Host Dr. Chrysandra Brunson welcomes renowned entrepreneur Barbara Matthews Ellena for a powerful conversation on Faith-Based Entrepreneurship. Barbara shares her incredible journey from leading a successful Interior Design firm to overseeing major Real Estate Development projects like Palo Verde Lane.
Learn how this pillar of Christian Women in Business applies her Leadership skills to everything from luxury home design to high-impact Non-profit Fundraising. Barbara proves you can thrive in the marketplace while making an eternal impact. Get ready for practical wisdom and the inspiration you need to chase your biggest dreams!
Welcome, everyone, to The Calling’s radio show to all the dreamers. I’m your radio host, Dr. Chrysandra Brunson. It’s such an honor to be with all of you today. You know, at The Calling, we have realized that so many people are afraid to go after Jesus’ calling on their lives. because they are afraid to fail. And that’s just plain wrong because if God has given us a dream and we’re not living it out, we are wasting it. And we do not want you or anyone else to die with regret. That’s why at The Calling, we love to inspire, empower, and equip people after Jesus’ calling on their lives to leave the most eternal impact possible to have immediate impact on themselves and their families. We love to do this through so many different avenues, through custom tools, programs, conferences, workshops, especially through this radio show where we bring on world-renowned guests to be able to share how they’re going after God’s dream on their heart and how you can do the same. Today is no exception. You guys, we have in studio live with us the one and only Barbara Matthews Elena. Barbara, welcome to the show. Chrysandra, I’m so excited to be here.
BARBARA MATTHEWS ELLENA :
I really am.
CHRYSANDRA :
Me too, Barbara. I feel like this has been years in the making and it is just such a dream come true. Thank you for being here.
BARBARA MATTHEWS ELLENA :
Oh, my gosh. It’s just it’s a blessing to be here.
CHRYSANDRA :
And Barbara, we we know that there’s so many people that have heard your name from across the country, even the world. Can you just share some of the platforms and leadership positions that you’ve held throughout your time?
BARBARA MATTHEWS ELLENA :
You know, Chrysandra, you’re playing that way too hard on me. You know, I grew up in Colorado. I got to go to school for interior design and architecture up in Fort Collins at Colorado State University. And, you know, early on, I started Matthews Design, which is an interior design company that I started up in the ski resorts of Colorado. and then ended up with also putting an office in downtown Denver. So I was commuting back and forth between Summit County and Denver, and doing projects, both commercial and residential. And then actually even getting the opportunity because of the network of clients from up in the ski resorts where they would want me to do projects around the country. And one of which was I’m really excited about. I didn’t have anything because I didn’t pursue going after it. But St. Louis Homes and Lifestyles saw one of the projects I did that I worked on for three years it was a 10,000 square foot project where the clients even flew me out to look at the land before they bought the land because we had such a good rapport with each other and this is my third project for them So that one got on the cover of St. Louis Homes and Lifestyles. And then, you know, I’ve just been going to other projects, too, because my husband also is an entrepreneur, Greg Elena. We love Greg. We love Greg. And then Greg had a bank in Denver, and then he wanted to… Go down to New Mexico because he had also an affiliation with a bank in Santa Fe that he First National Bank of Santa Fe that he wanted to grow and he actually grew it up to Albuquerque and then up to Denver And so I said, okay Greg, we’ll do it And so I kind of closed up a lot of my interior design that I was doing in Colorado and then more recently my husband again, we’ve been teaming up because we both have a drive for entrepreneurship and And he wanted another thing that he’s always liked. He’s definitely a right brain, left brain where he wanted to do a development. And I was like, oh, good, because it’s only taken me 30. Here I am. I marry a developer from Summit County, Colorado is when when I met him. He was a developed developer up there. with E.J. Albright, Colorado First Construction was their company. And I said, it’s jokingly that it took all these years for me to finally get a project with him because I did some up there. But then all those years have transpired where we didn’t do projects together because he was doing banks and other projects. So now in Arizona, we’ve been building a small community in downtown Scottsdale called Palo Verde Lane. And it’s seven homes out of steel, sandstone and glass in a small gated community. We took a parcel of land that we did an infill project on and did the infrastructure. And now we just in April are completely finished with it. We started in 2015. And now, by the grace of God, I believe I’m going to be getting back to Colorado full time, which is my home home state. And, you know, God’s just got so many different fun things, you know, to get involved with that. I’ve been. Actually keeping my foot in the door, if you will, still in Colorado, even though I’ve been in New Mexico and Arizona. I’ve been involved with the Christian Women’s Business Organization that Denise Marriott started 15 years ago. And then fundraising. I don’t know why, but in New Mexico, for instance, and actually starting in Denver, I felt God saying to me, you know what, Barbara, you are good at getting people to come to things and organizing those kinds of things. And I was like, yeah, okay, great.
