I Know I Belong When...

Innovation Unbiased
  • 5.0 (12)
  • Management

Bold voices. Curious stories. Authentic Impact.What does it really mean to belong?Not just to be invited... To be seen. Heard. Needed."I Know I Belong When…" is more than a podcast; it’s a movement. A mirror. A megaphone. It’s where raw truth meets radical hope.Each episode brings you unfiltered conversations with people who’ve wrestled with the question of belonging in the spaces that shape our lives: workplaces, schools, communities, and digital worlds. From the boardroom to the breakroom, from the sidewalks to our living rooms, our guests share the exact moment they knew they were in, and the moments they knew they weren’t.______This is not about feel-good soundbites. It’s about radical accountability.We explore:~  Where equity is the foundation, not a divider.~  The steps it takes to build diverse cultures, not only to survive, though to prosper.~  Ensure inclusion is not just a checkbox; it is a commitment.~  Where accessibility is not an afterthought, but the amplification to thrive.______At the heart of our conversation is the Belonging Formula:"Belonging = (Inclusion × (Diversity + Equity)) ^ Accessibility."It’s not just math; it’s a mindset. A blueprint. A challenge to every leader, builder, and changemaker: Are you creating spaces where every identity is not only welcomed, however, is valued and respected?______Here’s how we do it:[ We Say Names ]Names are not nicknames. They carry legacy, identity, and power. Inspired by #AlwaysChristopher #NeverChris, we explore how honoring someone’s name is the first act of belonging.[ The Moment of Belonging ]A defining story. A turning point. The moment our guest knew: I belong here. We unpack how that moment shaped their confidence, creativity, and connection.[ Navigating Non-Belonging ]We don’t shy away from the hard stuff. Guests share what it felt like to be excluded, erased, or underestimated, and how they reclaimed their space and voice.[ Sustaining Belonging ]What does it take to keep that feeling alive? We explore the systems, rituals, and leadership practices that make belonging a daily reality, not a one-time event.______Why it matters:This podcast is for anyone who’s ever asked: Do I really belong here?And for every leader who’s ready to answer: Yes, and here’s how we’ll prove it.Whether you’re building inclusive teams, designing accessible tech, or rethinking your own role in equity work, these stories will challenge you to show up differently. To lead with intention. To listen with humility. To act with courage.Because belonging isn’t a destination, it’s a practice. And it starts with listening.

  1. 4d ago

    Six arenas, one life: What season four revealed about inclusive culture beyond the workplace

    A parking lot. A lunch counter. An empty chair. A baby left with somebody who had never met him. Four moments from four lives, with nothing in common except the thing happening underneath all of them. Season four of I Know I Belong When… brought twelve guests through twelve conversations. This recap does what the season could not do in real time. Host Christopher Bylone, Principal Strategist at Innovation Unbiased, lays it across the six arenas where a life is lived: Self, Home, Learning, Community, Work, and Society. What comes out is a map. Belonging in the workplace is one arena of six, and this episode is direct about what happens when one gets treated as the whole picture. You will hear a woman change a verdict about herself in a room in Detroit, a ten-year-old learn what mattering registers as in the body, a four-time chief human resources officer ask a boardroom to justify a parking lot, and two men in 1975 eastern North Carolina find out whether a door would open. Two guests appear twice, in two different arenas. That repetition is the argument. The behavior a person practices in one part of life is what the other parts are already asking for, which means the skill you think you are missing is one you already have somewhere else. Must-hear insights and key moments Self. Pasha Marlowe changes a verdict on day two, in a room that had not changed at all. Öykü Api retires the question that hands it away. Home. Greg De Koker, ten years old and lost for three and a half hours. Rebecca Taylor, left with a baby she had never met. Learning. Greg returns at eleven, certain he cheated a prize he won. Grant Harris, teaching special education, concludes it is not the children. Community. Darlene King Turner builds a room and a seventeen-year-old comes out with a village. Fabi Preslar promises a book that does not exist. Pasha counts chairs. Work. Kate McKinnon is disciplined for eating with the participants. Salomão Cunha Lima runs thirteen people on a rule about what he says out loud. Dean Carter prices a parking lot. Society. Effenus Henderson and a colleague test a door. Julie Pham sits across from men the state reduced to a single word. What traveled. Six behaviors, each turning up in two arenas, carried by people who have never met.   Guests' standout quotes Pasha Marlowe: “day two, I decided that I belonged... because I belong to myself” Öykü Api: “You stop asking, ‘Do I fit in here?’ And start trusting the fact that, ‘Mm, I will find my way here no matter what.’” Greg De Koker: “home isn’t just a physical dwelling. It was a feeling and I could just feel it in my body” Grant Harris: “It’s not always— it ain’t always the people” Darlene King Turner, quoting a scholarship recipient: “Today, I just acquired a new village.” Dean Carter: “Tell me what’s the ROI of your parking lot. Do you have one?” Effenus Henderson: “Let’s see what happens if we show there one day.”   Why this episode matters Most conversations about belonging start at work and stay there. This one starts with a person alone and ends with a country nobody elected into, treating everything between as one continuous life rather than six compartments. For anyone building inclusive culture, the payoff is transfer. The meeting habit worth deleting at work is the habit worth naming at a dinner table. The chairs you count before a community gathering are the chairs somebody needed. Belonging is what inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility produce together, carried farther when justice distributes it. Who should listen Anyone working out who they are and whether that is enough. Parents, partners, and people building a home or chosen family. Students, educators, and anyone returning to school or earning a credential later in life. Community builders, organizers, coaches, and people of faith. HR leaders, people managers, and inclusion practitioners who want language that reaches past the workplace. And anyone who has been the only one in a room and stayed anyway. An Innovation Unbiased Production https://www.iknowibelongwhen.com/about-the-show

