about

Inclusive Belonging is the blog of native New Mexican, Heather Cummings. As a global diversity and inclusion leader, she brings over 20 years of expertise gained from ensuring inclusion through positive empowerment supports for all. Heather builds awareness of diversity through writing and blogging, sharing through the lens of her own diversity and the diversity of those who surround her. As a NAMI Family-to-Family Program Leader and past NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) New Mexico Board Director, she is also an advocate for mental health. She was the social media manager of Pearson’s public engagement Twitter chat program, #DiscussDiversity.

It is through her education in diversity and inclusion, her professional experience as a diversity and inclusion partner, and her personal experiences that she has furthered her advocacy work. She provides leadership, coaching, and training in diversity, equity, and inclusion topics, such as unconscious bias, employee engagement, intersectionality, inclusive language and practices, psychological safety and belonging, applying inclusive practices for cultural diversity, building inclusive services, etc. Working with organizations, Heather helps to assess the existing practices around diversity and inclusion. Using formative and summative data, she works collaboratively to build data-driven action plans for areas such as diversity and inclusion, employee engagement, unconscious bias, and inclusive climates, providing recommendations for next steps.

Heather believes the only true way to inclusion of diversity is through a sense of belonging, made possible by psychological safety. She builds collaborative teams based on a shared vision of trust, valuing the strength and insight each individual brings to communities. Heather focuses on building partnerships with thought leaders that specialize in specific areas of diversity and inclusion, to bring a more well-rounded approach to belonging and inclusion.