WOC and Allies: Business and Career Realtalk with Elaine Lou Cartas
Struggling with what to do next? Need honest realtalk cause you're tired of the curated highlight reels on the socials? And want strategies to get out of your own way? Your host, Elaine Lou Cartas, the oldest daughter of a Filipino immigrant, is an award-winning Business and Executive Career Coach for women of color and allies. Elaine is like you - she’s been fired, quit jobs, changed careers three times, and been in debt. Elaine’s success story? She’s always done what’s true to herself and wants you to know it’s possible too. She’s a former grassroots organizer and nonprofit fundraiser who raised $11 million. LA Weekly awarded Elaine as the #1 Thought Leader in 2023, and MSN recognized her as the Best Leadership & Executive Coach in 2024. Elaine has online courses with LinkedIn, Duke, Brown, Penn and USC. On the WOC and Allies: Business and Career Realtalk® Podcast (formerly known as the Color Your Dreams podcast), Elaine reminds you that your definition of happiness in work and life can evolve. Elaine's podcast guests include team members, clients, friends, and even family members who discuss real challenges and how they honored their own voices. As a business owner and career leader, this podcast is here to help you overcome overwhelm, while protecting your peace. So bring your coffee, tea, or boba for some realtalk every other Thursday! @elainelou_ // www.elainelou.com
Episodes
Hear my keynote talk for Kroger with 80+ store and assistant store managers of Ralphs and Food4Less. We talk about how to have difficult conversations including:
- Why your brain goes into fight, flight, freeze, or fawn during difficult conversations
- The one word to use I use to stop an overbearing colleague
- How to ask for a promotion
Resources:
- Eisenhower Decision Matrix for time management: https://www.eisenhowe...
Don’t want to leave your job, but want to have a side business? It can be done and my client, Amber Ivey and I have a candid conversation about this. We talk about:
- How to build a 9-5, then 5-9 routine while honoring her ADHD brain and her body's limits with MS
- How to use AI in your life: A simple framework for deciding which tasks you keep, which ones AI helps with, and which ones you hand off completely.
- Why tired doesn't ...
I’m stuck on a boat with a therapist and HR leaders and we coach each other on:
- How to have difficult conversations
- How to scale a small business sustainably
- Work-life balance
- How to find a job in this economy
- The challenges of being a child of immigrants
Resources Mentioned
- Therapist: Jennifer Oh
Where We Can Connect:
Schedule a Business & Career Review call with me to see if it’s a good f...
Main Points
In this episode, I break down the exact live pitch I just gave to 100+ minority small business owners, the one that's helped me beat last year's revenue and grow profit margins by 23%, all without being social media dependent.
- My real breakdown on how I get sales, and how it’s not dependent on social media
- How I don’t have to perform and post all the time on social media and consistent sales
- The AI pro...
Main Points
It’s my 9 Year Business Anniversary and I’m sharing:
- How I surpassed last year's revenue in cash flow already, and increased my profit margins by 24%
- How I quit copying everyone else's business model and turned my business from chaos into calm and peace
- How quitting alcohol, Muay Thai group class, and hustle culture helped me get there
Resources Mentioned
- My bookkeepers: Evolved Finance
- Uchechi Kalu, C...
Main Points
Self-care is more than just getting a massage, mani/pedi, it’s listening to those whispers of what you need to change in your life.
This is a replay of my talk from the Women Leading Travel Forum in New Orleans with top female leaders from travel and hospitality, where I was leading a leadership workshop on how to handle difficult conversations at work; plus a live self-defense demo I brought onto the main stage. Wh...
Main Points
It seems like every millennial I’m talking to is going through a mid-life crisis. My former client turned friend and fellow coach, Meredith Herrera, and I talka bout:
- Why your 20% might already be everyone else's 100%, and why it’s OK not to give your 100%
- The difference between burnout & outgrowing something
- What her dad said when she told him she was "unemployed" on purpose
- The question I've now s...
Main Points
Common themes I’m hearing from clients include burnout and microagressions. In this podcast episode, I connect with Dr. Maya Borgueta where we get into:
- What trauma actually is, and what it’s not
- The workplace trauma trends we’re seeing now from blurred boundaries to layoffs and what to do about it
- Why microaggressions is traumatic
- The signs you might be carrying workplace trauma without realizing it
I did a talk on emotional influence and how to get raises and start a business at the Queen Mary in Long Beach. It was for a women’s retreat with Humansave, a nonprofit that helps survivors of human trafficking. In this episode we talk about:
- Why your nervous system is your biggest leadership asset (or liability)
- The one document that gets you the raise, and why you should talk to your boss before you demand a raise
- How to s...
