Today we’d like to introduce you to Sharon Khen.
Hi Sharon, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
My path to Take The Lead has been anything but linear, but looking back, it makes perfect sense.
I began my professional journey as a social worker, then became a psychotherapist, and eventually transitioned into life coaching. For more than 15 years, my work has centered around understanding human behavior and helping people recognize patterns, develop practical skills, and create meaningful change.
Over the years, my work also expanded into leadership and team development. I’ve had the opportunity to work with large organizations in the private sector, as well as several embassies, facilitating programs around leadership, communication, team dynamics, and professional development. That experience has deeply informed Take The Lead because I saw firsthand where traditional leadership workshops can sometimes get stuck. People can understand a concept intellectually, discuss it, and even know exactly what they should be doing, but that doesn’t necessarily change how they actually show up with others.
Then life brought my family and me to the Texas Hill Country, and something unexpected began to happen.
Our ranch naturally became an unofficial animal sanctuary, a safe place for animals to heal, rehabilitate, and grow. Every animal on our ranch is a rescue, including all of our horses. Each came to us with a different story and different experiences of suffering, neglect, loss, or simply needing somewhere safe to land.
As I began spending more time with the horses, I noticed something happening in me as well. I could feel my own nervous system settling in their presence. My breathing would change. I became more grounded, more present, and more connected to myself. I was experiencing something I had understood professionally for years, but now in a completely different way: regulation and co-regulation.
I also became fascinated by the authenticity horses seem to invite from us. Horses are extraordinarily perceptive and attuned to what is happening around them. They aren’t influenced by our titles, our résumés, or how well we can explain ourselves. They respond to what is actually happening in the moment, including the subtle ways our body, energy, intention, and behavior may be communicating something different from our words.
That was when the pieces really began coming together for me.
Here were animals who had been given a safe environment in which to heal, rebuild trust, and simply be themselves, and in relationship with them, people were being offered an opportunity to slow down, regulate, reconnect with themselves, and become more aware of how they were showing up. There was a beautiful reciprocity to it.
I went on to become certified in trauma-informed equine-assisted coaching, and that experience, together with my background in social work, psychotherapy, coaching, and organizational leadership development, became the foundation for creating Take The Lead.
What excites me most about this work is that the horses can take us beyond some of the places where traditional personal and leadership development tends to get stuck. With a horse in front of you, trust, boundaries, communication, confidence, adaptability, presence, and authenticity are no longer simply concepts to talk about. They become something you experience in real time.
And while someone may come to Take The Lead through a leadership or team-development experience, what happens here rarely belongs only to their professional life. How we communicate, establish boundaries, build trust, respond to uncertainty, regulate ourselves, and connect authentically with others is not something we leave at the office. These are human skills. What someone discovers about themselves in the arena can echo into their relationships, their families, their decisions, and the way they move through their life.
In many ways, Take The Lead grew out of an unexpected meeting of worlds: everything I had spent my career learning about people and organizations, the sanctuary that our ranch had organically become, and what these remarkable animals began teaching me about regulation, authenticity, trust, connection, presence, and the power of relationship.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It definitely hasn’t been a completely smooth road, but in many ways, the challenges have reinforced the very things we explore through Take The Lead.
One of the biggest challenges has been creating something that doesn’t fit neatly into a familiar box. When people hear “horses,” they may initially imagine riding, recreation, or something more therapeutic in nature. Take The Lead is different. It is experiential leadership and personal development, where horses help bring concepts like trust, communication, boundaries, adaptability, authenticity, and presence out of the intellectual realm and into a real, lived experience.
Another challenge has been building a new professional network after moving to Texas. I came here with many years of professional experience, but relationships and reputation take time to build in a new community. Creating awareness of a program that is also relatively unconventional adds another layer to that.
And, like any new venture, there has been a lot of learning along the way. I’ve had to be willing to experiment, adjust, listen, and sometimes let go of what I thought something was supposed to look like.
Interestingly, that has required me to practice many of the same things I ask of people who come to Take The Lead: staying present when I don’t know exactly what comes next, being adaptable, paying attention to what is and isn’t working, and trusting the process without trying to control every outcome.
The horses are very good at keeping me honest about that.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Take The Lead is an experiential coaching and leadership-development program in Wimberley, in the heart of the beautiful Texas Hill Country. In the peaceful, natural setting of our ranch, people step away from the traditional office, conference room, or coaching setting and into an entirely different kind of learning environment, in partnership with horses.
