Michele was born in Vancouver BC in the mid 60s and then grew up with her mom and grandparents in Kelowna BC. She began writing at an early age and was known for making up words when she couldn’t find one that fit her meaning. She also plotted out novels and then wrote book reports on them – it’s still amazing to her that she was never called out for this. Michele  did university transfer courses at Okanagan College before heading to the University of Victoria to complete a BA with majors in Canadian Literature and Canadian History. Along the way she lived in the Netherlands, Germany and Japan.

All of this should have led to a career in writing, but instead Michele became interested in Communications and Public Relations. She worked on contract for several non-profits while raising her children. Then in 2005 Michele was elected to Kelowna City Council where she served for six years; a rich and fulfilling period in her life. Following that, she worked for the Okanagan Regional Library before falling ill with trigeminal neuralgia which forced her to medically retire at the age of 48. Being ill took some time to get used to and Michele is forever grateful to the support of her family and medical team.

When COVID hit, Michele was inspired by her friend Darcie Friesen Hossack to write a poem about being high-risk to the disease. The poem was published in 2020. This little bit of writing started a rush of poetry, creative nonfiction and flash fiction from Michele’s brain that couldn’t be stopped. Since then she has written hundreds of pieces and has had over 50 of them published.

That first poem was also the reason Michele met a collection of poets in Kelowna known simply as the Soup Group. These poets, now also friends, have become Michele’s rock through all kinds of further health challenges as well as the impetus behind much of her writing.

In 2022, Michele and her friend Sally Quon got together to form a haiku journal called the Solitary Daisy which puts out fortnightly issues and is free to read and submit to.

Michele is currently working on a collection of poems about chronic pain with her League of Canadian Poets mentor Crystal Hurdle. She hopes to have this out to publishers before the end of 2025.

Michele lives with her husband, Frithjof, and her mom in a beautiful garden, along with three cats and a chihuahua named Pierre.