Recognizing an inherent love for learning and the desire to educate at an early age, Michelle has devoted her life to teaching youth and adults in various capacities. A native of Chicago, she has built a 20-year career working in Montessori, charter, and non-traditional adult learning facilities. She has found great successes teaching English, theatre arts and sociology to high school students, as well as literacy to adult learners throughout her career. In addition to those, she has been a Spin instructor since 2008.
After earning a Master’s degree in Curriculum Development and Instruction from Temple University, Michelle began writing curricula emphasizing cultural literacy and competencies for high school teachers. She traveled throughout Ethiopia as part of a team granted a Fulbright-Hays Fellowship to research and develop curriculum about Ethiopian cultures and literature for the U.S. Department of Education. She also traveled to Japan to research the 2011 Tsunami and the country’s rebuilding efforts to develop curricula for schools throughout Philadelphia as part of a project for the US Japan Foundation and the University of Pennsylvania’s East Asian Studies Department.