To be seen, validated and loved—these are at the heart of everything Erin Engelke does. Whether she’s giving incarcerated women a promising path forward as CEO of ReMerge, or spreading positivity on her News 9 Motivation Monday segment, or cheering on working moms through public appearances or executive coaching sessions, all of Engelke’s work is about seeing and serving others.
Engelke said she wants every woman to know: “You are so much more capable than you even realize. You are incredibly worthy. You are meant to be here,” adding, “Nothing brings me more joy than seeing women who come to believe in themselves.”
Engelke’s career has been shaped by her experiences with grief and trauma. When she was young, her father died by suicide, and she and her husband faced four years of infertility and miscarriages as they yearned to start a family. She was working in corporate marketing during those difficult years and, after one of her miscarriages, she felt called to make a change.
“As I was driving to work that one particular morning, something got placed in my heart where God said, ‘Erin, you have learned the value of life because you have lost it, and your life is worth so much more than what you are doing right now,’” said Engelke.
Thereafter, she worked for nonprofits, joining the life-changing missions of World Neighbors, Feed the Children, Sunbeam Family Services and then Calm Waters, a grief center.
“Quite honestly, it felt so right,” she said. “This is where I needed to be.”
While at Calm Waters, Engelke was appointed to the Oklahoma Commission on the Status of Women as well as the Citizens Advisory Board to the Jail Trust. She had never visited a prison before, but when she sat down with inmates, she realized that many of their issues stemmed from trauma and loss. So, she worked to introduce the first prison grief counseling programs in the nation. Her efforts gained traction and attention and, in 2024, ReMerge recruited Engelke as CEO.
“Being able to do life alongside the women who we serve here at ReMerge is genuinely a gift,” Engelke said. “Any one of us could have been one of these women, if we grew up in a different home environment. If I had not been able to overcome my own grief and loss, who knows where I could have landed? Truly, the most inspirational thing is to watch them come into this program with zero hope, no belief in themselves, and watch them gradually—slowly but surely—find the confidence and tools to be able to do life sober and change the behaviors that led them to be justice involved; and then, most beautifully, to be reunited with their children.”
Seeing women reconnect with their little ones is one of Engelke’s favorite sights, as she cherishes the gift of motherhood. Eventually, she was able to have three children, and work-life balance became central to her life. She began a movement called “Beauty in the Busyness” to inspire other working moms. She also inspired other women through being crowned Mrs. Oklahoma in 2020, carrying a message of hope and healing after infertility as her platform.
No matter where she is or who she encounters, Engelke finds a way to relate. She listens with compassion; she responds with hope.
“Life is not easy, and each season of life has its own challenges,” she said, “but there can also be beauty found in all of it.”
