ABOUT MICHELLE, Founder & Principal Consultant

Picture
Michelle brings 20+ years of national and international experience to her work wearing many hats including adviser, facilitator, mediator, program director, and evaluator. Her mission: to build resilient teams and healthy communities at the nexus of public health, education, business and community development.

Michelle is known for facilitating change, fostering leadership, and leading teams through collaborative change processes integrating trauma-informed approaches, Targeted Universalism, Popular Education, and experiential education praxis. In 2017, Michelle was awarded a Rotary Peace Fellowship and researched the intersection of peacebuilding & public health, monitored the 2016 Colombian Peace Agreement implementation, and designed a genocide-prevention program to facilitate dialogue between ex-FARC combatants and Colombian Nationals. Her recent work in Portland, Oregon includes co-designing the Culture Change Roadmap, a free anti-racism resource for businesses and organizations. 

Michelle is proud to be a first-generation immigrant with Slavic, Jewish heritage where both sides of her family survived the WWII holocaust and attempted genocide. This generational resilience in addition to lived experience and intersectional identity as a white, queer, cis-gender woman with invisible disability inspires her professional work, which she balances out by learning to bake sourdough bread, playing string instruments, and spending as much time outdoors as possible.
To learn more about Michelle's projects and what clients have to say about their experiences working with her, please visit the ​Portfolio page.
SKILLS & CAPABILITIES
> Program Review - Strategy assessment; Data collection & analysis; Solution recommendations

> Learning & Advising - Workshop design; Conduct interviews, Facilitate focus groups; Design organizational accountability mechanisms
​
> Program Operations - Conflict resolution program design; Contract and funding management; Outreach and external relationship management; Recruitment, selection and training of operations teams
GLOBAL EXPERIENCE
Portland I Chicago I Colorado I 
​New York I Brazil I Colombia I Peru I 
Ecuador I Mexico I Nicaragua I 
​Honduras I Guatemala I Costa Rica I Fiji I New Zealand I Australia

​LANGUAGES
English – native fluency
Spanish – bilingual fluency (reading, writing and speaking)
Portuguese​ - beginner conversational
​SUBJECT MATTER SPECIALTY
– Peacebuilding & Conflict Resolution
– Alternative Dispute Resolution
– Dialogue Facilitation
– Cross-Cultural Education & Leadership Development
– Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning
– Public Health, Trauma & Resilience
– Gender + Racial Equity and Social Inclusion
​
EDUCATION
MA Political Science: Peace & Conflict Studies - University of Queensland, Australia (2019)
BA Liberal Arts & Social Science: Anthropology - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA (2005)

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

  • Adjunct Faculty - Mediation & Conflict Resolution at Portland Community College (2019 - present)
  • Development Assistant - University of Queensland International Development (2018 - 2019)
  • Program Director & Senior Educator - Carpe Diem International Education & Global Works (2012-2018)
  • Advocacy Trainer & Parent Educator - Hacienda Community Development Corporation (2014)
  • Program Manager - Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization, IRCO (2009-2012)
  • Peace Corps Volunteer - United States Peace Corps, Perú (2006-2008)
  • Program Coordinator - Colorado State University; Academic Advancement Center (2001-2003)

​Spanish Interpretation clients include:
  • IRCO's International Language Bank (2015-2017, 2019)
  • Community Cycling Center: Holiday Bike Drive (2011-2014)
  • Laya Yoga: Trauma-Informed Yoga Curriculum (2012)
  • Engineers Without Borders, UC Santa Barbara (2008)
  • USS Comfort Medical Ship (2008)
  • WAVES for Development (2008)

COMMUNITY AFFILIATIONS

  • Fellow at the Center for Public Service – Hatfield School of Government and College of Urban and Public Affairs at Portland State University
  • Community Peace Collaborative – City of Portland Office of Youth Violence Prevention & Portland Police Department
  • Conflict Management Professional – chiResolutions
  • Research, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Consultant – Search for Common Ground: Institutional Learning Team
  • Conference Presenter & Member – Oregon Mediation Association (OMA)
  • Trainer & Member – Oregon Program Evaluators Network (OPEN)
  • Women’s Business Mentor – MercyCorps Northwest 
  • Mediator – Multnomah County Small Claims Court; Oregon Department of Justice

PRESENTATIONS & SPEAKING

  • Portland Means Progress & Prosper Portland (2020) - Self-Care and Resiliency When Working Remotely
  • Oregon Program Evaluation Network (2020) -Continuous Quality Improvement Training
  • Everyday Peace: Rotary Peace Centre annual seminar (2019) - From Lemons to pajamas: How research and evaluation are helping build peace in Colombia and beyond
  • DM&E for Peace and Search for Common Ground (2019) - Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning from the Inside Out
  • Oregon Women’s Health Network Lecture Series (2016) - Raising Voices: Collaborating for Change in our Community
  • Idealist.org (2016) - Experiences in International Development
  • Portland Society (2016) - My Story ‘From Obstacle to Opportunity’
  • Career Pathways to Doing Good in Oregon, Mac’s List and Hatch Innovation (2015) - Networking and Building Community in Portland ​

GRANTS & AWARDS

  • Rotary Peace Fellowship - Rotary International & The Rotary Foundation (2018)
  • Participation Award - International Public Policy Association (2018)
  • Humanities and Social Science Globetrotters Grant - University of Queensland (2018)
  • Employability Grant - University of Queensland (2018)
  • Winter Research Scholarship - University of Queensland (2018)
  • Outstanding Service Award - Colorado State University Service-Learning program (2003)
  • Certificate of Appreciation - Colorado State University Mentoring for Leadership Program (2002)