    Six arenas, one life: What season four revealed about inclusive culture beyond the workplace

  2. Sep 28

    People live beyond their labels: Curiosity without conditions with Julie Pham

    The room where Julie Pham knew she belonged held none of her credentials. No Cambridge doctorate. No Gates scholarship. No bestseller list. It was a prison, and nobody inside knew who she was on paper. Dr. Julie Pham is the founder and CEO of CuriosityBased, and she joins host Christopher Bylone for a conversation that travels from a refugee family’s naming decision, to a correctional facility, to a weekly team meeting where a third of the agenda goes to how everyone is actually doing. Her argument is simple and inconvenient. Curiosity is a practice rather than a personality trait. It can be learned, named, and shared, and nobody gets to opt out. This episode of I Know I Belong When… is about what happens when the labels come off. Julie walked into Washington Corrections Center through the nonprofit Defy Ventures and sat across from men serving time for serious crimes. She arrived carrying assumptions. She left understanding that people hold lives far larger than the worst thing they have done, and she has asked ever since where the edges of our compassion sit. She also reframes code switching as strategic communication rather than loss, names the moments her work was not counted as real work, and offers one question worth asking a colleague this week. Building belonging is not a program bolted onto a culture deck. It is something a person knows, across self, home, community, work, and society. This conversation gives language for all five. Must-hear insights and key moments •  Julie is her American name. Hoai is the name she was born with, and it means to remember one’s homeland. Her parents chose it in 1978, after her father spent three years in a reeducation camp and the family knew they would leave Vietnam for good. •  Why "What is your real name?" misses the person, and what to ask instead. •  Code switching as a choice rather than a cost, and why Julie calls it strategic communication. •  The prison visit that changed how she hears a neighborhood notice, a news story, and a person she disagrees with. •  Three moments of non-belonging in one organization: relationship building treated as socializing, an email thread that went silent after she spoke, and paper lanterns above her desk that a team complained about for years without telling her. •  The highs and lows ritual her team runs weekly, why the lows come from outside work, and what it does to hard conversations later. •  The question she wants every listener to carry into their next conversation, delivered word for word. Julie’s standout quotes "I have to actually get curious about myself before I can ask other people questions" "I actually think of it as strategic communication, and that we get to code switch, not that we have to." "let the person tell you how they want to be called" "they have lives beyond their labels" "Do I let other people change?" "every work has value and it just requires different skill sets." "My company is like my child. It’s an extension of who I am. It’s not just work." Why this episode matters Most conversations about inclusive culture stay inside the office. This one does not. The practice that helps a leader hear a quiet colleague is the same one that lets anyone see past a label, a record, or a name they cannot pronounce. Curiosity sits underneath strategic inclusion, authentic leadership, and human-centered innovation, and it is available to anyone willing to practice it out loud. Who should listen Anyone working out who they are and where their value lands. Immigrants, children of immigrants, and anyone carrying more than one name. Parents and people building a home or chosen family. Community builders, organizers, and anyone who cares what a second chance requires. Founders whose work is inseparable from who they are. HR leaders, people managers, and people experience practitioners building belonging in the workplace. And anyone searching for language to name belonging in everyday life. An Innovation Unbiased Production https://www.iknowibelongwhen.com/about-the-show

