Author and founder of The Belonging Forum, Kim Samuel, unpacks the loneliness crisis, the four dimensions of belonging, and why genuine connection is vital for our holistic wellbeing.
In a fast-paced world dominated by digital hyper-connectivity, rates of loneliness and emotional exhaustion continue to soar, challenging traditional views on health and wellness. In this exclusive conversation, Kim Samuel shares her insights on why true wellbeing depends on our sense of connection, how to cultivate belonging in everyday life, and the inspiration behind her global initiatives empowering women leaders.
GLAMOUR: In mainstream conversations, wellness often focuses on individual habits like nutrition, fitness, and mindfulness. How does your work redefine belonging not just as a social goal, but as an essential pillar of holistic mental and emotional health?
Kim Samuel: We often talk about wellness as something we achieve individually: through exercise, nutrition, mindfulness or managing stress. These things matter, but I think we miss something fundamental when we treat wellbeing as a purely individual pursuit.
For me, belonging is about wholeness. It is the experience of feeling at home in ourselves, but also feeling seen, valued and connected to the people and places around us, with the ability to make choices about our lives and contribute something meaningful.
We know that the quality of our relationships has a profound bearing on our mental and physical health. So when someone is struggling, the question cannot only be, "What should this person do differently?" We also need to ask what is happening in their relationships, their community, their schools and workplaces and in the wider systems around them.
Belonging is not separate from wellbeing. It is part of what allows human beings to flourish.
GLAMOUR: The Belonging Forum highlights four core dimensions: People, Place, Power, and Purpose. How can women assess these four areas in their own lives to restore balance and emotional vitality?
Kim: I would start by seeing the four dimensions less as a scorecard and more as an invitation to reflect.
With People, ask: Where do I have relationships in which I can be fully myself? Who can I rely on, and who can rely on me?
With Place, consider the spaces, whether physical or natural, where you feel grounded, safe, and connected. Where do I feel at home?
With Power: Do I have meaningful choices in my life? Am I heard in the decisions that affect me, and do I feel able to shape my circumstances?
And with Purpose: What gives meaning to my life? Where am I able to share my gifts or contribute to something beyond myself?
These dimensions are interconnected. When one of these dimensions is missing, we often feel depleted or disconnected. The goal isn't perfection in all four areas. It is to notice where belonging is present in our lives and where we might need more of it.
GLAMOUR: In your book On Belonging: Finding Connection in An Age of Isolation, you unpack the global loneliness crisis. What are the key lessons women can draw from your research to move past feelings of hyper-independence or modern isolation?
Kim: One of the lessons I have returned to again and again is that interdependence is not weakness.
We live in cultures that often celebrate self-sufficiency. Women in particular can face enormous pressure to manage our studies, careers, families, relationships and caring responsibilities while appearing to cope with everything alone. But human beings have always depended on one another. The idea that needing other people represents some kind of failure is profoundly at odds with who we are.
I would also resist the suggestion that loneliness is simply an individual problem that an individual must fix. Sometimes people are isolated because of poverty, discrimination, inaccessible environments, caring responsibilities or systems that leave them without voice or opportunity.
At a personal level, though, we can begin by allowing ourselves to need and be needed. Reach out to someone. Ask for help. Offer it. Make time for relationships that have become neglected. Belonging grows through reciprocity, and we create it together.
GLAMOUR: The Belonging Forum and One Young World recently launched the Women Building Belonging cohort, gathering 10 visionary leaders from 5 continents. What was your core inspiration behind championing a women-focused leadership programme centred on belonging?
Kim: Around the world, women are already doing extraordinary work to build belonging, often in communities that have experienced exclusion, violence, discrimination or profound social change. Yet that work does not always receive the recognition, resources or influence it deserves.
Women Building Belonging is about investing in these leaders, but it is also about connecting them to one another. The phenomenal women in this cohort bring their lived experience and unique perspectives from different countries, cultures and fields of work. Bringing them together creates the possibility for something larger: shared learning, solidarity, friendship and collaboration across experiences that might otherwise remain separate.
The program reflects a simple belief: when women lead, communities become stronger. And when women leaders themselves experience belonging, they become even more powerful agents of change.
GLAMOUR: The inaugural cohort signed the Global Charter for Belonging right here in Cape Town at the One Young World Summit. What makes Cape Town such a symbolic backdrop for this pledge, and what message does this charter send to global communities?
Kim: South Africa has a very special place in my own journey with belonging. Many years ago, I had a conversation with Nelson Mandela about isolation. I assumed that, after so many years of imprisonment, including on Robben Island, he would know isolation intimately. But he told me that he had never felt isolated there. He and his fellow prisoners had one another, and they were united by a common purpose.
