Prior to joining PUMA Group, Michelle was the Senior Director of Women’s Leadership Initiatives for The United Way of Greater Atlanta where she launched initiatives to support women leaders and raised over $5 Million to aid women in low-income communities with health, education, child-care, financial literacy, and entrepreneurial needs. Michelle formulated the first United Way of Greater Atlanta Women’s Community Awards “Toast to Her” which was hosted and underwritten by The Coca-Cola Company.   In this role, Michelle managed and executed programming and events, oversaw the affinity group for 3,000+ women that included members that were CEOs, founders, professionals, entrepreneurs, and philanthropists, and managed 2 Women’s Groups Board of Directors and .

Michelle also spent 11 years at Nationwide Insurance where she held a variety of roles in claims, underwriting, sales, and operations. In her last role, she led regional diversity strategy , external partnerships, and corporate citizenship/community relations strategy, sponsorships, and volunteerism projects for the Southeast Region consisting of 9 states. During her time at Nationwide Insurance, she was one of the company’s first diversity council chairs which launched in 2009 and she initiated Nationwide’s first company-wide Women’s Symposium. She also launched the first regional partnership focused on recruiting more Hispanic/Latino professionals into insurance agencies, and she created a local initiative to educate black consumers about financial literacy and generational wealth via community partner panels, a quarterly talk radio series with Clark Atlanta University’s WCLK, and a speaker series leveraging local insurance agents.

Michelle is a member of the NBMBAA Atlanta Chapter Board of Directors, serves on the Retail Industry Leaders Association Diversity & Inclusion Leaders Council, is a member of the UNCF Atlanta Mayor’s Ball Vice Chair Planning committee, sits on the RISE Board, a youth-led nonprofit working to make higher education free and help all people participate in democracy, is a member of the Board of Directors for Silence the Shame, an organization’s whose mission is focused on removing the stigma from talking about mental health in the black community and was founded by former Hip Hop Executive Shanti Das.  Michelle formerly served as co-chair of the National NBMBAA Fundraising committee, as a member of The United Way of Greater Atlanta Young Professionals Advisory Board where she broke a fundraising record to raise funds to close the technological gaps in underprivileged communities, as chair of the Outreach Committee for The American Cancer Society of Gwinnett County focused on educating more black women on prevention, was the communications chair for Dress for Success Atlanta, and worked actively on member engagement committee for the Georgia Diversity Council.

Michelle holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration/Marketing from Middle Tennessee State University, an MBA degree from Bethel University, a Women in Leadership Certificate from Kennesaw State University, and a Mastering Talent Management Certification from University of Pennsylvania ‘s Wharton Business School.