From Bedroom to Boardroom with Shauna Stewart

Shauna Stewart, CEO of Experience Olympia & Beyond, the Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater Visitor & Convention Bureau in Washington, joins Adam Stoker for a leadership conversation unlike any on the show yet. Shauna led the bureau from 2015 to 2020, stepped away after a nine-month illness, built a career as an intimacy coach, and returned as interim CEO in December 2025. She explains why she traded work-life balance for coherence. She also talks about how the consent skills she teaches, like forming clean agreements, and why DMOs should stop "dealing with stakeholders" and sit shoulder to shoulder instead.

Plus, Adam opens with a monologue on why DMOs need to build a culture of failure.

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The ⁠⁠⁠⁠Destination Marketing Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠ is a part of the ⁠⁠⁠⁠Destination Marketing Podcast Network⁠⁠⁠⁠. It is hosted by Adam Stoker and produced by Brand Revolt. If you are interested in any of Brand Revolt’s services, please email ⁠⁠⁠⁠adam@thebrandrevolt.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ or visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠www.thebrandrevolt.com⁠⁠⁠⁠.

To learn more about the Destination Marketing Podcast network and to listen to our other shows, please visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠www.thedmpn.com⁠⁠⁠⁠. If you are interested in joining the network, please email ⁠⁠⁠⁠adam@thebrandrevolt.com⁠⁠⁠⁠.

00:00 Monologue: Build a culture of failure

07:37 Meet Shauna Stewart of Experience Olympia & Beyond

09:13 From CEO to illness to intimacy coach and back

11:32 Bedroom to boardroom: the leadership through line

15:53 Pleasure as the antidote to DMO pain

17:53 The speaker she brings to every board meeting

21:06 Clean agreements and "If you can't convince them, confuse them"

24:55 Why "dealing with stakeholders" is the wrong language

25:16 Mid-roll: Introducing DMO Jam

28:07 Stakeholders as co-conspirators

32:33 Lead with curiosity and unpolluted power

35:33 Hiring for delight

37:16 Coherence over work-life balance

42:04 Measuring outcomes, not hours

44:36 Where to find Shauna and Life Turned On