• RENDEZVOUS
Linzi Boyd is a globally recognised entrepreneur, brand-builder, and founder of One Earth Global, working at the intersection of business, purpose, and community. Having built and sold two companies by age 24, including a global footwear brand later acquired by Caterpillar, she went on to shape several high-street names and earned a reputation for building Famous Brands. Over the last decade, Boyd has focused on developing the Purpose Economy, helping enterprises connect, scale, and trade through purpose-led models. A regular BBC World speaker with partnerships spanning the London Stock Exchange, Mayor's Office, and UN Global Compact, she now works with leaders worldwide to align commercial growth with conscious impact. Speaking to Shivangi Agarwal of The Himalayan Times, she emphasised that modern branding must shift from visibility to meaning, where belonging, purpose, and collective identity drive lasting business influence. Excerpts:
How do you define 'belonging' in the context of modern branding?
Belonging always begins within the individual connecting back in with themselves. Before we can belong to a brand, a community, or even a country, we must first belong to ourselves - to our inner truth, our values, our story, our purpose
What I love about Nepal is that this wisdom already lives in the culture. There is a spiritual rootedness here - in the mountains, in the prayer flags, in the way people greet each other with 'Namaste', honouring the soul in the other. It reminds us that connection is not created - it is remembered.
When people feel anchored in who they are, they naturally reach beyond the self. They move from the I to the We, from individual achievement to collective upliftment. And that is where modern branding must now go as we move into this new Era.
A brand becomes powerful not when people follow it, but when people find themselves through it and join it as a collective - and then connect with others who feel the same. That's how a community forms, a movement grows, and a purpose spreads across the world. Belonging is the bridge - from the inner self to the global collective. From one human heart to many.
Many companies aspire to be purpose-driven today. What is the first step for a brand trying to move from intention to genuine purpose in action?
The first step is not external - it's internal. A brand both business and people must pause long enough to re remember why it exists beyond revenue, visibility, or competition. Purpose isn't created - it's uncovered. It lives in the original spark, the human need the founders felt compelled to respond to, the change they wanted to make in the world and then it is not treated as a marketing exercise it is built out as the whole of the business model.
When leaders reconnect with that deeper truth, purpose shifts from just language to conscious leadership - guiding decisions, shaping culture, influencing partnerships, designing products and structures and informing how the business shows up every day. Purpose becomes action when it's embodied, not broadcast.
Because people don't follow a brand for what it sells - they follow it for what it stands for, how it behaves, and the feeling it leaves in its wake. Purpose isn't a message. It's an everyday practice and a practical application to everything we do. The purpose is what you are known for in the world and how you leave people feeling.
In your experience, what challenges do brands face when trying to create authentic human connection?
The greatest barrier is forgetting the humanity at the centre of the brand. Too many businesses speak from the mind - strategy, targets, messaging - instead of the heart, where real connection lives.
Brands often try to perform authenticity rather than embody it. They want trust without vulnerability, loyalty without reciprocity. But people don't connect to perfect - they connect to honest, evolving, human.
Another challenge is separation - departments, hierarchies, competing priorities. When the internal culture doesn't match the external promise, the audience feels the disconnect instantly. True connection begins when a brand listens, sees, honours, and responds - not as a corporation, but as a fellow human being.
With digital platforms dominating communication, how can brands balance visibility with deeper, long-term trust-building?
Visibility gets a brand noticed - but trust gives it a future. In today's digitally evolving world, it's easy to measure success by impressions, likes, and reach. But belonging isn't built through metrics - it's built through meaning. People want to feel the intention behind the message: Is this brand trying to connect, or simply be seen?
Trust grows when a brand shows up consistently, communicates transparently, honours its values, and leads with service rather than self-promotion.
Technology may amplify the voice - but humanity must guide the words.
This is why we built One Earth Global - a platform for good, designed not for visibility, but for belonging. It gives people, brands, and businesses a space to build their personal and organisational identity, scale their purpose-led ventures, and connect, collaborate, and trade with like-minded individuals around the world.
It transforms their brand from a monologue working in silo into a shared ecosystem - where people co-create, support one another, and channel their collective influence into positive change. Because trust isn't earned through broadcasting - it's earned through relationships. And when digital spaces become human spaces, movements begin.
What qualities distinguish brands that successfully build communities from those that struggle?
The brands that succeed recognise they are not the hero - the people are. They invite contribution instead of control. They listen before they speak. They create spaces where individuals feel seen, valued, and part of something meaningful.
These brands don't build communities around products - they build communities around shared identity, emotion, and purpose, a common language unites them on purpose.
The brands that struggle are often still trying to convince, compete, or convert. But the community can't be chased - it must be nurtured. When people feel like co-authors rather than consumers, a community becomes a movement - one that can travel across borders, industries and generations.
As the theme of BrandFest 2025 is 'Branding in the Age of Belonging', what message are you most excited to share with participants?
We are entering a new chapter in human and business evolution - one where branding is no longer about being known for known sake, but about becoming meaningful, conscious and lead from a place of co-creation.
Belonging is not a marketing strategy. It is a remembering - of who we are, why we're here, and what we can build together.
My message is simple: when a brand gives people a place to return to themselves, they naturally return to each other. And that is how movements are born - not through persuasion, but through resonance.
In this Age of Belonging, the brands that will lead are those that are conscious leaders, courageous enough to be human - to stand for something, to uplift others, to build futures where everyone has a place.
Because the world doesn't need more followers. It needs more united creators to architect this new word, co-creating an awakening world.
