitment to your own path. It’s what keeps you moving while you’re still building, what allows you to move forward even when you don’t have all the pieces figured out. And it’s precisely that continuous movement that ends up opening doors that, from stillness, seemed nonexistent.
Being there is the beginning of everything
Maybe you won’t be the best. Maybe you won’t be the first either. But you can show up, you can try, you can persist, and you can keep moving. And, above all, you can build your own way of communicating — one that makes you recognizable, a voice that makes sense to you and that others can identify as well. In a sector where everyone wants to stand out, the difference is often not made by the most talented, but by the one who has decided not to stay out, who chooses to participate even without having all the certainties.
In the end, that’s what ends up defining any trajectory: not only what you know how to do, but the fact of having been present when it mattered, of having taken up your space, and of having kept moving forward even when it wasn’t easy. It’s that consistency that builds real paths.
The moment to take action
If all of this resonates with you, the important question is no longer whether you have enough talent, but whether you’re in an environment that truly allows you to practice, persist, and grow. A space where you can put what you know into play, try, make mistakes, and try again until your way of communicating takes shape.
At Radiofonics, you’ll find radio, television, and sound production courses designed precisely for that: to help you move from idea to action, from theory to practice, and from intention to real experience.
Discover them here.