June 19, 2026
By: Kendra Glasgow, F4SC Ambassador
1. What first brought you to social connection work, or what experience helped shape your interest in this field?
My interest in the field of social connection is deeply personal. The first time I experienced loneliness was when I was a new student in the middle of first grade. The second time was more insidious. I didn’t initially recognize I was lonely because I never anticipated feeling lonely within this context – my marriage. It was through building community with others with similar lived experiences that I realized that this was a more common struggle than I thought. It was the first time I truly understood the power and necessity of community and connection. Both learning firsthand that marriage doesn’t prevent a person from experiencing loneliness and having a background in public health cultivated a deep curiosity for addressing loneliness at a societal level. Reading books, such as The Art and Science of Connection by Kasley Killam, MPH and Let’s Talk About Loneliness by Simone Heng, helped transition this curiosity to desire to play a more conscious role.
2. Through your work, what have you come to understand about social connection that more people need to know?
One key insight that has been humbling to gain as an introvert is that social connection, especially as you get older, has to be incredibly intentional. It won’t just fall in your lap without effort and nurturing. And with technology making day to day life so convenient, I think this can be difficult for us as a society to wrap our minds around and respond accordingly. We wrestle between leaning towards low friction and additionally seeking quality connection in our lives.
3. What has surprised you most about this work or about the role social connection plays in people’s lives, communities, or systems?
I found it surprising that even opportunities for micro moments of in-person social connection (e.g., that greeting you exchange with your neighbor on a walk) are valuable. There has been an extreme rise in evidence that quality social connection is closely linked to the quality of our lives and health. It’s not a nice to have but a must have for overall wellness. Although most of us would believe that this makes sense conceptually, there are multiple sociocultural factors that play into why this field is necessary and relatively young. I find it fascinating that although you may have more access to different people compared to previous generations (thanks to technology), we’re more lonely. It speaks to how there’s truly no substitute for in-person interactions. And the danger of parasocial connections taking over as a dominant social structure especially when it comes to the youth.
4. What changes, progress, or momentum are you seeing in the field right now?
It’s encouraging to see advances in research, social commentary and awareness on loneliness and the importance of social connection. It feels less stigmatizing to openly discuss personal experiences with loneliness.
5. What is your hope for the future of social connection, and what would you like others to do to help move this work forward?
My hope for social connection is that it becomes more and more interwoven in our local social fabric. It will be a standard considered and incorporated in our schools, healthcare settings and city planning. Nationally, I would like us to look more into the contribution of sociocultural factors to loneliness.
About our ambassador, Kendra
Kendra Glasgow is a community leader, loneliness coach, writer and speaker. Bringing in both her lived experience and background in public health, her work challenges the idea that loneliness only exists in isolation and highlights how it can exist even in marriage. She believes that we can use loneliness to be a teacher for healing.
Learn more about our Ambassador Program here.