    People live beyond their labels: Curiosity without conditions with Julie Pham

  3. Sep 21

    Beyond inclusion, build the bridge: Social architecture with Salomão Cunha Lima

    Some people wait for a door to open. Salomão Cunha Lima decided the room needed to be built. In this episode of I Know I Belong When…, host, Christopher Bylone, is joined by Salomão Cunha Lima, founder and CEO of Sal&Co, a Social Architecture Lab in São Paulo, Brazil. The conversation moves through every arena of a life: self, home, community, work, and society. Salomão calls his work social architecture rather than social impact, and the difference is structural. On one side is a company. On the other is a community. Neither side changes shape. The work is designing something strong enough for both to cross and durable enough to outlast the announcement. Across eighteen years in Latin America he has mobilized more than two million dollars in corporate partnerships for clients including BMW, Disney, and Deloitte. He also makes an argument here that reorders two words people often treat as interchangeable. Inclusion, he says, carries a hierarchy inside it. Someone grants, and someone receives. A sense of belonging works differently, and it begins with permission a person gives to themselves. This is a conversation about inclusive culture, authentic leadership, and human-centered innovation. It is equally about faith, a name he almost surrendered for the convenience of strangers, and what a person does when no existing room will hold them. Must-hear insights and key moments •  Why social architecture is a bridge rather than a program, and why the design has to account for who will cross it •  The distinction between inclusion and belonging, and why one of them requires someone else’s permission •  The story of his name, opened three times from a Bible, and the stranger in Las Vegas who told him to stop making it easy for everyone else •  How GAMES began: government affairs, media, entrepreneurs, and supporters, built because no room like it existed •  The church that asked him to stand before the congregation and ask forgiveness, and the answer he gave instead •  What he practices inside his own small company, including naming his own overwhelm out loud instead of assigning fault •  His single call to action, which is smaller and harder than it sounds Salomão’s standout quotes "So for me to be included, I need the permission of others to include me" "there is no place where I feel I belong, that I can bring my authentic self" "So if I don't find a place where I belong, so let me try to build this place" "I didn't do anything wrong with anyone here. I'm not gonna do it." "from that moment, I just understood that I had the strength to say no to some environments" "it's about self-esteem, it's about self-love, it's about self-respect" "believe in yourself, but if sometimes you don't have the strength to move forward, just stop and raise the hand and ask for help" "When I am in a place where I can smile, feel myself at home, and know that I own the party" Why this episode matters Most conversations about strategic inclusion stop at the office door. This one does not. Salomão traces a single practice across a childhood in northeast Brazil, a faith, a corporate career, and a country where the fight is far from settled. The through line is that he stopped waiting for a place to be offered and started building places instead. For anyone working out how belonging actually gets made rather than announced, this is building belonging with structure behind it. Who should listen Anyone working out who they are and what they add to the rooms they enter. Parents and people building a home or a chosen family. Community builders, organizers, and people of faith holding a question about whether both can be true at once. HR leaders, people managers, and inclusion practitioners looking for language that holds up outside a training deck. Founders and consultants designing partnerships that outlast a press release. And anyone searching for words to name belonging in everyday life. An Innovation Unbiased Production https://www.iknowibelongwhen.com/about-the-show

    Beyond inclusion, build the bridge: Social architecture with Salomão Cunha Lima

  4. Sep 14

    It takes a village: how ordinary people build inclusive culture with Darlene King Turner

