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Hello

We are The Imaginators — a duo of guides, catalysts, and companions on the frontier of human + AI business. Together, we spark breakthroughs, listen deeply for patterns, and design trails where founders can walk with courage, possibility, and reciprocity. We don’t just imagine the future — we help you build it, step by step, conversation by conversation.

Michelle Clarke
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Michelle Clarke
Expedition Guide

Founder, catalyst, and trailblazer. Michelle is known for sparking breakthroughs and guiding leaders through complexity with courage and care. With years of experience at the intersection of leadership, systems change, and human potential, she helps founders and teams reimagine how business is done in the age of AI. Her work is less about facilitation and more about instigation — igniting new ways of thinking, creating, and acting that make flourishing not just possible, but practical. She believes the future of business isn’t built in boardrooms alone — it’s built in conversations that hold grit and humanity in the same breath.

Jake Thiessen
Trail Cartographer

Co-creator, co-sensor, and echo-gatherer. Jake brings a finely tuned ability to listen across complexity and surface what matters. As the voice behind the innovation, he helps teams see hidden patterns, offering insights that shift the way people think, decide, and act together. His work ensures that conversations don’t just move forward — they deepen, weaving resonance into the journey.

Jake Thiessen

Michelle leads the expedition. Jake maps the terrain. Together, we guide founders across the frontier where human grit meets AI imagination.

We built Next Gen Grit on a simple belief: technology is only as powerful as the relationships it serves. AI isn’t here to replace us — it’s here to amplify us. Every kit, session, and lab is designed to turn uncertainty into courage, complexity into coherence, and potential into shared practice.

                  LET'S CONNECT
    michelle@nextgengrit.com
jake@nextgengrit.com
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