Episode #58
Belonging Is a Two-Way Street: What a City Inclusion Officer Learned Building It
What if belonging isn't only something you feel when you walk into a room, but something you help build for the people who walk in after you? In this episode of Connected Conversations, Elena Petrova sits down with Claudia Menendez, an equity and inclusion officer for the City of Fort Collins, whose work comes down to a single thing: making people feel understood, in their own language, in their own community. Claudia has lived on every side of belonging, as the visible outsider in northern Uganda, as a teacher who recognized a student's home village on sight, and as a public servant who nearly had to rename her own office to protect the work, and decided to keep going. Together they get into: Why belonging is a two-way street, something you receive and something you contribute to The difference between translating information and actually making someone feel heard What it costs to live in a language that is not fully your own How a community built its own communication network when the official channels fell short Plus Claudia answers the question we ask every guest: what conversation do more people need to be having right now? Hosted by Elena Petrova. Connected Conversations is produced by Ad Astra, Inc. Subscribe wherever you listen. YouTube and Spotify are the main homes; Apple Podcasts and Amazon Music also carry the show.
