I’m Michele Martin. . .

Most of my work begins in conversation, the kind that arises when life or work stops behaving neatly, when the old ways of making sense no longer hold.

I’ve always been drawn to what feels alive, to the work that refuses to be reduced to metrics or tidy models. For years, I tried to hold that aliveness inside organizations: leadership programs, change initiatives, the sanctioned spaces where transformation is supposed to happen.

But the real work—the human work—was always spilling over the edges. It felt too messy to people, so they tried to manage it, control it, or turn away from the raw truths of being human.

I couldn’t. I kept seeing what lived underneath—the grief, the wonder, the resilience—and realized I wanted to work there, where real change begins. That realization drew me toward a different kind of practice, one that makes space for what’s alive rather than trying to contain it. Where we go under the sea and don’t just stay on the surface of the waves.

I now think of that practice as social artistry: shaping meaning with story, image, and shared experience the way an artist shapes clay. It’s work that lives in the places where things get complicated, where grief and imagination share the same breath, and where honesty matters more than resolution.

I hope people leave our work feeling a little more spacious inside—seen, grounded, and ready to breathe again. The spaces I create are part sanctuary, part studio, places to rest inside what’s real and to explore what might be possible next.