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WOC and Allies: Business and Career Realtalk
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, a first-generation 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
118 episodes
117: 8 Years & 8 Mistakes (So You Don’t Have to Repeat Them)
What We Cover in This Episode:Today, I celebrate 8 years in business, and in true realtalk fashion, I’m keeping it REAL so you don’t have to repeat it.In this episode I’m honest about:Following copy-and-paste framework...
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Episode 117
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26:15
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116: How to Work Right Now as a Woman of Color Leader Without Betraying Yourself
What We Cover in This Episode: Things are feeling heavy especially as a woman of color navigating work, family and everything else, so how do you even work right now in this chaos without betraying yourself? How do ...
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Episode 116
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23:22
115: My Mid-Year 2025 Check-In: What’s working, what’s not & my predictions
I just ended an incredible May, increasing my revenue by 65%. This month, I’m working on 2 courses for a company and partying a lot.But it’s not what you think, I have kid birthday parties literally every weekend #weoldWe’r...
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Episode 115
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34:09
114: My 1st Place Pitch Replay from SCMSDC + How I Hit My 2024 Revenue by May
What We Cover in This Episode:Replay + Breakdown of My SCMSDC #1 Pitch (& why that wasn’t even my goal)This episode isn’t just for business owners, it’s for leaders, job seekers, and anyone navigating relationships (yes...
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Episode 114
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34:11
113: Networking Over Followers: My Strategy for Landing Speaking Gigs and Clients
What We Cover in This Episode: I always get asked, ““Elaine, how are you even getting all these speaking gigs and clients when you don’t even have 5,000 followers on IG or LinkedIn!?”Great question. And the truth is... I don’...
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Episode 113
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21:59
112: How to Lead Boomers, Gen Z, and Everyone In Between with Jackie Dacanay (replay from HR Retail)
“Ugh that generation is so entitled!” But are they really? As Jackie Dacanay shares, “The problem isn’t Gen Z asking so much, it’s not having the conversation early enough.”So how do you lead a team made up of Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, ...
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Episode 112
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36:46
111: How to Effectively Communicate with Different Personality Styles: Why It Takes Practice and How AI Can Help (replay from Warner Center - West Valley Chamber of Commerce)
Got a team member who keeps missing deadlines and making mistakes? Dealing with a colleague who seems annoyed by anything that comes out of your mouth?Last month, I did 3 speaking gigs back-to-back with different audiences:A ...
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Episode 111
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18:15
110: How EMDR Therapy HEALED Me (& why you might need it too) with Jennifer Oh, LCSW
“My job as a therapist is to get fired by you.”When my EMDR therapist said that, I was like, “Wait, what!?” 😳I’ve been going to therapy since college because it was “free” with my tuition.But after almost a decade of talkin...
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Episode 110
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48:51
109: How to Lead Teams in Chaos and Change with Chéla Gage
I recently had the honor of sharing the stage with Chéla Gage, a Global HR Executive, speaking to HR leaders in Los Angeles about how to lead through chaos and make impactful decisions.Spoiler alert: Brave leaders ask for advice, feedbac...
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Episode 108
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25:36
108: Career Moves in Uncertain Times: Should You Stay, Quit or Pivot?
With the rise of layoffs in tech and finance, consumer trust in a low, many professionals and business owners are reconsidering their next steps. I share personal stories, client examples, and actionable strategies to help you make an empowered...
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Episode 108
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33:06
107: Personal Branding Replay from Soho Works
Between news, notifications and nonstop content…Thinking about a personal brand isn’t top of mind.BUT how do we get our personal brand to stand out, while being empathetic with the chaos?This is exactly what we tackl...
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Episode 107
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1:01:49
106: 2025 Marketing trends with Monica Schrock (we told you so)
Happy Lunar New Year! For me, 2025 started yesterday cause of the hot mess this past month.And if 2025 ain’t cuttin it in February, we have the Persian New Year on March 20.2025, YOU got a full quarter to pull yourself together....
