Blog Posts from Elaine Lou Cartas
High Stakes Communication
When the Room Gets Quiet, Use That Moment. I love being underestimated. Being quiet is a strategy: I listen, observe, and wait for the right moment to speak with the right tone. It’s what I learn as a martial artist: studying my opponent, reading the room and trusting...
134: Executive Influence at the Queen Mary: Using Conscious Conversations® to Lead, Communicate & Get What You Want
Listen and Follow on Your Favorite Platform: 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...
133: Balancing It All As a Woman: Leadership, Anxiety & Self-Advocacy with Amazon
Listen and Follow on Your Favorite Platform: 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...
132: My Amazon Keynote: Why Conscious Conversations® Is Your Emotional Intelligence Supply Chain
Listen and Follow on Your Favorite Platform: Main Points 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)...
131: You’re not behind, you’re human. What to do & the science behind it
Listen and Follow on Your Favorite Platform: 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...
130: Strengthening Communication in High-Stakes and Contentious Discussions
Listen and Follow on Your Favorite Platform: 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...
129: How to grow & scale your business with executive presence
Listen and Follow on Your Favorite Platform: 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...
128: Burned out? You’re over-available to everyone & everything, here’s weird things I’m doing.
Listen and Follow on Your Favorite Platform: 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...
What Does It Mean to have a a conscious conversation
A conscious conversation is effective communication where you pay attention to your internal experience, your body language, and your actual words, all at once, so you can conflict more effectively, reduce unconscious communication, and lead with clarity and trust....