CHRYSANDRA :
You are. Yeah.
BARBARA MATTHEWS ELLENA :
I just felt him saying that. And so next thing I knew, in Denver, for instance, I was working with Make-A-Wish and actually the Eisenberg family, Christy and Walter. Christy was chairing a big party in Denver probably like 30 years ago now in Denver. And we brought that Make-A-Wish to a really new level because she put together such a spectacular thing. And then I was in charge of getting corporate sponsors and that kind of thing. So we had… Yeah, matter of fact, we had Scott Wiley and Greg Elena’s bank, Trust Bank of Colorado at the time, and then Northern Trust bought them out. But at the time, they gave us a $30,000 commitment to Make-A-Wish. Incredible. OK, now I want you to help raise money for, you know, something to do with incarceration. I’m like, really, God, can’t I just stay with like the New Mexico Symphony and University of New Mexico and my daughter’s school, which was Bosque School at the time? I’m like, you’ve got to be kidding me. You want me to do something with prisons? Right. And sure enough, Anne Edenfield had Wings for Life in Albuquerque that she started 30 some years ago. And this woman is a force. And so I’d gotten beginning to know her and I thought, OK, here we go. And another friend of mine, Jim Long, who has a lot of the hotels in throughout the state of New Mexico. He’s in New Mexico, born and raised there. and his heritage hotels. He said, Barbara, you can’t have people just going into churches for these parties. You’ve got to use one of my hotels. So Jim would let us use the Hotel Albuquerque.
CHRYSANDRA :
That’s great advice.
BARBARA MATTHEWS ELLENA :
And we just started doing parties there where we just had live music. We just had fun and we started raising a lot of money for her program. Then in Colorado, more recently, I’ve been also helping with Channel Mom. And I started a project here where we raised money for Channel Mom four years ago. And we started with Bandimere Speedway. And Sporty Bandimere allowed me to use his venue. And we closed it just to the party where we were racing Dodge Challengers down the quarter mile for the first two years of what we call Accelerate is the name of the party. And now last year, Mike Ward, I want to do a plug for Mike Ward. He helped us graciously by letting us use his facility. And we got to test drive at this party. We got to test drive his Maseratis and his Ferraris. And then… We even did… And exactly. And now this year for the fourth annual Celebrate, the one I’m currently working on as a fundraiser, we were graciously opened. Gene Osborne and his wife opened up their beautiful ranch in Castle Rock. And so and he happens to have. So God is such a God of detail. He made sure that the car theme was still intact. It was a crazy story because we still thought we were maybe going to do Mike Ward again. But then there happened to be something that Mike, it just didn’t, it wasn’t going to work out. So we went to Jean Osborne’s ranch and you were our emcee. That was fun having you as our emcee. Yes. We just got the results. We made a lot of money that night for Channel Mom.
CHRYSANDRA :
Good. Good. Yeah. So you’ve been involved in several nonprofits and organizations. And we love that, Barbara. Yeah. And you’ve been able to mention a few, but there’s so much more. Can you just take us back when you were a little girl and you were being able to just see in your heart what God would have for your future? What kind of seeds was he planting in you to be an interior designer as well as a philanthropist?