Take The Lead offers immersive leadership and team-development experiences for companies, organizations, and groups. I also offer one-on-one equine-assisted coaching through my private coaching practice for those looking for a more individualized experience. Everything we do with the horses is ground-based, so there is no riding involved and no previous experience with horses is necessary.
What sets Take The Lead apart is that the learning is experiential and evidence-based. Rather than relying solely on discussion or reflection, participants engage in structured, real-time interactions with horses that allow them to observe and explore core leadership and relational concepts as they are happening.
We can talk about trust, communication, boundaries, confidence, adaptability, presence, and authenticity, but interacting with a horse allows you to experience those things as they are actually unfolding in your behavior and impact.
Horses are highly perceptive and responsive to nonverbal communication. They are sensitive to subtle shifts in body language, tension, breathing, attention, and intention. They respond to congruence, whether what we are communicating externally aligns with what is happening internally. This creates immediate, nonjudgmental feedback and an opportunity to become more aware of our patterns and make adjustments in real time.
The work is also grounded in an understanding of nervous-system regulation and co-regulation. Our level of regulation influences how we communicate, make decisions, respond to pressure, and connect with others. Slowing down and becoming present with a horse can support a more regulated state, creating greater access to clarity, choice, and intentional action.
For organizations and teams, we design experiences around leadership, communication, trust, team dynamics, adaptability, decision-making, stress management, and mindful leadership. The goal is not to prescribe a single model of leadership, but to create opportunities for people to become more aware of how they naturally show up, understand their impact on others, and explore what they may want to do differently.
Just as importantly, participants leave with more than a meaningful experience or new insight. We intentionally translate what happens with the horses into practical, evidence-based tools and strategies they can take with them and use in everyday situations, whether that means regulating themselves under pressure, communicating with greater clarity, navigating difficult interactions, establishing healthy boundaries, or building trust and connection.
And because these are fundamentally life skills, the learning doesn’t stop when someone goes back to work. What happens with a horse can reveal something about how we listen, how we ask for what we need, how we respond when something doesn’t go according to plan, how we establish trust, and how authentically we show up in our relationships and in our lives.
I’m fortunate to co-facilitate Take The Lead experiences with Carly Beers, a gifted equine specialist whose extensive experience with horses beautifully complements my background in psychotherapy, coaching, leadership development, and my training as a certified trauma-informed equine-assisted coach.
One of the things I’m most proud of is that we have created something that is evidence-based and practical while also being deeply meaningful and engaging. There is room for depth, and also for curiosity, laughter, connection, and the unexpected. We don’t manufacture moments with the horses. We create the conditions for something meaningful to happen, help people understand what that experience may be showing them, and give them practical ways to carry that learning forward.
That is really the heart of Take The Lead.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
I’ve never been a big believer in networking for the sake of networking. What has worked best for me throughout my career has been building genuine relationships with people I respect, being curious about what they do, and looking for ways we can learn from and support one another.
Being of service has always been a way of life for me, both with people and with animals. It shapes how I move through the world and, naturally, how I approach professional relationships as well. I’m intentional about showing up with genuine interest, generosity, and an awareness of where I can contribute or add value, without keeping score. I’ve found that meaningful connections often grow organically from that.
I think the same is true when looking for a mentor. Rather than approaching someone simply because they have a title or have achieved something you want to achieve, look for people whose way of thinking, working, and moving through the world resonates with you. Some of the people who have influenced me most professionally were never formally called my “mentors.” They were people I trusted, learned from, asked questions of, and stayed connected with over time.
I also believe strongly in reciprocity. The question isn’t only, “What can this person do for me?” but also, “What can I bring to this relationship?” Sometimes that’s knowledge, a connection, or an opportunity, and sometimes it’s simply encouragement, genuine interest, or showing up when it matters.
Especially since moving to Texas and building Take The Lead here, I’ve been reminded that relationships take time. You can’t manufacture trust or authentic connection. You can create opportunities for them, nurture them, and allow them to grow.
Come to think of it, the horses seem to understand that instinctively.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.sharonkhen.com/takethelead
- Instagram: _takethelead_coachingworkshops
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1GBHEf3JLE/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Image Credits
Megan Anderson of Phosphenesia
