- May 18, 2026
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Forbes Riley was closing in on a lifelong dream in 2002, when she was 42 years old: to be a TV game show host.
Riley — who now lives and works in St. Petersburg under the moniker “The Queen of Pitch” — had already accomplished a lot by then, in Hollywood, on Broadway and in between. At 16 she was named Miss Teenage New York and appeared on the contestant TV show with Bob Hope. In her 20s, she had performed on Broadway, with stars like Christopher Reeve and Bob Fosse, and she also graduated from the University of Rochester in three years, with degrees in Political Science and Film Studies. More success followed in the 90s, including being named original co-host of the inaugural ESPN X-Games in 1995, alongside the late Stuart Scott. Acting credits included appearances in “Boy Meets World,” “The Practice,” and “24.”
Now a game show host gig was tantalizingly close. She had gone through several rounds of tryouts and callbacks. She thought she had a six-figure contract in the waiting. Then her agent called her with a good news/bad news update. “He told me they wanted somebody just like you,” Riley recalls, “but they want that person to be younger and cheaper and then they want you to teach her how to do it.”
“I told them, as soon as hell freezes over, I’ll be right there.”
In a life and career overcoming tragedies, along with numerous pivots and pirouettes, Riley has used setbacks like that as fuel to find something bigger and better. It’s also led to her leadership epiphany that doubles as a core belief: your success rises and falls based on your ability to communicate.
That philosophy permeates in everything Riley, now 66, does today. From a viral social media clip on how she’s made multimillions in her career to her two TedX talks to hosting shows on QVC/HSN, Riley credits her success to the ability to consistently communicate whatever her message is at a high level.
It’s a long way from growing up on Long Island, New York, where Riley says she was a “goofy and awkward” kid. And there were other issues: her father, a printing press mechanic and amateur magician, suffered a devastating accident at work that severed the palm of his left hand. That put a strain on what Riley called a lower-middle-class family.
Another issue: Riley had braces for eight years growing up and had severe orthodontic reconstruction. She could barely speak for two years, she says. “It’s because I couldn’t communicate with people,” she says, “that this is all ever wanted to do.”
“I became an observer. I studied people. I watched who commanded attention and who faded into the background,” Riley told Authority Magazine in an April 11 post on Medium titled TedX Talking: Forbes Riley of the Ultimate Pitch Academy on what you need to know to secure, prepare and deliver a highly effective TedX Talk. “What I realized — long before I had language for it — was this: The people who could communicate… controlled the room.”
The time period after the game show failed to come to fruition was busy and uber-productive. Riley, for one, got into the fitness industry. That led to a second act, in infomercials, where over the past 25 years she’s written, hosted and produced 197 infomercials that led to $2.5 billion in product sales. This includes what could be her biggest success, a spot selling the Jack LaLanne Power Juicer on ubiquitous infomercials, starting in 2002. That pitch alone, says Riley, grossed $1 billion — with the slogan “That’s the power of the juice!” leading the way.
Riley now has two main career focuses.
One, working out of her studio in St. Petersburg, north of downtown, she’s part of a pitch training platform, a business that’s the brainchild of her daughter, Makenna. When Makenna was 17, in 2020, she approached her mom: maybe stop selling products and start selling the “secret” of the pitch, the younger Riley proposed. That led to the Ultimate Pitch Academy, where Makenna is now CEO. The business, with online and in-person classes, seminars and more, all focused on being better at the art and science of the pitch, at one point did $1 million a month in sales, Riley says.
And that led to Riley’s latest triumph: a book, released May 19, titled “Pitch Secrets A to Z: How to Increase Your Influence, Impact & Income.” The book includes a foreword by Kevin Harrington, who like Riley is a St. Pete resident and is also known for pitch prowess. “While many believe pitching can be a “negative thing,” most simply don’t understand how to do it properly," writes Harrington, an original shark on the “Shark Tank” TV show. “Pitching has nuances and pacing that make it effective, and few have mastered it the way Forbes ultimately has.”
Riley’s book has 26 strategies for creating and delivering top-flight pitches, one for each letter in the alphabet. But, she stresses, the book isn’t about selling techniques.
Instead, she writes, “it’s your guide to mastering the single most important skill in life: communicating in a way that moves people to action.”
Asked to point to one can’t miss chapter in the book, or letter of wisdom, Riley starts at the top with A for attitude. Writes Riley: “The first step to nailing your pitch? Realizing that your attitude speaks louder than your words.”
Feeling defeated or unsure, she adds, “impacts your audience more than any words ever could. To set the right tone, start with a positive mindset, practice uplifting self-talk and let your enthusiasm shine through.”
Riley details five core attitude-comes-first lessons she learned from her acting coach, Academy Award-winning film director Milton Katselas. Those lessons include:
On that last one, Riley, in something of a direct line for leadership, and life, notes Katselas used to say "attitude shapes your internal beliefs, which become actions — and those actions spark either positive or negative reactions from the world around you. He often used this phrase to explain why less talented actors were consistently cast in major roles while others with more skill faded into obscurity. The truth? No one wants to deal with negativity — not on a film set, not in a boardroom, not in a friendship and certainly not in love. Talent might open the door, but attitude is what keeps it open.”