BARBARA MATTHEWS ELLENA :
Well, you know, that’s a good question, Chrysandra. I think… having grown up in denver um i just got an uh a chance to see different entrepreneurs were at work and um one of which um was actually though in michigan because i was actually born in michigan but i was my parents moved our family of six that my parents had six children five girls and one boy and we moved to denver when i was really young but i got to see my grandfather in michigan for instance he had consolidated freightways trucking company that he started I got to see how he interacted with people. And he would be just as gracious to people that were presidents of banks as he was to the person that was waiting a table at like a country club or something. You know what I mean? I remember as like a five-year-old watching and paying attention to how he interacted with people. And so that was a big influence on me. And then I just kept always wanting to know about businesses, how things were happening at an early age. It was very interesting how God wired me. Right. Right. And then my father had a state planning company in Denver, and I worked for him in the summers. And yeah, God was definitely grooming me to see, for instance, I remember a fun thing that I used to do for my father during the summers. He thought birthdays were very important for his clients. And so in the summers, one of my jobs was to make sure that I got actual birthday cards. I mean, what a thing, you know, that that long ago we were doing birthday cards where he would have me, my summer job was to get birthday cards out to all of his clients and just things like that. So now for me, for me, I understand that birthdays are very important to people. It’s just been a great way to, to stay connected with people over the years. One of the things I always do is I try and reach out to them and say, call them and say, it’s your birthday. Make sure you put on your favorite music and dance today.
CHRYSANDRA :
And I love that you say that too, Barbara.
BARBARA MATTHEWS ELLENA :
So we started that with my family. By the grace of God, I was brought into a very tight knit family. My father treated my mother like Christ treats the church. And I believe my brother Tom is now carrying that legacy further. But I just got one of the things we like to do with our family was call each other on our birthdays. And if you didn’t, you were in the doghouse, so to speak. Right. So I thought, you know, we have so much fun with that. Why shouldn’t I be doing that with friends and people that I’m meeting?
ADVERTISER :
Yeah.
BARBARA MATTHEWS ELLENA :
So now when I meet people, I always try and also find out when their birthdays are. And when I reach out to them on their birthdays, like, how did you know it was my birthday? And I’m like, well, that’s easy. I just put it into my contact under you when your birthday is. And so then I reach out to them and.
CHRYSANDRA :
Right. Right. Well, we I think, Barbara, all those different pieces and seeds that have been in your heart from a little girl to now be just bearing so much fruit around the world is such a testament to the Lord’s calling on your life and the different transitions. And in the beginning of you sharing your story of just your education, interior design work. How did that transition come from high school to college? How did you pick that career out of all those things?
BARBARA MATTHEWS ELLENA :
That’s a really good story. Because with interior design, I always was around a lot of beautiful things growing up. And I just remember paying attention to a lot of details on everything. Not just businesses, but the landscape of things, the architecture. I just always had a… you know, a desire to know more about it. And for instance, one really fun thing was my parents were, by the grace of God, were able to buy a condominium up on Lake Dillon when I was a young girl. I was probably like 14, 15 years old. And my mother must have recognized that of all her six children that I had a way with design and everything. So she asked me to help her furnish. That was my first project. Aww. My first project was furnishing my mom and dad’s condo as a high school kid. And that was super fun. And then from there, I went up to Colorado State University. I wanted to stay in Colorado because I love sports. I’ve also been a big sports enthusiast growing up playing sports and anything to do with the outdoors and sports I’m in. So at Colorado State University, I thought, well, I should get a law degree because my father had a law degree from Notre Dame. We grew up Catholic.
CHRYSANDRA :
And I thought, okay, so I’m gonna- And Barbara, I’m gonna pause you right there. We need to take a short break, but we’re gonna dive into how you transitioned to this realm of interior design to then be a world-renowned philanthropist. You guys, we have the one and only Barbara Matthews Elena in with us. I’m your host, Dr. Chrysandra Brunson, founder of The Calling. We’ll be right back. Hi guys, this is Chrysandra Brunson, host of To All The Dreamers. I am so happy to introduce personal training, nutritional guidance, and behavioral change coaching. Healthy, happy, and heavenly for your wellness, spirit, soul, and body. Contact Mimi Kroger at healthyhappyandheavenly.com.
