

SHARING SACRED SPACES SUMMIT 2023
Belonging by Design
October 9-20th, 2023

Dr. Vanessa Avery
Sharing Sacred Spaces
Executive Director
Vanessa is both a scholar of religion and an inspirational leader in interreligious engagement. She is able to manifest the ideal of undoing bias and building radical inclusion in different contexts through her warm personality and her intellectual and practical expertise. She sees what is missing in her field and is quick to implement it – always focused on providing people access to transformational education and training for engaging with difference and building community.
Currently, Vanessa is Executive Director of Sharing Sacred Spaces, Inc., where she oversees the operations and programming of the organization and is spearheading major strategic shifts to transform their hallmark program from a purely local focus to an innovative global opportunity for lay, emerging, and current religious leaders, and social entrepreneurs who wish to heal harmful divides.
Vanessa serves as Fellow at Hartford International University for Religion and Peace; Lecturer of Interfaith Engagement at Yale Divinity School; and affiliate faculty in Comparative Religion and Sociology at California State University.