As a female leader, unfortunately, you aren’t alone when it comes to leadership, anxiety and self-advocacy.
This is part 2 of my keynote recording from SoCal Amazon Women’s Conference. But this time, I’m joined by 3 other incredible women of color operations leaders from Amazon who rose through the ranks quickly. In this episode, we get into:
- What it looks like to lead a team of 100+ while holding it together&nb...
My SoCal Amazon Women’s Conference Keynote is live, we cover:
- How your trauma responses are showing up at work; and what to do about it
- Why communication works exactly like a supply chain (yes, really)
- Word-for-word scripts for your next difficult conversation
Oh, and there's a genuinely sweet moment with my dad that I did not plan for. You'll know it when you see it.
Every single time I listened to my body instead of pushing through, it worked out. The reality is, we are humans. We have a full life outside of work. I share more on this week’s episode: my personal stories, struggles and the science to embracing UN-PUSHING:
In this episode, I share the practical, how-to techniques I taught in a live workshop with 19 minority-owned business owners and allies, including:
- The science behind ...
Main Points
When conversations get tense at work, how do you make sure you don’t over-explain, shut down or things escalate?
In this episode, I break down how to communicate with confidence, clarity and composure when pressure is on
- How to not over explain
- What to do if you really can’t meet a deadline
- How to give feedback
- How to handle contentious discussions without losing composure
- A 3 part structure on how to have your...
Main Points
It’s the second month of 2026 & despite the uncertainty, my business is growing not by hustling, but with more calmness and focus:
In this episode, I share the practical, how-to techniques I taught in a live workshop with 19 minority-owned business owners and allies, including:
- How editing my P&L helped me measure ROI (one change led to 500% ROI, another to 5,000% ROI)
- How I increased email ope...
Main Points
Burnout seems to be a trending word, so what do we do? It’s not about working harder. In this episode I share:
- Why you SHOULDN’T be doing a lot in 1 day (it takes ~ 23 minutes to refocus)
- Why “doing nothing” is actually how clarity forms (there’s science behind it)
- Why and how over-availability becomes a survival skill especially for women
- My results of when I stopped designing my life aroun...
Main Points
- Why my losing pitch led to sales
- Personal brand > AI: my actual techniques on how my conversion rate is 70%
- How I grew my email open rate from 10% to 75%
Resources Mentioned:
- Connect with Monica Schrock
- Following Monica on Instagram: @moneyschrock
- Connect with Monica on LinkedIn
- Monica’s Podcast: Play Like A They
- Porsche Human Made Cartoon
- Why I stopped drinking alcohol, it’s been 9 months now
- How pausing, rest and reflection helped me get
- Five reflection questions to help you ensure your calendar & bank account aligns with your values
Resources Mentioned:
- Follow Elaine on Instagram for Philippines photos + reflections: @elainelou_
- El Nido Resorts
Where We Can Connect:
Schedule a Business & Career Review call with me to see if it’s ...
This episode is the replay of my biggest talk to 10,000+ AI founders and engineers at /function1 Dubai.
I spoke about Emotional Intelligence (EI) at an AI conference, and they listened.
I broke EI down in a way technical audiences understand:
patterns → systems → data → small improvements.
Because no matter how advanced AI becomes, the most complex system I’ll ever work with is a human.
In this conversation, I share how EI shapes ...
- Addicted to chaos and busyness? Maybe it’s cause your body learned that busyness felt safe. In this episode, we explore how to unlearn that pattern.
- I share the science behind why high achievers struggle to rest including the dopamine loop of achievement, the cortisol trap, and the trauma of chaos.
- You’ll learn why rest is important for your nervous system resetting.
- I’ll share how to replace overwork with presen...
Main Points
- Money isn’t just math, it’s a relationship. In this conversation with Certified Financial Planner and poet Uchechi Kalu, we unpack the real stories behind your bank account:
- Why your money mindset starts with culture & family, not spreadsheets.
- Uchechi’s 3-part framework: Technical · Psychological · Cultural; and how to use it like a wheel.
- The “Cost of Being You” exercise that re...
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