Joe O’Connell is the founder and president of Creative Machines - a design and fabrication firm located in Tucson that builds large-scale massive public art installations, museum exhibits, art for children hospitals and even products for disaster relief.

Joe isn’t technically an “activist”. He doesn’t directly campaign for social or political change - yet everything that he creates - is designed to bring people together, and inspire self-confidence - and that to me is Impact.

Although some of you might find his journey a little unrelatable - after all - how many of us get to play with melting lead as a child - I encourage you to read between the lines to see how he weaves impact into everything that he does. 

The three things in particular that I noticed? 

1. That impact can only happen after you have a clear vision of WHY you’re trying to have an impact in the first place. 
2. That the best way to measure the impact of art is to start with a measurable environment.
3. If you want to get involved in the impact space, make sure to position yourself as a solution to a problem.