
Forging a Path to Purpose-Driven Speaking with Shannon GaNun
From The Speaker Lab Podcast by The Speaker Lab
January 13, 2026 · 40 min · Episode 585
About this episode
Shannon GaNun shares her journey from communications professional to full-time speaker, discussing the challenges and triumphs of building a purpose-driven speaking business.
“There’s a huge amount of progress that comes from pitching yourself and putting information out there and having discovery calls and doing events and speaking at events and fielding questions and posting on social media and seeing what people want.” Welcome to another episode of The Speaker Lab Podcast ! Today, host Grant Baldwin welcomes Shannon GaNun, a former communications professional, college professor, and now a thriving full-time speaker who’s built an inspiring business around helping others communicate with purpose and confidence. In this conversation, Shannon takes us through her remarkable journey, starting from her roots in a small Wisconsin town, through her early career on Capitol Hill, and onto the classroom at Georgia Southern University. She shares how her lifelong passion for effective communication eventually led her to pitch herself, land gigs, and build programs that empower leaders at corporations and associations to strengthen their impact through better speaking skills. This episode dives deep into the realities of launching a speaking business later in life, the challenges of making a mid-career pivot, and the process of turning decades of both work and…
People in this episode
Host: Grant Baldwin
Guest: Shannon GaNun
Topics covered
- purpose-driven speaking
- communication skills
- mid-career pivot
- imposter syndrome
- speaking business
Keywords
- speaking skills
- communication
- career change
- imposter syndrome
- public speaking
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: The Speaker Lab, Capitol Hill
Places: Wisconsin, Georgia Southern University
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