cover photo for Designing for Belonging with Esther Osaheni
Designing for Belonging with Esther Osaheni
Video link only visible to confirmed attendees
Hosts
About
Designing for Belonging
A live webinar with community and belonging builder Esther Osaheni, founder of
Incurable Optimist
This session is part of a monthly webinar series co-produced by
Heylo
and the
US Chamber of Connection
, designed to give community builders practical skills to bring their people together better.
Event details
•
📅 Tuesday, August 25th, 2026
•
🕘 10:00 AM PST (12:00 PM CT, 1:00PM EST 5:00 PM GMT)
You can fill a room and still not build a community. Most of us get good at the mechanics — pick a date, post the event, get people to show up - but making people feel like they belong is something entirely different
In this session, Esther Osaheni shares the framework she's built for exactly that. You'll leave with a reusable way to design gatherings that deepen member-to-member connection, protect your own well-being as a host, and make the whole thing more sustainable over time.
What we'll cover
•
Understand why community is everywhere while belonging is rare, and how belonging becomes the difference between groups that fade and communities that last.
•
Learn how to help members move from "this is something I attend" to "this is something I’m a part of" to build a core of people who stay, invite others, and carry the community with you.
•
Identify the key inputs you control and the measurable signs that your community is truly working, not just growing in number.
•
Get a simple, reusable framework to design gatherings that deepen member-to-member connection, protect your well-being, and make your community more sustainable over time.
About the Speaker: Esther Osaheni Esther Osaheni is the founder of Incurable Optimist, a growing network that supports hosts and community builders in creating spaces where people genuinely feel they belong. Having grown up as a refugee and moved across countries and communities, she became deeply interested in who gets to belong, who gets left out, and how to build more inclusive spaces.
Those questions followed her through six years in corporate before a life-shifting health journey pushed her to focus on the work that ultimately matters. Today she draws on that lived experience — and her background in sales and strategy — to help leaders move from running events to intentionally designing communities.
Her work centers host wellbeing, room health, and financial sustainability as the pillars of longer-lasting spaces where, as she puts it, belonging is the bottom line.
Connect with Esther
•
Website:
incurableoptimist.org
•
Instagram:
@estherosaheni
Heylo
Heylo is a community management platform that helps organizers run and grow their communities in one place. As a partner in the national Community Builders Network, Heylo supports events that prioritize real-world connection and long-term community building.
Partner:
US Chamber of Connection
The Community Builders Network is an arm of the US Chamber of Connection. A national nonprofit helping people build meaningful relationships and making America more connected.
Going
Register to see all event details
Where your group belongs
Designing for Belonging with Esther Osaheni
Video link only visible to confirmed attendees
Hosts
About
Designing for Belonging
A live webinar with community and belonging builder Esther Osaheni, founder of
Incurable Optimist
This session is part of a monthly webinar series co-produced by
Heylo
and the
US Chamber of Connection
, designed to give community builders practical skills to bring their people together better.
Event details
•
📅 Tuesday, August 25th, 2026
•
🕘 10:00 AM PST (12:00 PM CT, 1:00PM EST 5:00 PM GMT)
You can fill a room and still not build a community. Most of us get good at the mechanics — pick a date, post the event, get people to show up - but making people feel like they belong is something entirely different
In this session, Esther Osaheni shares the framework she's built for exactly that. You'll leave with a reusable way to design gatherings that deepen member-to-member connection, protect your own well-being as a host, and make the whole thing more sustainable over time.
What we'll cover
•
Understand why community is everywhere while belonging is rare, and how belonging becomes the difference between groups that fade and communities that last.
•
Learn how to help members move from "this is something I attend" to "this is something I’m a part of" to build a core of people who stay, invite others, and carry the community with you.
•
Identify the key inputs you control and the measurable signs that your community is truly working, not just growing in number.
•
Get a simple, reusable framework to design gatherings that deepen member-to-member connection, protect your well-being, and make your community more sustainable over time.
About the Speaker: Esther Osaheni Esther Osaheni is the founder of Incurable Optimist, a growing network that supports hosts and community builders in creating spaces where people genuinely feel they belong. Having grown up as a refugee and moved across countries and communities, she became deeply interested in who gets to belong, who gets left out, and how to build more inclusive spaces.
Those questions followed her through six years in corporate before a life-shifting health journey pushed her to focus on the work that ultimately matters. Today she draws on that lived experience — and her background in sales and strategy — to help leaders move from running events to intentionally designing communities.
Her work centers host wellbeing, room health, and financial sustainability as the pillars of longer-lasting spaces where, as she puts it, belonging is the bottom line.
Connect with Esther
•
Website:
incurableoptimist.org
•
Instagram:
@estherosaheni
Heylo
Heylo is a community management platform that helps organizers run and grow their communities in one place. As a partner in the national Community Builders Network, Heylo supports events that prioritize real-world connection and long-term community building.
Partner:
US Chamber of Connection
The Community Builders Network is an arm of the US Chamber of Connection. A national nonprofit helping people build meaningful relationships and making America more connected.
Going
Register to see all event details
Where your group belongs