You may have already met Michael at Key Bank and assumed his life was that of a banker. It wasn’t until I saw him working at Crow Valley Gallery and Island Thyme that I began to wonder if my assumptions were totally off.
Did you know he’s a stained-glass artist?
That he studied songwriting in Los Angeles?
That he co-wrote a children’s book with fellow local and nutritionist/personal coach Gigi Carter?
That he’s not a banker at all?
Michael has done all kinds of interesting things in his life. He lived in Atlanta for 20 years and worked at a big art supply company doing custom furniture finishing for a high-end showroom, which he loved.
After that, he moved to LA and had no idea what he was going to do. “I love to do that and was ready for a huge change.” A friend of a friend was the vice president of distribution for Disney-ABC. He asked Michael if he’d come in and help him with a project one day and that was it. From then on, Michael began a fascinating journey.
“That’s totally me,” he says.
“I had an amazingly interesting time working in ABC distribution for the largest entertainment corporation in the world…I learned so much about computers and computer systems, because that’s pretty much all we did…Also, you never knew – Disney re-orged all the time…In an office of 15 of us, there were two of us left after constant re-orgs. Everything I was asked to do, I just said okay…I kept saying yes until I was thinking, ‘Whoa, I’m way responsible for way too much!” he says, laughingly.
One day while out riding his bike, Michael discovered a place called The Songwriting School of Los Angeles. After taking an introduction to songwriting class and meeting many famous songwriters and producers along the way, he released his own song.
In the summer of 2015, Michael decided to move on. He quit his job at Disney, went to Hawaii with some friends for his 50th birthday, and decided to visit his cousin Kurt Hunt, an architect on Orcas Island. After staying here with Kurt and falling in love with the island, Michael gave most of his belongings away and moved here.
He now designs stained-glass art featured in Crow Valley Gallery, and works there as well as Island Thyme and its production facility.
“I just learned to say yes to things that interest me.”
Meet Michael Grady, working in his element…
Here are his beautiful little birdhouses in Crow Valley Gallery…
