Why energy—not time—is the key resource driving performance, engagement, and purpose-led leadership.
Subscribe: iTunes / Spotify
Apply to be a guest on our podcast here
Show Notes:
In this Mission Matters episode, Adam Torres interviews Estela Barraza, Award-winning Well-being Keynote Speaker and CEO of Estelaire, as part of the Power Up Conference “Take the Lead” series. Estela shares her five-part Energy of Wellbeing framework, explains why energy should be treated as a business strategy—not just a perk—and offers tangible insights for women leaders to lead with courage, clarity, and impact.
About Estela Barraza
Estela Barraza, MS, is one of the most sought-after voices in workplace well-being today, keynoting stages across the country to help teams, employees, and leaders transform how they work, lead, and live.
She is the creator of The Energy of Well-being™, an award-winning keynote experience that has been featured at major conferences and organizations including The Utah Workplace Wellness Council, Arizona State University, SHRM-GP, APS, and Phoenix Children’s.
Estela is redefining how organizations approach employee well-being not as a perk, but as a strategic advantage. Her signature framework, empowers companies to move from fragmented wellness efforts to high-impact initiatives that boost engagement, performance, and ROI.
With a Master’s in Exercise & Wellness and a concentration in neuroscience, Estela’s approach blends behavioral science, real-time data, and energizing leadership to create cultures where people flourish. Her insights have been used by leaders in education, healthcare, government, and the private sector to reduce burnout, increase engagement, and revitalize company culture.
Estela is a published health researcher, university research board member, and mentor to young professionals. A marathoner and longtime plant-based wellness advocate, she infuses her keynotes with science, story, and the kind of energy that moves people to action.
Her mission: To give every audience the tools and energy to lead better, healthier lives, and to build the well-being infrastructure today that the future of work demands.
About Estelaire
Estelaire believes energy is the most valuable asset in your organization. When it flows with intention, your culture flourishes, your people stay, and your well-being strategy performs.
Founded by Estela Barraza, M.S., a well-being strategist, speaker, and former researcher, Estelaire blends deep behavioral science with executive-level clarity. Estelaire help leaders elevate their energy, align culture with purpose, and drive measurable impact through a well-being strategy.
Full Unedited Transcript
Hey, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres, and if you’d like to apply to be a guest in the show, just head on over to mission matters.com and click on BR Guest to apply. All right, so today I have Estella Barza on the line, and she’s an award-winning wellbeing keynote speaker and also founder of Estelle and also she’s been sent over to us.
This interview will be part of our. Take the lead series where we’re covering the Power Up conference. So with Gloria Felt and just an amazing organization. I went last year to the conference and I’m hoping I’m gonna get to go this year as well. So I’m looking forward to it as well.
That being said Estella, welcome to the show. Amazing, Adam. I’m excited to be here and to have an energizing conversation with you. Yeah. So, speaking of the conference now, have you been to one of these conferences before or is this the first time? I just wanna know if you’ve been to a PowerUp conference before.
This will be my first time. Oh, you’re in for a treat. Oh, what, yeah. What do you know about it so far? Well, I met Gloria not too long ago here in Arizona, in Phoenix, and I was just so blown away with everything she has accomplished and. Everyone that she’s leading and she shared about the conference and I just fell in love with it.
I said, I have to be there. So, mm-hmm. I’m delighted to just share the energy wellbeing with them and open up the conference. That’s amazing. And that being said I understand that you, so speaking of energy that’s one of the things you’re known for. So you have the energy of wellbeing, a framework.
Tell us a little bit more about that. It’s soon to be a published book. Absolutely. I’m in the process of finalizing the book and it’s been something that I have always been in love with. I fell in love with exercise when I was in sixth grade and have just pursued my career and my personal life to dedicate myself to just really drive the energy of wellbeing, not for myself, but also for everybody around me and the people that I work with in the organizations.
And so. Now I put it as a framework in the past couple years and tested it, and now it’s ready to become a, book. Hmm. Now talk to me about energy as a resource and how you came about, like, about this kind of like, niche. How, how did all this come about? Yes. So energy through physics, the first law of physics is really showing that energy cannot be created or destroyed.
And a lot of times we think about energy that is just drained and we have to go and get more energy. But in reality, all we have to do is have a spark and to transform whatever energy that we have into something that we wanna get to. So, for example, if somebody is feeling that they no longer have the energy that they had when they first started a job or a project, or even a relationship or a new habit, all they have to do is to find something that is gonna spark a new way that it can transform their energy towards the new goal that they have for themselves.
Mm. Now how can, I know we’re talking about the, the Women’s Conference, so how can women leaders reclaim their energy and use it either as a, leadership tool, not just a personal resource. Absolutely. Well, you know, women, for the most part, when women go into leadership, they’re expected to do a lot.
And any leader expected to do a lot, and a lot of times they think that they have to come in with a plan and to really lead from. The different areas and to add different either programs or tools or get different results. And at the end of the day, it’s really about how can women be empowered to step into the room with confidence, with clarity, with courage to lead and that energy.
It’s really what is gonna spark their employees, their team members, and their organization to get better results. So it’s really for them to tap into the energy that they already have within them. To transform the organization that they’re gonna be leading. Hmm. why do you believe that wellbeing should be treated like as a business strategy?
