About Intercultural strategies

How we facilitate genuine and lasting change for a just, sustainable and interconnected world.

Intercultural Strategies

Using our extensive and proven experience in intercultural inclusion and collaboration, conflict resolution, dialogue and facilitation, we give our clients and their members the tools they need to feel empowered, achieve a sense of belonging and work more cohesively together for a common goal.

We offer proven solutions to help your diverse staff and stakeholders do their best work together, generate innovative ideas and ultimately increase your organization’s effectiveness and impact.

Whether you work in corporate, government, health, education, non-profit, or philanthropic sectors, Intercultural Strategies offers a wide range of speaking, training and strategic consulting packages to meet your needs.

About Jessie Sutherland,
Director

An international speaker, trainer, and consultant, Jessie Sutherland works with organizations and communities to engage diversity, build belonging and ignite intercultural collaboration.


Recipient of BC Community Achievement Award (2023), her approach creates sustainable community change that effectively addresses complex social problems.

Jessie Sutherland - TEDx Speaker
Jessie Sutherland - 2023 Community Award - BC Achievement Foundation - seal
Jessie Sutherland - Director of Intercultural Strategies

Jessie’s work has been delivered in over eight languages and has taken her across Canada and around the world to support communities in their efforts to address challenging issues including workplace inclusion, poverty, homelessness, the overdose crisis, elder abuse, reconciliation, youth engagement and more. Many of her clients go on to win awards for their work in engaging diversity and fostering collaboration for sustainable and lasting change.

As founder of the organization Intercultural Strategies, Jessie helps leaders and groups build cultures of belonging to create change in an inclusive and positive way. She is the innovator of the award-winning Belonging Matters framework and community change model designed to change mindsets, deepen interconnections, impart greater social capital and build stronger communities.

Jessie holds a M.A in Dispute Resolution, is a TEDx speaker and author of the book, Worldview Skills: Transforming Conflict from the Inside Out.

What Clients Are Saying About Jessie Sutherland and Intercultural Strategies

Melissa Lyon
Belonging Matters Project Teammate, Inclusion Advocate

[Jessie] brings out people’s strengths and helps her colleagues, employees, and clients to be their best selves.

Jessie has a real gift for making people feel comfortable and valued. Through her exceptional communication skills, she makes people feel at ease, even when discussing difficult topics. I love how Jessie makes everyone feel valued and actively listens to our ideas, then creatively builds upon them. In this way, she brings out people’s strengths and helps her colleagues, employees, and clients to be their best selves.

As a person with a disability, I feel very accepted and empowered by Jessie. The discussion framework that Jessie created is very versatile and effective. Her extensive knowledge of conflict resolution, belonging, and acceptance are evident in everything that she does. She is very enthusiastic and believes in what she is teaching.

Don Walden
Police Recruitment Training, JIBC Police Academy

She turned one of the most challenging topics in our police training program into one of our most effective.

Jessie Sutherland was the lead Diversity instructor in our Police Recruit Training Program. Jessie was able to draw on her unique experience building inclusive communities to develop and deliver an innovative four-stage values-based approach to Diversity. She turned one of the most challenging topics in our police training program into one of our most effective.

Morgan Meloche
Registered Social Worker and Outreach Worker Director

Jessie… embodies the very values, practices, and principles that she teaches.

Jessie is such a special teacher/mentor because she embodies the very values, practices, and principles that she teaches. She teaches from her heart and puts a piece of herself into everything that she does. Working with Jessie is not just about learning about Belonging Matters but about experiencing belonging and Belonging Matters in the way that she teaches, supports, and mentors.

Being one of the most supportive people I have ever met, Jessie doesn't just apply Belonging Matters to any situation, she is open and willing to adapt the framework and she trusts those involved to make changes as needed to fit their communities. She provides guidance, support, and much needed laughter throughout the process!

Dianne Milsom
Board President of Richmond Addiction Services Society

Jessie skilfully brought together diverse parts of our community...

Jessie skilfully brought together diverse parts of our community to guide us through education and problem solving about how to tackle the opioid crisis in Richmond. She was well prepared, engaging, and inspired us to work together.

