The new book · Out now
In Begin Again, Better, Elena Rhodes shares the field guide she wishes someone had handed her the year everything changed — a practical, hopeful book about rebuilding a career, a team, or a life without throwing away everything you have already learned.
Elena speaks to conferences, companies, and communities about second acts, steady leadership in unsteady times, and the small decisions that compound into a completely different year.
A field guide to starting over without starting from scratch
Begin Again, Better — hardcover, paperback, e-book, and audio, read by the author. Available wherever books are sold, and at every live event.
“The rare reinvention book that is honest about the hard middle — and genuinely useful once you are in it.”
“Rhodes writes like a friend who has taken notes on her own worst year so you do not have to repeat it.”
“Our book club talked for two hours past our usual end time. The chapter on ‘the inventory’ started it.”
The Book
Part memoir, part manual. Elena tells the story of the year her long-running events company closed, her team scattered, and she had to decide what a second act could look like at fifty-two — then turns each hard lesson into a step a reader can take the same week.
Leaders whose industry shifted under them. Founders after a close, a sale, or a pivot. Anyone returning after caregiving, illness, or a long detour — and anyone managing a team through exactly that kind of change.
Every chapter ends with a short workbook page: an inventory to fill in, a conversation to have, or a decision to make while the idea is still warm.
About Elena
Elena Rhodes spent eighteen years building a regional events company from a two-person startup into a team of sixty — then watched a changing market close it in a single difficult year. What she did next became the subject of her writing and her talks: not a reinvention fantasy, but a methodical rebuild that kept the best of what she had already built.
Today Elena writes and speaks full-time. Her essays on second acts and steady leadership appear in her newsletter, The Second Draft, and her workshops help leadership teams plan transitions they would rather not talk about — successions, pivots, closures, and fresh starts — before they are forced to improvise them.
She lives in the Pacific Northwest, writes every morning before the house wakes up, and still keeps the notebook from the first ninety days of her own restart. It is mostly lists. That is rather the point.
“Elena Rhodes is the author of Begin Again, Better, a field guide to starting over without starting from scratch. After eighteen years building — and then closing — an events company, she rebuilt her working life from an honest inventory of what remained, and now helps leaders and teams do the same. Her keynotes are known for being practical, funny in the right places, and unusually light on slogans.”
Event planners: the full set of ready-to-use bios, in three lengths, is in the media kit below — copy one and you are done.
Speaking
Four signature talks, each tailored to your audience in a planning call before the event. Every talk can stand alone as a keynote, pair with a fireside conversation, or expand into a working session with Elena’s workbook materials.
The book, on stage. Elena tells the story of her own restart and walks the audience through the inventory method — what you keep, what you release, and what you build first — so people leave with a first step sized to their real life.
For leaders guiding teams through change they did not choose. Elena shares the communication rhythms, honest metrics, and small rituals that kept her own team informed and intact during the hardest year of her company’s life.
A warm, practical talk for professionals at a turning point — after a layoff, a caregiving season, a sale, or a quiet realization that the current chapter is finished. Focuses on story, proof, and the first three conversations to have.
A hands-on half-day workshop built on the book’s second chapter. Teams or audiences plan a realistic ninety-day season of small, compounding moves toward one shared goal — and leave with owners, dates, and a review rhythm.
The story and the method, delivered to the whole room. Includes a short audience exercise and a book-signing line afterward — organized readers are Elena’s favorite kind.
An interviewer-led session that goes deeper on the parts of the story your audience most needs to hear. Works beautifully after a keynote or as an evening event.
Half-day, workbook in hand. Participants leave with a plan, not just notes — and a ninety-day review date already on the calendar.
On the calendar
Public appearances and open-registration events. Private company events are not listed. To ask about attending, hosting, or adding a date, use the booking form — every event below started as one of those messages.
“Begin Again, Better” opens the summit, followed by a book signing in the main hall.
A reading from the new book, the story behind the “inventory” chapter, and questions from the floor.
“The Second Act Playbook” on the main stage, plus a small-group lunch session for early-career builders.
The half-day working session, open to individuals and small teams. Workbook included; bring one goal you are tired of postponing.
