Our Story
Inspired Belonging began with a shared belief between Dr. Stephanie Payne and Dr. Daniel Dissinger that learning is most transformative when it honors the whole person. As professors, scholars, and coaches, they draw upon the teachings of bell hooks, Thích Nhất Hạnh, and other contemplative traditions to create human-centered workshops that extend beyond the classroom. Through poetry, writing, mindfulness, and reflective dialogue, they cultivate the human capacities that deepen self-awareness, strengthen relationships, and help individuals, educators, community leaders, and organizations flourish.
What We Created
Inspired Belonging is a public humanities initiative co-founded by Stephanie and Dan. Together, they have created a human-centered approach to workshops that integrates poetry, writing, mindfulness, and reflective dialogue to cultivate the human capacities of presence, belonging, voice, care, love, and imagination. Their work creates spaces where individuals, educators, organizations, and communities deepen connection, strengthen relationships, and explore what it means to be fully human. Dan, as an award-winning Podcasting, has developed with Stephanie the Writing Remix-Inspired Belonging Podcast to feature artists, scholars, authors, and others whose work is steeped in the principles of community, care, and belonging.
Join our mission to spread a human-centered approach.
About the Co-Founders and Facilitators
Dr. Stephanie Renee Payne is an educator, board certified coach, writer, and mindfulness practitioner dedicated to helping people reconnect with their humanity. Through more than twenty years of teaching, coaching, and community engagement, she has guided students, entrepreneurs, women leaders, and individuals navigating life transitions toward greater clarity, purpose, and authentic connection.
Stephanie is the author of ESP: Extreme Self-Pampering for the Soul, a mindfulness workbook that encourages reflection, intentional self-care, and personal renewal. Her work is grounded in the belief that meaningful transformation begins with a presence and the capacity to listen deeply to ourselves, to others, and to what matters most.
As co-founder of Inspired Belonging, Stephanie draws from mindfulness, leadership development, storytelling, and human-centered learning. She supports individuals in discovering their voice, honoring their experiences, and living more fully aligned with their values.
At the heart of her work is a belief that belonging is both a human need and a human practice. When people cultivate belonging within themselves and in community, they become more capable of contributing their gifts, wisdom, and humanity to the world.
Dr. Daniel Dissinger is a Full Professor in the Writing Program at the University of Southern California, poet, Kerouac scholar, podcaster, and writing coach. He hosts the award-winning podcast Writing Remix, as well as The Nostalgia Test Podcast, and facilitates workshops with Inspired Belonging. He earned his PhD and MA from Saint John’s University, and an MFA from The Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University. Daniel’s poetry has been published in numerous journals, including the 2026 Altadena Poetry Review. His chapbook, tracing the shape, was published by Shadow Mountain Press.
Daniel co-created a global humanities podcaster network, The Humanities Podcast Network. Since 2021, he helped plan their annual international symposiums and was also the chair of the 2025 symposium “Podcasting & Power.” He is a contributing writer featured in the Palgrave Handbook of Humanities Podcasting (forthcoming), and an HPN workshop leader and co-facilitator.
During the inaugural 2026 Los Angeles Kerouac Festival at Typewriters Anonymous, Daniel gave the keynote talk “The Kerouac We Ignore,” which focuses on father-son relationships, masculinity, and Kerouac’s lifelong search for love of self. At the 2026 Undergraduate Writer’s Symposium at University of Southern California, Daniel presented “What I Learned After 6 Years of Podcasting.”
As the co-founder of Inspired Belonging, Daniel’s approach, inspiration, and passion comes froma deeply personal place. He wants to create community and space for people who, like him, are coping with challenging mental health journeys and the daily stigma that this struggle can bring upon a person’s mind, body, and spirit. Daniel believes in the power of writing and love-centered mindful practices to help nurture a shame-free culture for healing.
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