She has led dismantling racism work in many settings for over two decades and has a background and two decades of practice as a clinical social worker.

Michelle’s work centers on healing from individual and collective trauma, coming back into wholeness and aligning the mind, body, spirit, and heart. 

She has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the College of William and Mary and a Masters degree in Social Work from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

She has worked in several non-profits and served as an elected official and on many non-profit boards of directors. She has led Dismantling Racism Trainings with large corporations, small non-profits, and community groups, including the ACLU-WA, Duke University, Google, This American Life, The Center for Equity and Inclusion, Auburn Seminary, Kripalu, Yoga Alliance, and Lululemon, and many others.

Michelle published Skill in Action: Radicalizing Your Yoga Practice to Create a Just World in 2017 and her newest book, Finding Refuge: Heart Work for Healing Collective Grief was published by Shambhala Publications in 2021. She teaches workshops in yoga studios and community spaces nationwide and is on the faculty of Off the Mat, Into the World. She was a Tedx speaker at Wake Forest University in 2019 and has been interviewed on several podcasts in which she explores the premise and foundation of Skill in Action, along with embodied approaches to racial equity work, creating ritual in justice spaces, our divine connection with nature and Spirit, and how we as a culture can heal.

In 2020 she created her own podcast, Finding Refuge, which explores collective grief and liberation and serves as a reminder about all the ways we can find refuge during unsettling and uncertain times and of the resilience and joy that comes from allowing ourselves to find refuge.