ADVERTISER :
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CHRYSANDRA :
We are back. Thank you for listening to all the Dreamers radio show. I’m your host, Dr. Chrysandra Brunson, founder of The Calling. We’re so honored to be in studio live with the one and only Barbara Elena, sorry, Barbara Matthews Elena. I like to mix those up sometimes, but we are so honored to have you, Barbara, and you are sharing about this transition into the realm of interior design and then into philanthropy. But you’re just sharing that your first project, per se, was with your family at your mom’s house.
BARBARA MATTHEWS ELLENA :
Yeah. My mom and dad had the condominium up on Lake Dillon and she wanted to help with it. And so, you know, I didn’t I didn’t get paid, Chrysandra, but I did. I did sort of get paid. You know what I mean?
CHRYSANDRA :
Yes.
BARBARA MATTHEWS ELLENA :
If nothing else, I got to use it. So it was an in-kind project. Right.
CHRYSANDRA :
And Barbara, what was one of your most favorite projects in interior design?
BARBARA MATTHEWS ELLENA :
So probably one of my most favorite has been the one in St. Louis that made it to the St. Louis cover of St. Louis Homes and Lifestyles.
CHRYSANDRA :
Describe what that looked like.
BARBARA MATTHEWS ELLENA :
So that project started, I was mentioning a little bit earlier when we were talking, that the clients, I’d done several projects. I started one project for them up at the Keystone Ranch. Mm-hmm. And I did a from ground up project for them there. And then they actually had me go do another project in St. Louis, a house that they already owned. And I helped redo that one. And then their third project, he was an executive with Enterprise Cars. And the third project was to come out and help them with this huge 10,000 square foot house that took three years because they even flew me out to look at the land I think I mentioned earlier.
CHRYSANDRA :
Yes. Yes. Ten thousand square feet to be able to design.
BARBARA MATTHEWS ELLENA :
Well, what was fun is we I was able to even, you know, design the rugs that were made in Nepal. I was able to commission commission the art for the walls. But there was no budget.
CHRYSANDRA :
So it was that’s pretty exciting. And at that point, I imagine no budget.
BARBARA MATTHEWS ELLENA :
And at that point, my clients were really good friends of mine, too, because we’d worked on so many other projects together. Right. And they’re just fun people. So it was a really… The one thing that was kind of interesting is that 9-11 struck while I was in St. Louis meeting with them and the architects. And that was pretty crazy because then I had to drive myself back to Denver after there was a shutdown.
CHRYSANDRA :
Right.
BARBARA MATTHEWS ELLENA :
So, yeah.
CHRYSANDRA :
That was… And then Barbara, so you, and then so along this journey of interior design, I mean, just you yourself, you can tell that you’re a designer, like your fashion and just the way that you’re able to see the world. What would you say with someone that’s interested, where do they start with interior design? Like if you, you could recommend someone, but where do you start as an interior designer of pulling out the potential of a space? And why is it important to create those cultures?
BARBARA MATTHEWS ELLENA :
You know, so someone that’s interested, there’s just so many schools. You don’t necessarily have to go to a four-year accredited. I will put a plug in that for Colorado State University, it has one of the best art departments in the country. And that I was not aware of. And I want to do a little bit of a backstory on that because we started talking about it before the break. I thought I wanted to be an attorney because my father had a law degree from Notre Dame. Right. And then I immediately started flunking out of the pre-law classes. So I thought, okay, Barbara, that’s not for you because you’re not doing well in these classes whatsoever. So then I thought, well, you know, you do like art and you do like interior design, things like that. So that’s when I went into the interior design department and studied architecture, graphics, and interior design. But as far as someone who’s now wanting to get involved, and it can get involved, I think, in any age, So I do want to stay with that plug about Colorado State University. They have one of the best art departments in the country, which my father was always good with education. He was very important to both my parents. And so he said to me, Barbara, you know, as another school to go to, Colorado State would be a good one. And then there’s some other schools that you can look up on the Internet, though, that are just maybe a two year program or start working as an associate for somebody.
