Hello, l’m Alma.
For nearly two decades I've worked alongside organisations, communities and individuals to help tell stories that matter.
My work has taken me across the housing, charity and community sectors, where I've had the privilege of listening to people's experiences, building trusted relationships and finding meaningful ways to communicate ideas that create understanding and lasting change.
Alongside my professional experience, my own lived experiences have shaped the way I see the world. They taught me that every person has a story, that the quietest voices are often the ones most worth listening to, and that genuine connection begins with curiosity rather than assumption.
Being diagnosed with ADHD as an adult also helped me understand something I'd sensed for many years. I've always been drawn to the spaces between the obvious headlines - the conversations, relationships and experiences that connect people with one another. Those connections are where I feel most at home, whether I'm interviewing a chief executive, writing about housing and social justice, or helping an organisation find the words to communicate with empathy and clarity.
A few years ago I discovered another way of expressing that same curiosity…clay.
Working with the elements gives me many of the same things that writing does. It asks me to slow down, to stay present, and to trust the process. It reminds me that not everything needs to be forced into shape, and that the most meaningful pieces often reveal themselves gradually. The finished piece is rarely exactly what I imagined when I began, but somehow it becomes what it was always meant to be.
Over time I realised that my communications work and my pottery are not separate paths at all. They are simply two different ways of practising the same philosophy. Both begin by paying attention. Both are rooted in care, craftsmanship and connection. Both invite people to pause, to reflect and, perhaps, to see something familiar in a slightly different way.
Common Ground grew from that realisation. It's a place where meaningful communication meets thoughtful craftsmanship. A place where stories are carefully shaped, ceramics are made slowly by hand, and every piece of work begins in exactly the same way…
By observing the quiet spaces in between.