We recently connected with Shauna Henson and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Shauna, thanks for joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

The truth is, I didn’t start a business. I answered a call.

I had no intention of becoming a corporate culture consultant. I didn’t sit down and think, What’s trending in HR right now? I lived it. I survived it. But mostly, I watched brilliant, talented, purpose-driven people burn out in workplaces that never made space for who they really were. And I realized—this wasn’t just happening to individuals. It was systemic. And it was costing all of us.

I spent years working behind the scenes as a creative strategist and brand developer, helping companies get their messaging right. But the more access I got, the more I saw the disconnect: companies were obsessed with external branding while their internal cultures were quietly falling apart. Employees were misaligned, leadership was disconnected, and the human side of work was completely overlooked.

That’s when the idea for Steam Trunk started to take shape—not as a service, but as a standard. A new global model for how we build cultures that actually work—for humans.

I wanted to build something that didn’t just consult companies, but redefined what corporate culture could be. Not culture that looks good on a slide deck, but culture that transforms people from the inside out. That’s why Steam Trunk is anchored in four measures of well-being that most organizations don’t even know how to track. We help companies design cultures that allow people to thrive—and we do it through strategy, structure, and soul.

At the same time, I launched UnCultured, the podcast that says what no one else in corporate is willing to say out loud. It’s not just a mic and a message—it’s a platform to challenge outdated norms and spark change from both sides: the employee who feels stuck, and the executive who knows something has to shift but doesn’t know where to begin.

Then there’s Change Everything—my answer to the people who were ready to walk away from misaligned careers and needed a compass to build a life they could actually feel. Not hustle culture. Not surface-level success. But real transformation that starts with identity and ends with aligned productivity.

What makes all of this different is simple: I’m not selling hope. I’m building infrastructure. I’m not just giving people language for their frustration—I’m giving them a way out. A way through. And that’s what got me most excited: the realization that the real problem wasn’t that people didn’t want to change… it’s that they didn’t know how. And now, they do.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

If I had to sum it up in a sentence, I would say I help people wake up to the truth about who they are and build lives and companies that align with that truth.

My name is Shauna K., and I’m the founder of Steam Trunk, a global human-centered corporate culture consulting firm. I’m also the creator of Change Everything, a lifestyle design coaching program, and host of the UnCultured Podcast, where we talk boldly and honestly about the misalignment so many professionals are quietly living through—especially in the workplace.

But before all of that, I was a girl who did everything “right.” I got the degree. Landed the job. Checked every box that was supposed to lead to success. And yet—something still felt off. Like I was performing for a version of life, one that I just couldn’t escape.

That tension is what led me here. I didn’t start in HR. I started in electrical engineering, then moved into creative strategy and brand consulting. I spent over a decade building brands for companies, nonprofits, and state agencies—and I got really good at helping people say who they were. But eventually, I noticed something no one was talking about: you can’t build a powerful external brand on top of a broken internal culture.

That realization cracked everything open.

So I pivoted from branding to what I now call internal brand consulting—helping companies get clear about who they really are on the inside, align their messaging from the top down, and create environments where their people can actually thrive. That became the foundation of Steam Trunk: not just another HR training, but a complete rethinking of what company culture should be.

Along the way, I created Big Brand Theory™, a personal branding experience that helps professionals (and now college students) clarify their value and step into greater visibility—inside or outside of corporate. I built Change Everything as the next step for people ready to design a life that actually reflects their soul. And I launched UnCultured to say what needed to be said: if your job is slowly draining you… you should really quit. Not recklessly. Not reactively. But with clarity, alignment, and the tools to change everything.

What makes my work different is that it’s not performative.
I’m not here to help companies look better on paper. I’m here to help them function better—so they can become what they say they are. I don’t teach people to “chase their dreams.” I teach them how to architect a life that reflects their actual calling. It’s systems + soul. Infrastructure + insight. I believe deeply that productivity is personal, and that when people design their life first and align their work second, everything changes.

I’m most proud of the fact that I didn’t quit when it got hard. That I stayed in the room long enough to see the vision unfold. And that now, I get to help other people do the same—whether they’re executives trying to rebuild culture from the inside out, or individuals trying to reclaim who they really are.

If your job drains you, your life feels off, or your team’s just performing—UnCultured, Change Everything, and Steam Trunk were built to fix that.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

My biggest pivot wasn’t just a change in direction—it was a decision to stop pretending.

A few years ago, I was leading branding projects for companies, managing multimillion-dollar campaigns, and from the outside, everything looked like it was working. But inside, I felt like I was suffocating. I had built a life around being the reliable one, the capable one, the “she always figures it out” one. But the truth was—I had figured everything out except how to be fully myself in the life I created.

The real pivot happened the day I stopped asking “What’s next on the ladder?” and started asking, “What’s actually aligned with who I am?”

That shift cost me. I walked away from contracts, routines, and relationships that no longer fit. I paused the work that paid the bills to build the work that fed my soul. That’s how Change Everything was born—because I had to do it first. And it’s why Steam Trunk exists—because I saw firsthand what happens when we build systems without humanity. It’s also why UnCultured had to be created. Someone needed to say what we were all thinking about work, leadership, and pretending we’re okay.

That pivot gave me my voice back. And now I help other people do the same—whether they’re ready to change their life, their team, or the way their entire company operates.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I had to unlearn that success had to hurt.

Somewhere along the way, I absorbed this belief that if it didn’t feel heavy, hard, or sacrificial, it wasn’t real success. I thought I had to grind my way to worthiness. So I built a life—and a career—around proving I could carry it all. The deadlines. The pressure. The expectations. And I could… until I couldn’t.

The backstory? I had achieved everything I thought would bring peace—money, respect, opportunity—but I was exhausted, disconnected from myself, and secretly resentful of how much I was giving to things that didn’t feed me back. That’s when I realized: Ease is not laziness. Alignment is not a shortcut. Peace is not the absence of ambition.

Unlearning that belief cracked everything open. It’s why I created Change Everything—because people are out here trying to prove they’re worthy of a life they never even asked for. And it’s why I built Steam Trunk—to help companies stop confusing burnout with productivity.

Now, I measure success by alignment, not exhaustion. And I help others do the same.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://theshaunak.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ShaunaKHenson
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shaunakhenson
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaunakhenson/
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@ShaunakHenson
• Other: https://youtube.com/@Unculturedshow

  https://open.spotify.com/show/5HDk8k7EWaQxHZh73lUwrf?si=hP4MwSxRSgSHHb-pqyT8ng