CHRYSANDRA :
Right. Like, Barbara, what do you what do you believe, though, just a spark, even just for a mom that’s at home or they don’t necessarily have the ability to become a professional designer, but they have the ability to design their space. Where do they start in doing that? Or it’s a dad and his vehicle or, you know, just what is where do people start in creating the space that they desire?
BARBARA MATTHEWS ELLENA :
You know, I think, again, we have so much at our fingertips with the Internet that I would just say start Googling and start looking on the Internet for different resources that you want and different ways to just get creative ideas.
CHRYSANDRA :
Right. Because what happens when you’re in a space that draws out your imagination? Yeah.
BARBARA MATTHEWS ELLENA :
You know, I just immediately can. Well, for one thing, if I’m working with a client now for our project in Arizona, Greg had the vision of what he wanted. But then I was able to come in because I understood the vision he wanted. And so did our architect. So to also have a team. I also feel like if you are doing a big project now, you know, we’re kind of going back and forth. Right. If you’re an individual that wants to do their home project. I’d say, you know, just start looking on the internet and trying to find good resources and just keep looking for ideas on the internet because it’s such a wealth of information. And then if you’re doing a big project, for instance, our project in Arizona that we just completed, we were, by the grace of God, we were able to assemble a team. And that’s what we had when I did the St. Louis project. We had an architect, we had the builder, I was the designer, and I even helped with the landscape project. So we just had a team that collectively worked from the ground up.
CHRYSANDRA :
Still getting a good team. Absolutely.
BARBARA MATTHEWS ELLENA :
And a lot of people don’t realize how important. And having played sports all my life and still continuing to do so, I mean, I still get the Epic and the Icon Pass because I can’t give up my skiing for sure. Yep. I think a team is a good approach for everything. It’s a good approach for what you’re doing with the calling. Speaking of which, I’d like to talk more about that because I feel like everything, if you put a team together, no matter what, interior design, I think you have to have a team. Mm-hmm. And you have to have people that you can rely on on that team. And in a perfect world, I would get people that are plugged in with their love for Jesus.
CHRYSANDRA :
Yes, yes. And so Barbara, in this journey of being able to, we’re going to dive a little bit more into how you are plugged into the calling. But first off, Barbara, on this journey of pursuing Jesus’s heart in the ups and downs in the world of interior design, but also just the world of philanthropy and just being able to serve with people. Tell us about a huge challenge, a huge giant that you had to be able to persevere by faith. And how did you do that?
BARBARA MATTHEWS ELLENA :
I’d say the biggest one was the one I mentioned earlier about in Albuquerque, where the program that is going on there, they literally meet every week with families that have been affected by incarceration to break that generational cycle of incarceration. And I think that trying to do a party and get people to come to a party that helps anything to do with prisons, I thought, what an uphill battle that is. So, but you know what? I stepped out in faith. And then when you meet Ann Edenfield, you know, the woman who started Wings for Life, you just have, God just, and again, but we had a team. We had a woman who knows how to facilitate. So she puts the party, Pamela Chavez, I want to say my beautiful friend in Albuquerque, that’s what she does for a living. She facilitates. So we came up with the ideas and as a team we put together these fun parties that are still going on. They’re called Celebration of Champions. And a couple of years ago, I went back to Albuquerque to attend it. And now there’s about 300 people that are in attendance.
CHRYSANDRA :
That’s great. That’s such a legacy. We’re coming up towards the end of our show, Barbara. There are a couple of questions that we do want to be able to hear about. What would you say would be your biggest piece of advice for someone tuning in that’s afraid to go after Jesus is calling on their lives?
BARBARA MATTHEWS ELLENA :
I think just get up every morning and say, you know, Father God, in the book of Isaiah, it talks about, you know, use me, take me for, you know, whatever the journey is. So I think get up, say, this is a journey with you. This is an adventure. And look at everything as an adventure. And don’t be fearful. Fearful is… I was listening to… I was at the Red Rocks concert. And fear is a liar. That’s from Satan.