    Belonging is not a program that gets rolled out at work. It is the durable knowledge that who you are is enough, and it has to hold at home, in your community, and in the wider society, not only in a conference room. In this episode of I Know I Belong When…, Darlene King Turner joins host, Christopher Bylone, for a conversation that refuses to keep belonging inside the workplace. Darlene is CEO and president of the Unity Collaborative, where she designs strategic initiatives that dismantle systemic barriers for businesses, youth, families, and whole communities at once. She led the Michigan Diversity Council for ten years, and before that she directed training and development for all thirty-four school districts in Wayne County. Before any of that, she spent six years as a national concert promoter, touring the world and producing shows across Detroit. She learned to fill a room long before she learned to change one. Her central claim arrives early, and it reframes everything after it. Belonging does not belong to an institution or an entity. It belongs to every living, breathing person. No degree and no title is required to create a space where another person knows they belong. That is true for a chief executive, and it is just as true for a student, a neighbor, and a store clerk. Must-hear insights & key moments Why building belonging is engineered rather than announced, and what twenty-five years of strategic inclusion taught Darlene about making it hold.The story her name carries: parents who migrated from the segregated South, and a grandmother who raised twelve children and bought her home without ever holding a formal job.The moment Darlene knew she belonged, in a room that held both General Colin Powell and President Barack Obama early in her career, and what she noticed about every other person there.The moment she knew she no longer belonged, when new leadership pushed her out after ten strong years, and the reversal when thirty-four organizations left with her and asked her to build something new.Representation as strategy, including the statistic behind the National Black Men in Leadership Conference and the seventeen-year-old whose response gave this episode its title.Creating belonging in everyday life, at the grocery store, the gas station, and on the bus, where authentic leadership shows up with no audience and no job title attached.Darlene’s standout quotes “We all carry the ability to create spaces of belonging.” “if you don’t know where you came from, then you really don’t know where you’re going” “It wasn’t by luck or happenstance. It was where I was destined to be.” “I knew I belonged. I knew. I just knew it.” “the light comes out of the darkest moments.” “it is everyone’s job no matter where you are.” “I know that I belong when I feel safe.” Why this episode matters Belonging is the outcome of inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility working together, not one more pillar on a list. Darlene shows what that outcome asks of people in practice: cross-sector partnerships, representation a young person can recognize, and human-centered innovation in the smallest daily exchanges. Her story also names the real cost when a structure turns on a person. Listeners leave with language for belonging they can carry into a boardroom, a school district, a living room, or a checkout line. Who should listen This conversation reaches every arena of a life. Anyone working out who they are and what they carry. Parents, partners, and people building a home or a chosen family. Community builders, organizers, educators, and people of faith. HR leaders, people managers, and people experience practitioners working on belonging in the workplace and inclusive culture in remote and hybrid teams. Anyone searching for words to name a sense of belonging in their own life. Everyone here has a reason to listen, not only people leaders. An Innovation Unbiased Production https://www.iknowibelongwhen.com/about-the-show

    It takes a village: how ordinary people build inclusive culture with Darlene King Turner

  5. Sep 7

    A Queens kid learns to ask for help: vulnerability, trust, and connection with Rebecca Taylor

    Belonging does not begin at work. It begins in the people who hand you a baby at a family picnic and never think twice, in the neighbors who show up when the holidays fall apart, and in the quiet moment you finally let yourself ask for help. On this episode of I Know I Belong When…, host Christopher Bylone welcomes Rebecca Taylor, a people strategy leader who has spent more than a decade in HR saying the quiet part out loud. Rebecca co-founded SkillCycle and helped scale it onto Inc's fastest growing companies list three years running, and she now leads community and content at All Voices, where she hosts HR Voices. She is also a Queens kid who will not go 10 minutes without telling you so. This is a conversation about building belonging across every arena of a life. Rebecca traces the four-generation friend family that raised her, the moment at work when she knew she did not belong, and the leader she chose to become because of it. Belonging, here, is not one more pillar of inclusion work. It is the outcome of inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility done well, and it gives listeners language to name a sense of belonging in their own lives. Must-hear insights and key moments Why comfort and certainty are not the same as safety, and why real growth requires being uncomfortableWhat a four-generation friend family taught her about trust, including the moment a near-stranger handed her a baby without a second thoughtHow a high school falling out taught her that belonging is something you help build, not something you wait forThe recruiting agency moment that sent a chill down her spine, when a qualified candidate was gatekept over the area code on her phoneWhy she changed her name professionally to be considered palatable, and what that revealed about the culture around herHow she rebuilt HR Voices to center the human in front of you, not the system on paperThe one small, unscripted step she wants every listener to take this week to build the muscle of connectionRebecca's standout quotes “we try to strive for comfort and clarity, and we think that that's the goal, but I don't think it really exists in workplaces.” “You're in the family. Like, I know that nothing's going to happen to this child in your care, because that's the level of just, like, connection that we all have.” “You can call me in 10 years, we might not have spoken, like I'm here. Whatever I can do, I'm here, right?” “when I realized that this was sort of a whole agency that was gatekeeping roles from people who didn't look a specific way, I was like, ‘I can't.’” “I know that I belong to you and you belong to me when I can ask you for help, and I don't feel like I have to bend over backwards to do it.” Why this episode matters Belonging is not a workplace perk. It is a whole-life reality that shows up at the family table, in the text thread that lights up when life falls apart, and in the courage to be seen. Rebecca's story gives listeners language for belonging that reaches from self to home to community to work, and it reframes vulnerability as the doorway to trust rather than a risk to manage. For anyone building inclusive culture or practicing authentic leadership, this episode is a reminder that people experience is human experience first. Who should listen This one is for everyone. It is for the person working out who they are and learning to ask for help. It is for parents, caregivers, and anyone building a home or a chosen family. It is for community builders, organizers, connectors, and people of faith who nurture the circles around them. It is for HR leaders, people managers, and inclusion practitioners searching for strategic inclusion and human-centered innovation that starts with the human in front of them. And it is for anyone looking for language to name belonging in their own everyday life. An Innovation Unbiased Production https://www.iknowibelongwhen.com/about-the-show

