THIS MIGHT HURT A LITTLE | WICHITA | NOVEMBER 12 TICKETS 💛
Michelle laughing in a black and white T-shirt against a lilac wall

I spent a decade at a Fortune 500 company, but I always knew I wanted more from my life.

So I went looking for it. I ran a marathon, learned to scuba dive, hiked with gorillas in Rwanda, skydived in New Zealand, and swam with whale sharks in Mexico. I’ve been overweight. I’ve been depressed. I got sober in 2019 and spent years doing the kind of inner work that changes you. I kept searching for my thing. The thing that made me feel the most like myself.

Eventually, I realized I wasn’t going to find it on another trip, at another job, or by becoming some better version of myself. I found it in creating: taking something that exists only as an idea and giving it a name, a shape, a voice, an audience.

Making something tangible that didn’t exist before, and making it in a way no one else could. That changed the way I think about creativity entirely.

I think the things we create are one of the ways we make sense of ourselves, connect with each other, and leave something behind.

Michelle smiling in a red top and a tan jacket

Beliefs

  1. 01 you will be more creative without a TV
  2. 02 you can talk about feelings without making it weird
  3. 03 you can take your work seriously without taking yourself seriously
  4. 04 your calendar should occasionally contain a commitment that scares you
  5. 05 the conversations people avoid are usually the ones worth having
  6. 06 creativity is supposed to make you feel a little insane sometimes
  7. 07 you should have something in your life you’re embarrassingly excited about
  8. 08 a blank page can do more than a 47-slide PowerPoint
Michelle with friends in the basket of a hot-air balloon

Currently

  • reading everything by Emily Henry
  • listening Wild Rivers, one of my favorite bands of all time
  • eating Cuban food made by my friend Tio Pepe
  • drinking hot water with lemon + salt
  • wishing for all of the animals to live in my backyard
  • dreaming of a sun-filled art studio
Michelle walking and smiling, in a beige top and rust trousers

we’ll get along great if:

  • you go outside
  • you’ve done inner work but didn’t make it your whole personality
  • you’ve closed down a sushi restaurant more than once
  • you want your life to be meaningful, not just talk about it
  • you can laugh at things that suck
  • you take spiders outside instead of killing them
  • you can handle honesty, even when it stings
  • you’re ok with an f-bomb before 11am
  • you randomly break out in a british accent for absolutely no reason

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