Hi, I'm EJ Encalarde

Senior Festival Producer | Festival Leadership Expert | Gallup-Certified Coach

For 36 years, I've had the privilege of producing major festivals including the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Presidential Inaugurations, NFL events, and other large-scale live experiences serving hundreds of thousands of attendees annually.

This work has given me deep respect for the complexity of festival leadership—and deep concern for what I see happening to leaders in our industry.

THE REALITY WE FACE

The festival and live events industry has a 75% burnout rate. We lose talented professionals not because they lack skill, but because the demands of our work—compressed timelines, cross-functional complexity, impossible expectations—become unsustainable.

I've experienced every challenge our industry faces: building collaborative teams across departments that speak different languages, making strategic decisions under extreme pressure, developing leaders who can sustain excellence over decades, and creating organizational cultures that support both high performance and human wellbeing

.I've also seen the gap: while our industry excels at production excellence, we have limited resources for leadership development designed specifically for our operational reality.

That's why I created The Leadership House.

MY APPROACH: THE THREE DEPTHS FRAMEWORK™

As a Gallup-Certified CliftonStrengths Coach and adjunct professor at Tulane University's Freeman School of Business, I've developed a research-backed approach to festival leadership that integrates three essential dimensions:

DEEP IDENTITY: Know Yourself

Understanding your strengths, values, and leadership style through CliftonStrengths and self-awareness practices that help you lead authentically rather than reactively.

DEEP STILLNESS: Sustain Yourself

Building recovery practices and contemplative disciplines that support executive effectiveness under pressure—because sustainable high performance requires intentional renewal, not heroics.

DEEP AGILITY: Lead Effectively

Developing strategic decision-making systems, collaborative team structures, and sustainable organizational practices that don't require you to work yourself into exhaustion.

This isn't theory. It's what I've learned from 36 years in the production trenches, combined with research-backed coaching methodology and holistic leadership practices.

THE LEADERSHIP HOUSE

The Leadership House is my contribution to an industry that has given me an extraordinary career. Through Rising Festival Leaders workshops, executive coaching, and speaking engagements, I'm committed to serving festival leaders as they navigate the unique challenges and opportunities of our work.

Because our industry deserves sustainable leadership. And you deserve to lead from clarity and strength, not exhaustion.

LET'S CONNECT

Whether you're interested in bringing a Rising Festival Leaders workshop to your team, exploring executive coaching, or discussing speaking opportunities, I'd welcome the conversation.