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Episode 106
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1:04:58
105: How To Protect Your Peace & Prioritize Your Needs from the LA fires (or any moment of crisis)
If you’re from California, last week was an endless cycle of FIGHT OR FLIGHT. And even if you’re not in LA, moments of crises affect us all -- it’s part of being human, we don't live in LA, we are human and unfortunately face moment...
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Episode 105
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26:42
104: The tea on my 2024 lessons learned + my 2025 glow-up plans
2025 is in 2 days. I know -- WTH!?I know that “New Year, New You” energy is coming in strong. The social media algorithm just wants us to dive straight into goal setting, and getting cute planners.BUT. HOLD UP...
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Episode 104
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26:51
103: How to Make Consistent Income Without A Big Social Media Following
“I’m NOT an influencer. I don’t have a million followers.”That’s exactly how I started my talk at the Rize Credit Union Event on,
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Episode 103
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35:40
102: Didn’t hit your goals this year? 6 things you can do.
It’s that time of year -- where we reflect and tell ourselves, “Okay, how’d we do in our goals?”And if you aren’t Beyonce or Taylor Swift your response to this question is, “Damn…I didn’t…”Hit my revenue goalsLeave ...
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Episode 102
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28:42
101: Protecting your peace post-elections during the holidays
Let’s be real whether it is election season or not, we often want to AVOID touchy topics with family members during this time of year.My solution for myself?I’m leaving the country for a 2-week vacation to Australia and New Z...
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Episode 101
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16:40
100: My Mistakes and Triumphs From 100 Episodes
We’re celebrating 100 episodes for the WOC & Allies: Business & Career Realtalk Podcast.And since this podcast has the word “realtalk” in the title -- just wanted to share I was not looking cute recording this episode. ...
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Episode 100
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22:40
99: How to develop executive presence & own the room you’re in (My Talk from NextUp Summit)
This was my biggest talk to date to 200+ leaders and executives in-person. It’s interesting because attendees expected an exact formula for executive presence—like you need a certain percentage of extroversion or charisma (by the way you do NOT...
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Episode 99
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1:00:13
98: How I Prepared for My Talk to a Full House of 200+ People, and How I Dealt with Speaker Problems
I had the honor of speaking to over 200 leaders & executives on the topic of Executive Presence, and I had the pressure to also navigate tech sound issues...The room was packed – standing room only, with people sitting on the floor ...
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Episode 98
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18:03
97: I Had a Concussion. Readjusting Expectations in Body, Mind and Health (don’t worry I’m fine now)
so i had a concussion 3 months agodont worry im perfectly fine nowI wanted to wait a couple of months before sharing the details.And if you think I’m going to share in this email, I won’t-- you’ll just have to list...
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Episode 97
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28:53
96: How to Brace Yourself for Q4
In the States, Labor Day which means summer is UNOFFICIALLY over…This means the real work is here --getting ready for Q4.Q4 is the busiest time of year for me and my clients where:Companies are working on hitting the...
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Episode 96
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19:50
95: How I Reduced 50% of My Business Expenses and How You can too, and a Business Update
The beginning of the year, it was tough. I wasn’t hitting the revenue I needed, and my profit margins weren’t sexy at all. I had to put my ego in check and make some hard decisions and conversations.The result → I reduced 50% of my expe...
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Episode 95
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34:12
94: How to Embrace Anxiety to Work for You
I’ve been noticing my clients, community and myself including feeling anxious maybe cause it’s August and the end of the year is creeping up.I’ve challenged my clients and myself -- what if anxiety can be good for us? What if we can emb...
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Episode 94
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17:32
93: Growth Doesn't Always Mean More, Bigger and Better. How to Redefine "Growth" to Align for You
I was coaching a doctor last week who wants to open up a bigger office.I asked why this was important.She shared,“When you stop growing, you start dying.”Then she sighed, and cried saying,“But at what e...
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Episode 93
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19:14