    A Queens kid learns to ask for help: vulnerability, trust, and connection with Rebecca Taylor

  6. Aug 31

    The story deserves a room: turning overlooked voices into published authors with Fabi Preslar

    Most people treat a book as a finish line. You write it, you print it, you set it on a shelf, and the work is done. Fabi Preslar spent close to three decades proving that idea backward. In her hands, a book is not where a story ends. It is where a person finally gets seen. In this episode of I Know I Belong When…, host Christopher Bylone welcomes Fabi Preslar, founder of SPARK Publications and the nonprofit Radiant Chapters Collective, for a conversation that reaches past the workplace. Fabi came up through a high school trade school and a community college design program, then built a nationally recognized publishing firm with over 350 industry awards. Along the way she learned something this show returns to again and again: belonging is not one more pillar of inclusion work. It is the outcome of inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility done well, and it shows up across every arena of a life, from self and home to community, work, and society. This is a story about knowing you belong to yourself first, then finding the rooms, tables, and people where that knowledge holds. It offers language for belonging in everyday life, not only at work, and models the authentic leadership and inclusive culture this show champions. Must-hear insights and key moments •    Why a book is a doorway, not a finish line, and the question Fabi asks every author before a single word gets written •    How Fabi reads a room that was not built for her, and what she does when a table makes her invisible •    The pedigree myth: how her firm won a fifteen-year contract from the same university that once refused her an interview •    What real expertise is in the age of AI, and why lived experience matters more than a credential •    Inside Radiant Chapters Collective, the nonprofit she built so underrepresented entrepreneurs can become published authors on their own terms •    How belonging showed up first at home, in a single moment that changed her life •    The call to action for anyone who has wondered whether their story deserves a place in the world Fabi's standout quotes Before you get to a doorway, you really need to know what hallway you're in. Get up and move. Find a new chair. Find a new table. All those things actually save you time in the long run to help you know that that is not where you need to belong. That moment is when I knew that I have my traveling partner, my life partner, and that I belonged somewhere. There's also this sector of folks that may or may not be in business that have stories that can fuel us all and make us all better people. Honor the journey you've been on, and then start seeing how it can help others. I know I belong when my story, my gifts, and my scars are all allowed in the room when they become part of how I serve, create, and lift others. Why this episode matters Belonging is not a workplace perk, and it is not a diversity checkbox. It is the value a person adds to a family, a team, a community, and a society, and it begins with knowing that who you are is enough. Fabi Preslar's story gives listeners practical language for that idea. It shows how equity moves from theory into action when someone opens a door and holds it open for the people the world tends to overlook. This is building belonging in real life, across the arenas that matter most. Who should listen This conversation is for anyone working out who they are and where their story belongs in the world. It is for parents and people building a home or a chosen family. It is for community builders, organizers, and people of faith who widen the circle for others. It is for entrepreneurs and creatives betting on their own work over their pedigree. And yes, it is for HR leaders, people managers, and inclusion practitioners who want strategic inclusion and human-centered innovation that lasts. Everyone has a reason to listen, not only people at work. An Innovation Unbiased Production https://www.iknowibelongwhen.com/about-the-show

    The story deserves a room: turning overlooked voices into published authors with Fabi Preslar

