I am an author, an artist, and a scientific thinker.

My work lives at the intersection of story and systems—where human experience meets structure, and where clarity makes action possible.

Before frameworks, before consulting, before titles, my first true art was writing. I learned it early, at a kitchen table, from my left-handed mother and a pen. Through letters written across distance, I learned that words could carry relationship, meaning, and truth long before they carried authority.

That practice—writing to understand rather than to impress—became the foundation for everything I do.

Over time, I was also taught what many women are taught: that artists don’t make money, and that science and math belong elsewhere. So I learned both. Not to prove anything, but to understand how the world actually works—how people make decisions, how systems shape behavior, and how perspective determines outcomes.

Today, I am the founder of Slingshot Designs LLC and the creator of The Cardinal Rule™, an original framework designed to help individuals, leaders, and organizations orient themselves within complexity. The Cardinal Rule is not a typology or a prescription. It is a way of noticing—of seeing what is present, what is missing, and what matters before action is taken.

I am also a preferred practitioner of VoicePrint, an applied science that can be used alongside my work when deeper insight into self-perception and communication is useful. Sometimes it is. Sometimes it isn’t. Discernment comes first.

Much of my current work is anchored in partnership with Clara’s Hope, where The Cardinal Rule™ is being applied as part of an evolving, values-aligned case study at the intersection of nonprofit leadership, community care, and sustainable systems. This work builds upon a foundation of VoicePrint self-perception, extending the conversation beyond insight into shared language, orientation, and action. The collaboration reflects how I work best: in relationship, with respect for origin, and alongside people who are willing to think deeply, act responsibly, and build something that lasts.

You will also find creativity expressed in other forms within the Slingshot Designs ecosystem—from writing and facilitation to artisan work like Mitten Carving & Design—because agency matters. Art matters. Craft matters. And people deserve to see themselves reflected in the work they create.

I don’t offer answers.

I offer frameworks, language, and perspective—so people can author their own.

If you’re here, you’re likely not looking for a formula. You’re looking for orientation. For a way to move forward without losing what makes you human.

That’s the work.

— Michelle Formanczyk
Founder, Slingshot Designs LLC
Author & Creator of The Cardinal Rule™