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
130 episodes
129: How to Grow & Scale Your Business with Executive Presence
Main PointsIt’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 l...
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Episode 129
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31:07
128: Burned out? You're over-available to everyone & everything, here's weird things I’m doing.
Main PointsBurnout 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”...
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Episode 128
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24:45
127: 2026 Marketing Trends: Why My ‘Losing’ Pitch Still Drove Sales (with Monica Schrock)
Main PointsWhy my losing pitch led to salesPersonal 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:...
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Episode 127
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1:02:22
126: Birthday Reflections: Rest, Recalibration, and How I’m Setting Aligned Goals for 2026 (So You Can Too)
Why I stopped drinking alcohol, it’s been 9 months nowHow pausing, rest and reflection helped me getFive reflection questions to help you ensure your calendar & bank account aligns with your valuesResourc...
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Episode 126
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28:37
125: Future Jobs & AI: Why Emotional Intelligence is Important (replay from Dubai)
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 d...
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Episode 125
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40:49
124: Addicted to Being Busy: Why High-Achieving Women Struggle to Rest (and How to Stop)
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 d...
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Episode 124
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25:21
123: Let’s Talk Money: Technical, Psychological & Cultural Truths for BIPOC leaders with Uchechi Kalu
Main PointsMoney 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 wit...
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Episode 123
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51:35
122: From Layoff to Landing Contracts: How Uchechi Kalu Already Hit 50% of Her 2026 Revenue Goal
How do you even start a business in 2025!? I sat down with my client (and friend) Uchechi Kalu, CFP®, 2024 Olympic Poet to talk about what it really looks like to go from being laid off… to working with over 700 clients, landing contracts with ...
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Episode 122
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1:02:38
121: Having a Mid-career (& life) Crisis? What to do.
Do you remember when the American Psychological Association came at us in 2023 and declared that middle age starts at 35? The absolute disrespect…In this episode, I’m talking about the conversations I’ve been having with so many of my ...
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Episode 121
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18:01
120: How to Navigate Workplace Politics with AI and EI (Emotional Intelligence)
My turning point internship story that taught me doing great work isn’t enough—you also need to understand workplace culture, politics, and unspoken power dynamics.How to deal with workplace politics without being dirty
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Episode 120
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25:36
119: How to Lead When You’re “THE ONLY”
Being “the only” in the room, the only woman, the only woman of color, the youngest person, the only one who thinks differently can be both an honor and a heavy responsibility. In this episode, I share how to navigate that experience while stil...
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Episode 119
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20:22
118: Why You Have an Unhealthy Relationship with Work (The Science Behind It)
The science behind why your brain craves busyness (Answer: dopamine)How I’ve been rewiring my busyness cravings (& how you can too)What “rest guilt” really means, and how to repattern it especially if you’re a first-gen...
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Episode 118
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19:04
117: 8 Years & 8 Mistakes (So You Don’t Have to Repeat Them)
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 frameworks I didn’t believe inBurning...
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Episode 117
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26:15
116: How to Work Right Now as a Woman of Color Leader Without Betraying Yourself
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 you make sure you honor yourself?H...
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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
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, even the hard conversations with lo...
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Episode 114
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34:11
113: Networking Over Followers: My Strategy for Landing Speaking Gigs and Clients
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’t. 😅But what I do have are ...
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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