Building a Future of Belonging—In Education and in Life

What does it truly mean to design spaces where everyone belongs—not just in theory, but in practice?

In this episode of Moving Forward: Conversations on Culture, Identity, Healing, and Hope, host Linda Anderson sits down with Loc Nguyen—educator, entrepreneur, author, and storyteller whose work centers on human potential and inclusive pathways, particularly for students with intellectual disabilities.

Loc’s journey spans military service, technology, nonprofit leadership, higher education, and the university classroom. Across every chapter of his life, one throughline remains clear: a deep commitment to challenging convention and reimagining what’s possible when we lead with humanity.

He is the author of The Miles We Chase, a powerful blend of memoir, narrative, and policy that explores family, hope, reciprocity, and our shared responsibility to build systems rooted in belonging. In this conversation, Loc reflects on how personal story shapes public systems—and how writing the book transformed his own understanding of what belonging really requires.

Together, Linda and Loc explore:

• The difference between access and true belonging—and where institutions often miss the mark
  

• What human flourishing looks like in classrooms grounded in connection and vulnerability
  

• Why stories are essential tools for systems change, and what happens when leadership ignores them
  

• The assumptions we hold about intelligence, success, and productivity—and why they need reimagining
  

• How educators and leaders can take meaningful steps toward inclusion, even when the work feels overwhelming
  

Loc also shares what gives him hope when the work feels heavy—and what “moving forward” means to him in this current chapter of life and leadership.

This episode is an invitation to slow down, listen deeply, and consider how belonging is not a soft ideal, but a responsibility, a design choice, and a daily practice.

Recommended Reading: The Miles We Chase: Building a Future of Belonging in Education and Life by Dr. Loc Nguyen

If this conversation resonated with you, please subscribe, rate, and share Moving Forward. Your listening and reflecting help these stories reach others who are also searching for healing, hope, and a way forward.

As you think about the spaces you shape—classrooms, teams, families, or communities—where might you move beyond access and begin intentionally designing for true belonging?

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Music by Maksym_Dudchyk from Pixabay

Podcast produced by Ury Gonzalez