Aditi Pathak
UNESCO MGIEP

What sets Jessie apart is her ability to walk the extra mile to ensure a great learning experience for her participants.

What makes Jessie a great trainer is that she is not only kind and compassionate, but also a very good listener with excellent communication skills. She listens to her audience and responds to them very thoughtfully. What sets Jessie apart is her ability to walk the extra mile to ensure a great learning experience for her participants.

What I have seen while working with students, is that the belonging lens helps them to internalize the issue of global citizenship; they don’t see it as an external issue, thus helping them to understand it better.

Mary Swalla Holmes
Board Member, Ernest Oberholtzer Foundation

Jessie Sutherland has a gift for generating “ah-ha” moments.

Jessie Sutherland has a gift for generating “ah-ha” moments. Her gentle questioning and invitation to go deeper into your self provides a powerful means of transformation. I have benefited by moving toward healthier personal and professional relationships since my participation in her training.

Thanks, Jessie!

About Our Network of Collaborators

Intercultural Strategies works in close collaboration with a number of subject matter experts from diverse cultural communities and backgrounds. In our projects, we have access to collaborating with globally respected leaders, experts, trainers and consultants.

Chief Robert Joseph
Intercultural Strategies
Chief Robert Joseph

A Hereditary Chief of the Gwa wa Enuk First Nation, Chief Joseph is currently the Ambassador for Reconciliation Canada and has dedicated his life to bridging the differences brought about by intolerance, lack of understanding and racism at home and abroad.

Dr. Michael Quinn Patton
Intercultural Strategies
Dr. Michael Quinn Patton

Former president of the American Evaluation Association and Founder and CEO of Utilization-Focused Evaluation, Dr. Michael Quinn Patton is known for his numerous books on evaluation and is recognized as an award-winning leader in evaluation theory and practice.

Dr. Roberta Hunte
Intercultural Strategies
Dr. Roberta Hunte

Dr. Roberta Hunte is a facilitator, researcher, educator, mother, and cultural worker whose focus areas include Black women in the building trades, the impacts of racism-related stress on Black maternal health, Reproductive Justice, and higher education access for adult learners of color.

Justine Hwang
Intercultural Strategies
Justine Hwang

With 20 years of experience designing and facilitating engaging workshops in the corporate and non-profit world, Justine Hwang is a Social Impact Calligrapher who loves empowering people with creative confidence and teaching calligraphy as a tool for mindfulness and community building.

Hussein Janmohamed
Intercultural Strategies
Hussein Janmohamed

Co-founder of the collaborative and diverse choral music group, The Awaaz Ensemble, Hussein Janmohamed is a dynamic choral director, composer, and performer who is internationally renowned for his work in intercultural dialogue through music.

Katsitsionni Fox
Intercultural Strategies
Katsitsionni Fox

Katsitsionni Fox of the Bear Clan from the Akwesasne Mohawk Nation is a filmmaker, artist and educator whose work focuses on healing and empowerment of Indigenous women through the sharing of their stories and successes.

Elder Larry Grant
Intercultural Strategies
Elder Larry Grant

Musqueam Elder, Larry Grant, is an Adjunct Professor at the First Nations and Endangered Languages Program (UBC) who has been recognized for his continuous intercultural work and for helping to revitalize the hun’q’umin’um’ language.

Kathy Shecapio
Intercultural Strategies
Kathy Shecapio

Guided by the value of her cultural identity, Kathy Shecapio has assisted at negotiations with the federal government, managed a budget of 720 million, implemented customized Cree training programs, and worked in collaboration with the Nishiiyuu Council of Elders to develop alternative medicine services through traditional healing.

Charmaine Hammond
Intercultural Strategies
Charmaine Hammond

Charmaine Hammond, CSP, is a highly sought-after business keynote and workshop speaker (having presented to more than 400 000 people worldwide), entrepreneur, best-selling author, and educator who teaches and advocates the importance of developing trust, healthy relationships, and collaboration in the workplace.

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