About

Annahid is CEO and co-founder of Anima Leadership, a global-reaching socially innovative company that has been revolutionizing JEDI (justice, equity, diversity and inclusion) work in organizations and communities since 2006. Over the last twenty-five years Annahid has inspired, educated and coached thousands of individuals and hundreds of organizations toward deeper experiences of belonging.

With a Masters in Adult Education and undergraduate degree in psychology, as well as additional certifications in Process Work conflict facilitation, Somatic experiencing trauma training, and Traditional Chinese Medicine, she brings a deeply inside-outside approach to cultivating systemic shifts. She started out as a political activist organizing national campaigns but now focuses on change one conversation, one compelling story at a time. Believing that diverse voices are the underpinning of our democracy, she is a frequent literary jurist and sits on National Council for The Writer’s Union of Canada and on the Board for the Writer’s Trust.

Alongside writing for various publications, she’s the author of the best-selling books Bones of Belonging: Finding Wholeness in a White World (Dundurn, 2023) and Breaking the Ocean (House of Anansi, 2019) and which Ms. Magazine prophesied “may change you.” A leading voice on race, equity, leadership and cultire change, she also hosts the podcast Soundwaves of Belonging, featuring intimate and irreverent conversations with fellow bridge-builders. Having grown up in three different countries—Iran, England and Canada—on three different continents, Annahid is a citizen of the world, a lover of stories and a truth speaker for a more just future.