Michele grew up in a small farming community in southern Alberta. She was five when she first stepped on the stage in a little schoolhouse during a community Christmas party. As she stood there, front and center, she felt a sense of “being where she was meant to be”. Inspired by her first taste of the stage, Michele had many roles as an actor over the years, and acting also became what she did in her everyday life as she presented a mask to the world while hiding intense emotional pain and the longing to end it all. Forever.
Today, Michele shares openly her journey from Suicide Survivor to Life Thriver. As a life-long learner always in self-discovery, she doesn’t pretend that she has “arrived”, but leads by example as she shares authentically from her own journey, without masks or acting a part.
Michele has shared her journey on stage, both her own journey of suicide along with losing a friend to suicide and wondering if her story even mattered. Recently Michele, alongside a songwriter/musician from the UK, wrote the lyrics for Stay Here, Stay Now - release date Sept 3, 2021. Her desire is that her message will touch the hearts of others so they too can find their way through the challenges they face in life. If something she says or writes helps even one person to keep going and keep living, then she will consider her work successful.
Finding gratitude in the everyday moments of life, Michele loves spending time camping and traveling with her hubby, along with spending time with their family, which includes two adult children, their spouses, and five grandchildren (and 2 cats)