Not just a benefit, especially for organizations and, women in leadership? I. Absolutely. Well, the energy of wellbeing is really about how can it become a performance strategy and not just a perk. So when organizations really treat the energy of wellbeing from a standpoint of strategy and not just another benefit, they tap into something that it’s aligned within their culture, their goals, and everything they live by and they tap into their employees just showing up.
At their best and wanting to be there, rather than feeling like they have to be there. So when they think of how can we embed wellbeing into their business strategy, it sends this powerful message that the leaders at the top are committed to how their employees are showing up. Really committed to empowering their people to show up at their best and providing them with the tools, the resources, and the culture and environment that helps them do that.
So. We want people to be showing up at feeling at their best, and the energy of wellbeing helps organizations do that. Hmm. Where do you find that sometimes, you know, not picking on any one particular organization, but just in general, where do you find that sometimes either organizations or businesses or even nonprofits kind of fail and empowering, you know, women in leadership when it comes to this strategy?
Absolutely. One of the biggest things is that we see is that there are so many either benefits or programs that are out there. And in reality, women a lot of times are feeling that they have to perform and outperform their male counterparts. And so a lot of times it is just about stepping back and doing less.
With more. And so that’s where the energy comes in, is thinking, how can I manage my energy over managing my time and so that I can really tap into doing less with more and tapping into doing it better. Hmm. Yeah, I can see that. And can this be formalized, like through programs or like, I ask this because I know you do keynotes, I know you do different things like this.
Like how does somebody take that to the next level? Absolutely. So in the book, it’s actually, and I’ve done a lot of keynotes on this, and it’s really about the five E’s of the energy wellbeing framework. So how to transform from having this unstructured. Plan or program of wellbeing and to transforming not just personally, but also in the organization and the team.
And so it really comes down to the five E’s. And the five E’s are to evaluate the current, everything that you have currently to empower and develop a strategic. Plan so that you can align it to the organization or if it’s personally to your personal goals, and then you drive the energy around it. So it’s not a just a one time program.
It’s not a one time perk. It’s really about driving the energy around the new strategy, and then it’s about engagement. Many programs fail personally or in the organization fail because people don’t engage in them. And then the last one is about. Really taking it to the next level with innovating and evaluating the results.
So thinking about what is the ROI that comes with this particular strategy that we have developed to drive the energy wellbeing of our organization. Hmm. That makes so much sense. and looking at what people are doing to, I mean, to make this happen, I feel like different organizations, obviously different sizes, organizations have different levels of resources, so maybe enterprise can put a little bit more, maybe sometimes small businesses can’t always do this.
I wanna talk to the small business owners just for a moment here. what kind of things do you think they should be thinking about as they start wrapping their head around this? Absolutely. Any time that they’re thinking, how can we serve our employees better? Mm-hmm. Think about here are ways that we can help them show up at their best.
Mm-hmm. And the best part is when I talk about evaluating, that includes listening systems, which include focus groups or doing some kind of. Questions survey that ask your employees what do they need? Hey, here’s what we have currently, but how can we make it better so that you feel that you’re getting the most benefit out of being a part of our organization and asking your employees is your best resource where they start saying.
Here’s where we are at currently, and here are the needs that we have. And they might be surprised the leaders that are leading small businesses, because a lot of times they think that they have to give big incentives or have higher pay or have some kind of activity within the workplace. And a lot of times the employees just want to get a high five from their leader or recognition, or they just wanna be of acknowledged for the current work that they’re doing and.
That really comes down to asking their employees what is it that they currently need. So it comes down to starting with evaluating. Hmm. Yeah, I like that. I like that. I think even looking back at my own career, some of my most, I don’t know, some of my, the memories I remember the most didn’t even really cost any money.
It was like, obviously I like my money bonuses too, when I was in corporate America, my cash bonuses. But like, I remember getting a certificate or an award or like some recognition or some other things that just kind of, you know, spoke to me just in general. And those were meaningful and they kept me loyal and I, think they moved the needle on.
Me still, you know, many years later having fond memories of those experiences, right? Absolutely. Every employee and every team member, regardless if they’re a part of a military unit, a sports team, just a part of your family or the organization, it is all about, comes down to two questions. Do I feel valued, and do I add value?
Mm-hmm. So if we can answer those two questions, do I add value and do I feel valued? That’s something that is gonna help somebody just stay with that organization, with that team a lot longer and just feel like they really feel value and add value. Yeah. Tell me a little bit more about ES Stellar and, your company and kind of, and the services and what you’re up to.
I. Absolutely. So it’s, a public speaking wellbeing agency and it focused a lot on driving keynotes and workshops for organizations and also a strategy that comes with building out a strategy for their organization, for wellbeing. Fantastic. Estella, if somebody’s listening to this or watching this, and if they wanna follow up and they want to connect and learn more how do they do that?
So they can go to the energy wellbeing.com and they can find out a lot about what is currently happening. And then also the book that will be launching very soon. Fantastic. And property listening. Just so you know, we’ll definitely put the links in the show notes, so you could just click on the links and head right on over.
And speaking of the audience, if this is your first time with Mission Matters and you haven’t done it yet, hit that subscribe or follow button. This is a daily show. Each and every day we’re bringing you new content, new ideas, and hopefully new inspiration to help you along the way on your journey as well.
So again, hit that subscribe or follow button. And Ella, thanks again for coming on the show. Thank you, Adam.