  7. Aug 24

    From hope to structure: engineering inclusion that lasts with Effenus Henderson

    Most people treat inclusion like a feeling, something you hope for and revisit once a year. Effenus Henderson spent more than forty years proving it can be something you design. In this episode of I Know I Belong When…, host Christopher Bylone welcomes the president and CEO of HenderWorks, the strategist who convened the international working group behind ISO 30415, the first global standard for diversity and inclusion. This is a conversation about belonging as a whole-life reality, not a workplace perk. Effenus traces his path from a small farm in eastern North Carolina to the General Assembly of the United Nations, where he spoke on intercultural diversity. He shows how a sense of belonging is something a person knows, not something they wait to feel, and how it grows across every arena: in who we are, in the rooms where we work, and in the wider society we all help shape. Effenus wrote three books, including The Architecture of Inclusion, and co-founded the Institute for Sustainable Diversity and Inclusion. He has also written more than sixty original songs, because he believes equity work without a soul does not last. What emerges is authentic leadership grounded in structure and heart at once, and a language for building belonging that any listener can carry into everyday life. Must-hear insights & key moments •   The SPINE model in plain terms: strategy, practice, ideation, need, and execution, turning good intentions into daily action. •   The moment the ISO vote came back positive, and what it meant to know his language would reach workplaces in dozens of countries. •   A hard early lesson in non-belonging, when a boss assumed the worst because a Black colleague arrived in a television station car. •   The weekend Effenus refused a forced transfer, made his own case, and won a director role rather than accept a seat chosen for him. •   His call for this moment: challenge disinformation, frame the work in the positive, and dig in rather than go quiet. Effenus's standout quotes “I've learned how to bring more of myself to the work, bring more of myself to the community, bring more of myself to relationships so that people know who I am, they know what I am about.” “People watch what you do, not necessarily just what you say, and they wanna see to what degree there's an alignment between what you're telling me and how you're acting and behaving.” “People have to feel psychologically safe to share their thoughts and ideas.” “Don't wait to be invited. Just say, ‘Hey, I think I could do that, and what do I need to prepare and do to get prepared for that?’” “I know I belong when I find others saying that they belong as well, and can approach and work with me collaboratively in solving the problems, and that I'm being invited into those circles where it makes a difference.” Why this episode matters Belonging is often treated as a soft outcome, something that either happens or does not. Effenus Henderson offers a different view. He shows that belonging is the result of deliberate inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility work, and can be built with the rigor of any lasting structure. For anyone who has wondered how belonging differs from inclusion, this conversation gives clear language and a working blueprint. It makes the case for strategic inclusion and human-centered innovation as the way forward, not the thing to abandon. Who should listen This episode is for anyone building a sense of belonging in their own life, not only for people at work. It speaks to those still working out who they are, to parents and people building a home or chosen family, to community organizers and people of faith, and to anyone drawn to civic life and a fairer society. It speaks to HR leaders, people managers, and inclusion practitioners strengthening people experience and an inclusive culture. If you are searching for language to name belonging in everyday life, Effenus offers it here. An Innovation Unbiased Production https://www.iknowibelongwhen.com/about-the-show

    From hope to structure: engineering inclusion that lasts with Effenus Henderson

  8. Aug 17

    The brilliance is already present: sustaining rooms of neuroinclusion with Pasha Marlowe

