Building Bridges of awareness and understanding, to support connection and community – and ultimately to build belonging.As a biracial queer woman of colour, I know a thing of two about belonging. Mostly what it feels like not to. Which makes me passionate about building it. And I've been doing so for over 20 years.Human beings need to feel a sense of belonging. But we can't create belonging without feeling connected to others around us - across boundaries of all kinds. That’s where the bridge building comes in!Building bridges of awareness and understanding helps to reduce barriers, challenge assumptions, and create the possibility for connection.Connection allows us to get to know each other, and build community.The power of community and connection is vast: increased awareness, breaking down barriers, more support, better engagement, innovation...(and many more). And all of these work to build belonging, which in turn further supports these. Nothing makes my heart sing more than ‘aha’ moments where people see the biases, assumptions and lack of understanding that separate them, and move towards creating spaces where people can learn and unlearn, connect across difference, build community, and work together to do what needs to be done to ensure everyone feels acknowledged and valued. This is the heart work (and hard work) I have been doing as a speaker, and as a consultant and facilitator with my team at Annemarie Shrouder International for over 20 years - supporting leaders and organizations in creating tangible change. It's the basis for my leadership program, and why I started the Heart of Belonging community for leaders of all kinds committed to diversity, equity and inclusion and to building belonging.If something about this is stirring your heart and you’d like to explore what building belonging could look like for your team or organization (or if you’d like to collaborate!) please email me: annemarie@annemarieshrouder.comThis work is too important to do alone....