The Queen of her Empire, Elena Cardone has designed, constructed and protected a life outside of the ordinary. She has inspired a legion of followers to create their own empires – lives that are truly fulfilling and beyond the average. She counts her current job as her most important one – Chief Family Officer, where she is a loving mother, fierce wife and loyal friend.
She began her career in Hollywood and soon became a successful model and actress of TV and film fame. A lifelong competitive sport shooter, and now wife, mother, author, business woman, empire builder, event producer, mentor, public speaker and visionary. She is the Author of the Best Selling Book “Build An Empire : How to Have it All” she is the executive producer of the massively successful events that include 10X ladies, Operation 10x badass, Build an Empire Mastermind and her own show, “Women In Power”.
Drawing upon her vast experience, Elena has developed her own curriculum to assist aspiring empire builders. In her Build an Empire course, she lays the groundwork for both men and women as she trains them how to create, grow and defend an extraordinary career and marriage. Additionally she mentors thousands of women with personal one-to-one coaching sessions.
Elena’s most recent endeavor has been to partner with ExP Realty. She is now a licensed realtor who plans on building the largest real estate team across the globe helping hundreds of thousands create generational wealth through real estate powered by EXP. She’s been happily married to Grant Cardone since 2004 (July 4th to be exact – and the fireworks have never stopped) and lives with her husband Grant, their two daughters Sabrina and Scarlett, along with their two cats, Cash and Flow in Miami Beach. Together they have built a real estate portfolio of over $5.5 Billion. Born in Louisiana from a middle class home, Elena’s dreams and visions were expanding at a young age. She always knew she was meant for more for herself, and for her future family, and today she is the living embodiment of her deepest desires.
Walk us through your journey to enlightenment.
The biggest internal shift happened when I realized I am a spiritual being. I separated myself from my body and recognized that I am not just this physical form—I am a spiritual entity that inhabits and operates a body. Before that, I fully identified with my body, believing it defined me, my circumstances, and my life. I thought I was a victim of whatever happened in this physical universe. But when I realized I am a spiritual being, it opened a whole new perspective. I started exploring what I could do as a spiritual being.
This journey began in 2000 when I attended the Church of Scientology and took a basic course called Success Through Communication. At the time, I was an actress, and that course, which cost just $50, helped me improve my acting. I followed it with another course called The Tone Scale, which completely transformed my understanding of human nature. I had always thought emotions were limited to happy, sad, or angry, but I learned there’s a whole spectrum—from serenity and enthusiasm to fear, terror, and apathy. This revelation gave me depth as an actress, and I started booking more jobs. Those small courses ended up being more impactful than my acting classes because they helped me understand human nature and the mind.
Then I read The Fundamentals of Thought and The New Slant on Life. That’s when it hit me: the mind, body, and spirit are separate. I used to think the brain was the mind, but the brain is part of the body. The mind, however, is something entirely different. What controls the mind? That realization shifted everything. I began to see that I could create my life and manifest what I wanted. Manifestation isn’t just imagining something—it’s making it appear in the physical universe. If it doesn’t materialize, it hasn’t truly manifested.
I understood that spiritual beings don’t need the physical universe to create, but on Earth, I use my body as a tool to take action. I realized life is a game. Before, I was unknowingly playing a game of lack—believing I was a victim, that bad things happened to me, or that men held me back. Once I became aware of this, I shifted my mindset. As a spiritual being, I consciously decided to create my life. That’s when everything changed. My life now—with planes, homes, and travel—is a manifestation of decisions I made in 2008. Back then, I was pregnant with my first child, the economy had collapsed, and we were on the brink of financial ruin. But I made the decision to align with my husband and build an empire.
The biggest secret I’ve learned, and it’s not about religion, is something I discovered in Scientology: stop living from the past into the present. The past is full of limitations, doubts, and fears—voices telling you that you can’t, you’re not supposed to, or it’s impossible. But when I stopped letting the past dictate my present, I began creating the life I envisioned. That decision to move forward without the weight of the past changed everything.
I said to myself, “I’m disconnecting from my past. It ends today.” And I shut it off.
I used my future to pull me forward. I asked myself, “Who am I in the future? Am I confident and strong? Do I understand money and finances? How do I become the person I want to be?” First of all, I wore a metaphorical hat. If you’re a policeman, you wear a policeman’s hat because it shows who you are. I wore the hat of a powerful leader, a women’s rights activist, and a billionaire. It felt ridiculous at the time, but I wore the hat anyway.
I said, “Don’t spend money you don’t have.” Because billionaires don’t do that. They’re not careless with money. I’ve spent hundreds of hours on courses, educating myself. I’ve gone through countless programs. I’ve studied people. I’ve elevated my spirituality to an entirely new level. Those actions have allowed me to have what I want and become the person I am.
It comes down to Be, Do, and Have. Be — wear the hat of who you want to be. Then Do. And finally, you will Have. Most people get it backward. They think they need to Have it first. “Once I’m a movie star, then I can call people.” “Once I’m a billionaire, then I won’t be afraid of rejection.” But that’s wrong. That’s inverted. You’ll never get there if you wait to Have it first. Be it. Be the person.
Let’s say you wanted a job or a client and didn’t get it. If you wore the hat of a billionaire, you’d think, “Okay, how can I follow up? How can I create more opportunities? What can I learn from this? Maybe my pipeline wasn’t full enough.” You stay in the mindset of that billionaire. It softens the blow of rejection.
If you were truly a billionaire, you’d know for certain that in ten years, you’d have what you want. So, would you really care if someone told you no today? That’s the conviction you need to have in yourself.
I have an issue with people who say, “Just think it and you’ll manifest it.” They forget the most crucial part — the Do.
Life is a game. You need barriers, or you won’t find happiness. If everything were easy, if you could have everything you wanted right now, you’d get bored. There’s no challenge in that. Would you want to play chess with yourself? Would you want to play football where you’re the only team, scoring every time you hit the field? How boring would that be? You wouldn’t want to play that game.
Life is going to put obstacles in your way, and that’s the point. I understand I’m playing a game. I need those barriers and challenges, or I wouldn’t appreciate the happiness that comes with winning. When I win the Super Bowl ring of life — after an entire season and the support of a whole team — that’s when it’s fulfilling. No one builds an empire alone.
Photography by Denice Duff
Styled by Michael Kors