    The most brilliant person in any room may be the one no one thought to hear. Pasha Marlowe has spent more than thirty years changing that. In this episode of I Know I Belong When…, Pasha joins host Christopher Bylone, Principal Strategist, for a conversation about worth, design, and the quiet decision to know you belong to yourself before you ask anyone else to make room for you.  Pasha is a global speaker on neuroinclusion and relational intelligence, a mental health professional, and the author of Creating Cultures of Neuroinclusion. Her work has reached teams at Microsoft, IBM, SHRM, T-Mobile, and Hasbro, and it carries a single stubborn idea: you do not unlock creative capacity by collecting creative people. You unlock it by building a place where every mind can offer its own kind of genius.  This is a story that lives in more than one arena. It begins inside a person, in the moment Pasha decided her own worth was not up for a vote. It moves into workplaces and conferences, where a seating chart can quietly tell someone they matter less. It reaches into home, community, and society, where the same design choices decide who is heard. Belonging in the workplace is part of it, not the whole of it.  Must-hear insights and key moments  Why belonging is something a person knows, not something an organization hands out, and what shifts when leaders accept that. The two-day story of a speaker event in Detroit, and the decision that turned worthlessness into knowing she belongs to herself. How a room gets designed to hear every mind, from seating and sound to sensory needs, and why conferences model the habits offices copy. The reason psychological safety is not real until the least safe person is safe, a test most inclusive culture efforts skip. What ageism and post-menopausal invisibility taught Pasha about choosing to be more visible, not less. Pasha's standout quotes  “There's multiple ways to be brilliant and multiple ways to be a genius. There's not one typical way or one, quote-unquote, ‘normal way.’” “If I belong to myself and not to them and not try to gain their belonging, then, then I could actually relax and just be comfortable.” “I don't feel like we create belonging. I don't feel like an organization or a space creates a sense of belonging. I think it's the people who feel like they belong.” “You can't have psychological safety until the least safe person feels safe.” “Everybody has access needs, supporting sensory needs. Leaders have needs, too.” “If I share something, then all of a sudden that creates more chance of psychological safety for you to then share something that you need.” “I know I belong when I remember that I have always belonged because I am.” Why this episode matters  Belonging is often treated as one more pillar to stack beside inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility. Pasha reframes it as the outcome of that work, the thing people arrive at when the room is built well. Her language gives listeners something to use: a way to name their own worth, a test for whether a space is truly safe, and a simple first move, sharing a need, that any person can make this week. This is human-centered innovation applied to the most human question there is, whether a person knows they belong.  Who should listen  This conversation is for anyone building a place where people can thrive. It is for a person working out their own worth and learning to know they belong to themselves first. It is for parents making a home or chosen family, and for organizers and neighbors widening the circle. It is for people managers, human resources leaders, and inclusion practitioners shaping people's experience and strategic inclusion across remote and hybrid teams. Anyone searching for language for belonging in everyday life has a reason to listen. An Innovation Unbiased Production https://www.iknowibelongwhen.com/about-the-show

    The brilliance is already present: sustaining rooms of neuroinclusion with Pasha Marlowe
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12 Ratings

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Bold voices. Curious stories. Authentic Impact.What does it really mean to belong?Not just to be invited... To be seen. Heard. Needed."I Know I Belong When…" is more than a podcast; it’s a movement. A mirror. A megaphone. It’s where raw truth meets radical hope.Each episode brings you unfiltered conversations with people who’ve wrestled with the question of belonging in the spaces that shape our lives: workplaces, schools, communities, and digital worlds. From the boardroom to the breakroom, from the sidewalks to our living rooms, our guests share the exact moment they knew they were in, and the moments they knew they weren’t.______This is not about feel-good soundbites. It’s about radical accountability.We explore:~  Where equity is the foundation, not a divider.~  The steps it takes to build diverse cultures, not only to survive, though to prosper.~  Ensure inclusion is not just a checkbox; it is a commitment.~  Where accessibility is not an afterthought, but the amplification to thrive.______At the heart of our conversation is the Belonging Formula:"Belonging = (Inclusion × (Diversity + Equity)) ^ Accessibility."It’s not just math; it’s a mindset. A blueprint. A challenge to every leader, builder, and changemaker: Are you creating spaces where every identity is not only welcomed, however, is valued and respected?______Here’s how we do it:[ We Say Names ]Names are not nicknames. They carry legacy, identity, and power. Inspired by #AlwaysChristopher #NeverChris, we explore how honoring someone’s name is the first act of belonging.[ The Moment of Belonging ]A defining story. A turning point. The moment our guest knew: I belong here. We unpack how that moment shaped their confidence, creativity, and connection.[ Navigating Non-Belonging ]We don’t shy away from the hard stuff. Guests share what it felt like to be excluded, erased, or underestimated, and how they reclaimed their space and voice.[ Sustaining Belonging ]What does it take to keep that feeling alive? We explore the systems, rituals, and leadership practices that make belonging a daily reality, not a one-time event.______Why it matters:This podcast is for anyone who’s ever asked: Do I really belong here?And for every leader who’s ready to answer: Yes, and here’s how we’ll prove it.Whether you’re building inclusive teams, designing accessible tech, or rethinking your own role in equity work, these stories will challenge you to show up differently. To lead with intention. To listen with humility. To act with courage.Because belonging isn’t a destination, it’s a practice. And it starts with listening.

Information

  • Creator
    Innovation Unbiased
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    61
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 I Know I Belong When...
  • Show Website
    I Know I Belong When...