Java-MAY-2018-2

Photo: Elena and Jim Thorton
MICHELLE MICALIZZI
Art and Entrepreneurship
By Jenna Duncan
Michelle Micalizzi says she originally started her
company Fearlessly Deliver, LLC as a consulting
firm in order to work with other companies as an
entrepreneur-for-hire. She has a diverse skill set that
allows her to plug into many different positions in
the business world. She’s lived a life immersed in
entrepreneurship, growing up in a business start-up
family and running five businesses of her own.
But when she began her Fearlessly Deliver social
practice artwork, the art took on a life of its own and
has snowballed into something much bigger than just
a company and more nuanced than just an art career.
“Businesses aren’t just in business to make money.
They are there to contribute to the community and
give back,” Micalizzi says.
Micalizzi’s upcoming art show, “The Art of Fearlessly
Giving Back,” shines a spotlight on the positive
work of one local company and its core values. She
says she chose WebPT because as she got to know
about the company, she valued its ethos. “They
have this idea that if you screw up, you have to own
it. And also they have embedded in their culture a
commitment to give back.”
To tell the story of how and why a business is giving
back, Micalizzi first sits down and interviews the
company’s leaders. She sets up her video camera and
records the interviews, which she posts to YouTube.
At WebPT, she interviewed its CEO, CFO and CTO,
among others. She was impressed by WebPT’s
founders and their ability to construct something out
of seemingly nothing. She also liked their motto: “Do
mas with menos.” Next, Micalizzi sits down to blog
about her interviewees, and in the process of writing,
she comes up with an idea for a painting for each
person.
“I tell their story, which is the reason for the
painting,” she says. “I interview somebody, watch the
video and then look for five takeaways.”
“I’ve been working creatively since I could first
make a mark on a paper,” Micalizzi says. She has
made art and kept a journal her entire life. “I listen
to something or I interview someone and then I tell
a story.” In 2014, in order to have a fresh start, she
destroyed some 1,300 journals and sketchbooks. The
purge allowed her to open herself to a new practice
that combines all of her talents: find a subject,
interview and focus, write, then paint.
Micalizzi has been networking in the Valley
for nine years, forming connections with local
businesspeople. “The whole point of doing this
exercise is to get everybody in the room and then
build relationships.” So far, she has interviewed and
created paintings for more than five-dozen people for
her social practice art shows.
No matter whom she interviews, Micalizzi always
asks: “How did you become fearless?”
“On a regular basis, most people have to walk
through a boatload of details. And each day there
may be opportunities to be scared to death,” she
says. Micalizzi looks for each person’s chance to walk
through that fear and to overcome it.
“The Art of Fearlessly Giving Back” opens at the
Arizona Science Center, Create MakerSpace, May 18
from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. and will feature 16 of Micalizzi’s
paintings. A percentage of proceeds from sales will go
to a half-dozen charities that WebPT has selected.
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18 JAVA
MAGAZINE