SPEAKER 03 :
So just…
BARBARA MATTHEWS ELLENA :
Just squash that. And the minute anything fearful comes into your mind, you have to squash it because God has really good plans for everybody. And if we let anything else come in into our mind set, then it it disables us. And that’s what Satan wants. He doesn’t want us to do the dreams that God has for us.
CHRYSANDRA :
Right. Right. And the Red Rocks event you’re referring to is that the one with Zach Williams and Ben Fuller.
BARBARA MATTHEWS ELLENA :
That was last night. Yeah.
CHRYSANDRA :
Yes, yes. Yeah. And this week, we do love that, Barbara. And that is such a huge point not to let fear get in the way. And that’s what we’re here for. And can you just share with our listeners as well as your involvement recently with the calling and why you’re getting involved?
BARBARA MATTHEWS ELLENA :
Well, I’ve been, you know, I met you two and a half years ago, Chrysandra, when you came to one of my fundraisers at Bandimere Speedway. And I just remember thinking, I don’t know who this woman is, but I truly felt that even that evening when I met you, that I needed to get to know you and that we were probably going to be working together. I just felt the Lord whisper that in my, the Holy Spirit whispered that to me. And then in the last two and a half years, I’ve gotten to know you and I see what your visions and I see a little bit. I think you’re a dreamer like Walt Disney. And I think that’s one of the biggest compliments. Well, I think your vision is so big that I’m going to start saying that Walt Disney had a big vision and a lot of people didn’t understand all his vision. Mm-hmm. And that’s the same with you. And I think the more that people start to understand your vision. So I’m ready to jump on board because I feel like that’s where the Lord’s directing me and help people understand what your vision is.
CHRYSANDRA :
Well, we love that, Barbara. And we know that you’re such a dreamer and that you are being able to allow people to. by your influence, your walk with the Lord, know that they can go after what God’s called them to as well. We love to ask, what would you do if you knew you could not fail? What would be that answer?
BARBARA MATTHEWS ELLENA :
Well, you know what? This is what’s coming to my mind right now is getting the calling to have dream centers around the world.
CHRYSANDRA :
Ah, we love that, Barbara. That’s so powerful. Yeah. Well, and, you know, for our listeners, we’re excited for you guys to be a part of this branch of The Calling with the radio show. But there’s so many different outlets that I’m grateful that you’re pointing out in the current present season and the one to come, including the Dream Centers slash Imagination Stations and being able to just create cultures like interior design. where people can dream again. And you, Barbara, and your incredible husband, Greg, are such instruments in doing that physically and buildings around the world as well as spiritually. And so we just thank you so much for your influence. Barbara, how can people come alongside to be able to support you, to support what you’re doing, even for coming to see your guys’ upcoming projects?
BARBARA MATTHEWS ELLENA :
around the country. If you want to see the project we just completed, you can go to palaveritylane.com and there’s actually a video of the project before we had any of the landscaping done, but you’ll see the very first house we did in 2019.
CHRYSANDRA :
And there’s even one more house that might be up for sale.
BARBARA MATTHEWS ELLENA :
Well, that’s true. We have on the five acres, we have an Arizona ranch house that was built in the 50s that we rebuilt. We took a year and a half to rebuild it. And my husband and I are about to put that on the market. And it’s…
CHRYSANDRA :
Absolutely breathtaking.
BARBARA MATTHEWS ELLENA :
And it’s what’s called a flagpole lot. And it’s literally at the back of the five acres. And so it’s got total privacy and it’s pretty spectacular. So I’m about to put that on the market.
CHRYSANDRA :
You guys, if you’re looking for a home in Arizona, it’s literally just, or in America, it is, it’s just spectacular. So please go check out Barbara, come alongside her, pray, just pray for her, pray for their continual impact and influence on ministries, nonprofits around the world. In particular, we’re just so thankful, Barbara, for you and Greg’s incredible help with the calling and being such a pillar of faith for us to stand on. Challenge everyone with Paul’s just incredible scripture to us. As a prisoner of the Lord, then I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Till next time, dreamers. Keep dreaming big.
