- January 6, 2026
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Megan Howell, CEO and founder, Second Heart Homes. The nonprofit’s mission is to provide permanent housing and wraparound services to persons with mental illness who are currently homeless or are at-risk for homelessness. The Sarasota-based organization has assisted some 70 men and women in getting off the streets through a dozen homes it has purchased since 2019. Second Heart is funded by donors and doesn’t take government funding or sign mortgages for the properties it buys.
Origami, the Japanese art of paper folding by using one sheet of paper to make things like animals, figures and objects. The ori in the word means to fold in Japanese and kami means paper. The art and practice of origami goes back centuries, with the most-known figure being a crane — which symbolizes longevity, good fortune and peace. Howell has been making and teaching others origami since about 2018.
Early on: Howell has long been fascinated by Japanese art and culture, having visited the country she calls her “happy place” multiple times. Back home, she connected with Kuniko Yamamoto, a Sarasota-based artist behind a national touring show called “Magical Mask, Music and Mime of Japan.” Yamamoto, who is from Osaka, Japan and has lived in Florida since 1992, also has a show for kids called Origami Tales, where she creates animals and figures that come alive in folk tales. She opened the Origami Air Art Studio in 2017 in Sarasota, and Howell started hanging around while not at Second Heart, helping Yamamoto behind the scenes. But she had no intention of creating anything. “I never thought of myself as an artist,” she says. “I can’t fold anything.”
First time: Howell showed up at Yamamoto’s studio one day with an assignment from the renowned artist. At first, Howell balked. “I was kind of upset about it,” she says. “I thought it was going to look terrible and be a total waste of time.” But Howell, who founded Second Heart while she was a server and manager at a Sarasota restaurant, seeing the homelessness outside the eatery’s doors, says she thought about it for a bit. Then she changed her mind. “I had every valid excuse in the world not to do this,” she says, “but once I took myself out of it, I was really able to change my thinking.”
Perks of being a flower: Howell was soon hooked on origami, first for herself then in teaching others. One of her favorite parts? Zen. “It’s a healing process,” she says, “and paper doesn’t talk back. Origami is meditative. It’s about being in the moment.” It’s also a way to push yourself mentally, she says, like Sudoku for your hands. “It engages both your hands,” she says, “and both sides of your brain.” One final perk is the final product. “It’s very satisfying,” Howell says, “when you finish a project.”
Color full: Howell says she’s not a stickler about the paper she uses for Origami, “as long as I get to use a lot of colors.” But she does stay true to the art form. There’s no taping, no gluing, when Howell makes or teaches Origami. “We are purists around here,” she says, while folding and teaching two students how to make a crane during a recent session.
Space out: Howell’s growing passion for Origami in the past few years coincided with some advice she’s received from her mentors and Second Home board members: to have a non-work outlet, a place to decompress from the heavy things the organization does. “I started asking myself,” she says, “who am I when I’m not working? What is my third space when I’m not at work or home? Where can I go to just get away?”
The color purple: The answers to those questions led Howell to lease an art studio space on the second floor of a two-story restaurant building on Main Street in Sarasota. She calls it “The Purple Room.” She teaches Origami classes there and works on other art projects, including her own paintings.
Around the table: Howell also plans to use the studio space for another venture: invite-only, storytelling salon sessions, with Japanese tea, lite snacks, and, of course, a little Origami. She says the sessions, from one to three a month, will be eight people at the most, and everyone must be approved by a member of the session. The goal is to create a community and connect people with each other. (She hopes to sell some of her artwork, too, she adds, or at least introduce her work to potential buyers.) Each session will begin with an Origami lesson. “Origami,” she says, “helps people unify and be vulnerable when sharing a story.”