That conversation changed the way I understood belonging. It showed me that physical separation and social isolation are not the same thing, and that connection, solidarity and purpose can sustain people even in extraordinary circumstances.
So there is real meaning for me in seeing this group make its first public commitment together in Cape Town and in a country whose history also reminds us of the devastating consequences of systems designed to decide who belongs and who does not.
The Global Charter is both a commitment and a call to action. It recognises that belonging doesn't happen by accident. It requires intentional choices by individuals, institutions, and communities.
By signing the Global Charter in Cape Town, these women leaders were affirming a shared vision of societies where every person has the opportunity to feel seen, heard, valued, and connected. That message resonates far beyond South Africa.
GLAMOUR: Cohort members like Hauwa Ojeifo and Sophie Otiende translate lived trauma and systemic exclusion into transformative action. How does grounding leadership in lived experience redefine empowerment for women?
Kim: Some of the most transformative leaders are people who have experienced exclusion, adversity, or injustice firsthand. We need to be careful not to romanticise trauma or suggest that people have to turn painful experiences into something positive for these experiences to have meaning. But when people choose to bring their lived experience into their leadership, we need to listen.
Leaders like Hauwa and Sophie and other Women Building Belonging have transformed personal challenges into a source of purpose and impact. They are not only advocating for change. They are helping others see what is possible.
When leadership is grounded in lived experience, it shifts power. It ensures that those closest to a challenge are also helping shape the solutions. That kind of leadership is authentic, credible, and profoundly empowering.
GLAMOUR: Having a real voice in decision-making is central to your definition of ‘Power.’ How can women who feel marginalised or ignored in professional or personal spaces reclaim agency and advocate for themselves?
Kim: Agency often starts with recognising that your voice matters, even when systems or environments suggest otherwise. Reclaiming power doesn't always mean making the loudest statement in the room. Sometimes it means setting boundaries, asking difficult questions, seeking allies, or choosing not to stay silent when something feels wrong.
There is great strength in collective power and storytelling. When women of all ages support, mentor, advocate for and learn from one another, they can change whose voices are heard and help shape the decisions that are made. At the same time, the burden should not rest on the individuals who feel marginalised. Systems and institutions have a responsibility to change as well. It is not meaningful participation if someone is invited to speak but has no influence over the outcome.
Ultimately, power is about more than having a seat at the table. It’s about having a meaningful voice in the decisions that affect your life, your community and your future.
GLAMOUR: The ‘Place’ dimension highlights how our physical environment and nature ground us. How can urban women, who often feel disconnected from their immediate surroundings, build a deeper relationship with ‘Place’ to nurture inner calm?
Kim: A relationship with place doesn't require living near a forest or spending hours in nature. It begins with paying attention to the world around you.
That might mean taking a daily walk without your phone, noticing the people and places that make up your neighbourhood, or spending even a few moments in your local farmers’ market or coffee shop where people know your name. Place helps remind us that we are part of something larger than ourselves. When we slow down and become more present in the environments we inhabit, we often experience a greater sense of grounding, perspective, and calm. But belonging is also reciprocal. We don't only ask what a place can give us. We ask what we can give back. Caring for a garden, supporting a local organisation, getting to know a neighbour or helping improve a shared space can change our relationship with where we live. Over time, a place stops being somewhere we simply occupy and starts to feel like home.
GLAMOUR: What are 3 practical, daily micro-habits GLAMOUR readers can practise today to cultivate authentic connection with others and foster belonging within themselves?
Kim: First, give someone your full attention. Put the phone away and really listen. Feeling heard is one of the simplest and most powerful experiences of belonging we can give another person.
Second, practise reciprocity. Do something for someone else, but allow yourself to receive too. Ask for help when you need it. Strong relationships are built through giving and receiving.
Third, notice belonging. At the end of the day, ask yourself: “Where did I feel most able to be myself today? And where did I help someone else feel seen or included?” These are small practices, but belonging is often built through small, repeated acts.
GLAMOUR: Lastly, for young women aspiring to build sisterhood, community, and inclusive spaces in their everyday lives, what wisdom or words of encouragement would you leave them with?
Kim: You don’t have to wait for a title, a large platform or someone’s permission to begin building belonging. Listen deeply. Notice who is being left out. Make room for a voice that isn’t being heard. Be curious about someone whose life is different from your own. And remember that community is not something we simply find. It is something we make and remake together. I would also want every young woman to know that belonging is not something you have to earn by becoming more successful, more acceptable or more like everyone else. You have the right to belong as you are. And with that right comes a responsibility: to widen the circle for somebody else. Because ultimately, we only belong if we belong together.
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