“Steady in the Shake” closes the forum, with a fireside conversation on leading through a reorganization.
Planning further ahead? Elena’s calendar is currently open for the second half of 2027 — dates are held in the order inquiries arrive.
Kind words
Every name and organization below is fictional — this is an example site, and these quotes show where real testimonials would sit and how they would read.
“Elena was the highest-rated speaker in our summit’s nine-year history. People were still doing her inventory exercise at lunch the next day — unprompted. We booked her again before the evaluations were even counted.”
“She did her homework on our company, named our actual situation in the first five minutes, and somehow made a room of skeptical managers laugh and take notes at the same time. Zero slogans. All substance.”
“The easiest author event we have ever run. The media kit had everything — bios in three lengths, the intro script, the headshot — and the signing line stayed for an hour because Elena talks to readers like neighbors.”
“I read Begin Again, Better in the month after my role was eliminated. The inventory chapter turned a panic spiral into a list, and the list turned into work. I have given away nine copies. I keep count.”
For media & event planners
Everything a producer, podcast host, journalist, or event planner needs — on one page, ready to copy. For interviews and review copies, write to [email protected].
Elena Rhodes is the author of Begin Again, Better, a field guide to starting over without starting from scratch.
Elena Rhodes is the author of Begin Again, Better, a field guide to starting over without starting from scratch. After eighteen years building — and then closing — an events company, she rebuilt her working life from an honest inventory of what remained, and now helps leaders and teams do the same.
Elena Rhodes spent eighteen years building a regional events company from a two-person startup into a team of sixty — then watched a changing market close it in a single difficult year. Her new book, Begin Again, Better, turns that experience into a practical method for starting over without starting from scratch: take an honest inventory, work in ninety days of small, compounding moves, and build the room of people every second act needs. Elena has delivered more than 140 keynotes and workshops for conferences, companies, universities, and nonprofits, and writes The Second Draft, a twice-monthly newsletter on second acts and steady leadership. She lives in the Pacific Northwest.
“Please welcome Elena Rhodes. Elena built a company for eighteen years, closed it in one hard year, and then did the thing she now teaches: she began again — better. Her book, Begin Again, Better, is a field guide to starting over without starting from scratch, and her talk today comes with a warning: you will leave with homework, and you will probably enjoy it. Elena Rhodes.”
Booking
Tell us about your event and we will reply within two business days with availability, a short planning-call link, and everything your committee needs to decide. Prefer email? Write to [email protected] or call (555) 014-2864.
Dates are held in the order inquiries arrive, and a date is confirmed once both sides agree in writing. Virtual keynotes and firesides are available for every topic. Signed book copies for attendees can be arranged with any booking — ask in your message.
Not the right fit? Elena happily recommends two or three other speakers whose talks she trusts. Ask — it happens more often than you would think, and it is always a good conversation.
Behind this example
An author-and-speaker site has one job: turn visitors into readers, subscribers, and booked dates. Here is how this one is put together — the same structure Tarsus Partners LLC builds for a real personal site.
The newest book leads the homepage — cover, promise, and praise where a visitor cannot miss it — with formats, chapters, and bulk-copy paths one click away.
Date, city, audience size, and topic are captured up front, so the first reply can be about availability and fit instead of back-and-forth basics.
Each talk states its audience, length, and takeaway — and its button lands on the booking form with that topic already selected.
Upcoming dates in a simple, scannable list build credibility with planners and give readers a reason to show up in person.
Bios in three lengths, a stage intro, a headshot, and quick facts — copyable in one click, so producers and planners never have to chase assets by email.
Every visitor who is not ready to book or buy can still join the list — the asset that fills future rooms and launches the next book.
Contact
Example contact details for this fictional site — they reach no one, by design.
Booking inquiries, date holds, and event questions.
[email protected]Podcasts, press, review copies, and book coverage.
[email protected]Book-club invitations, reader letters, and general notes.
[email protected]Example website. The business shown here is fictional. This site is an example built by Tarsus Partners LLC to demonstrate design and features — no real products, services, bookings, orders, donations, or payments are offered or processed here.