Speaker-Singer-Songwriter
Michelle has been singing and writing songs nearly her whole life, since she was too young to read music! Later, as a young adult cancer survivor, she got involved with advocacy and used her voice to speak at cancer events and advocate for cancer charities over the years. When she discovered the Keynote Concert format, taught by Tiamo De Vettori, it was a perfect fit for her passion for music and speaking. Michelle’s songs also tell stories, and they stem from her life experiences, not formulas.
Cancer Survivor & Advocate
As a kid and teenager, Michelle felt self-conscious sharing her cancer story, or even telling people that she was a cancer survivor. She didn’t want to be pitied or seen as different when fitting in seems so important during those years! But when she won a scholarship from the American Cancer Society and starting doing volunteer work at the local branch office, everything started to change.
While volunteering there, she worked on the Relay For Life event in her hometown and on other local fundraising events. When she attended her first Relay For Life, she felt so inspired by the cancer survivor speaker who told her story. That’s when she realized how powerful sharing our stories really is.
From then on, Michelle has attended and volunteered at many Relay For Life events through the years. At SDSU’s RFL, she served twice as Survivor Chair twice and twice as Fight Back Chair. At the Downtown San Diego RFL, she served twice as Fight Back Chair and once as Mission Delivery Chair. She’s also been an event-day volunteer for multiple RFL events in San Diego, including Coronado, La Jolla, National City, and Southeast San Diego.
In 2012, Michelle connected with the charity, Stupid Cancer—the biggest supporter in the young adult cancer world. She attended their annual summit, now called CancerCon, every year through 2019–and was fundraising for the 2020 event, until the pandemic shut it down! She started volunteering and fundraising in 2014, to support CancerCon, which she says is life-changing for all who attend. To date, she’s raised over $10,000!
To fundraise, Michelle has hosted special game show night events, sung at many farmers markets, and even made jewelry, some of which was part of at the Comic-Con Art Show in 2019 and 2020. She’d talk about the charity and bring Stupid Cancer pamphlets and postcards her events, so people looking for the info can find it. Without fail, people would tell her about a friend or family member battling cancer or a survivor, or share their own cancer story. Michelle felt so moved by their stories, and wishes she could share them all with the world!
More about these charities: cancer.org and stupidcancer.org
Education
In 2015, Michelle received her BA in Music with minors in Theatre Arts and Entrepreneurship. (and she passed Accounting the first time, to get into that 2nd minor program!) She performed in multiple ensembles while attending, both on vibraphone and as a vocalist. She was highly involved on campus in student organizations, including in PSFA College Council, Mortar Board Senior Honor Society, and Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity. She also received an Aztec Achievement Award and completed the Leadership Certificate Program during her final semester.
She continued her education with electronic music classes at Mesa College and City College, as well as Voice Acting at City College. She voiced radio spots for 88.3 KSDS San Diego while there, too, and created audio recordings the the campus news, City Times.
About Michelle’s Music
Perhaps because of her wide musical interest, Michelle’s music doesn’t fit into just one category. We Rise is a folk song that’s very relevant to the times we live in, and Life is Beautiful to Me is a pop song released on her 25th Cancerversary that’s about celebrating life and finding the beauty in it every day. She released both last year, along with covers of Corcovado and O Holy Night, and they’re all on the major music platforms (iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music, etc.). Overcomer is her first rock song, which she hopes to release soon. She’s also been working on electronic music pieces, too.
Throughout college, she performed many jazz standards and Bossa Novas, and recorded a few, but she also hopes to record a jazz album.
As a songwriter, Michelle says she doesn’t choose the genres—the songs do! She hears the music and follow wherever the inspiration leads.
Musical Influences
Michelle’s musical influences span many decades and genres. From jazz and Bossa nova to pop, to contemporary and singer-songwriter, to folk and country, to electronica and EDM, to soft rock and everything in between, Michelle is inspired by many genres and even more artists—too many to name!
Service Through Music
Michelle first got involved with San Diego-based organization, Resounding Joy, in 2014, to help at their annual Gala Fundraisers and help in the office, too. She trained as a JoyGiver in 2015 to assist Music Therapists in Senior Independent and Assisted Living facilities.
She participated in many music sessions as a JoyGiver, caroling in Assisted Living and Skilled Nursing Facilities, aiding a music therapist in Senior Independent Living, and sang twice on her own at a Memory Care day facility. The best part about bringing music to these communities, she says, is seeing their faces light up with joy and hear their voices joining us in song. Some couldn’t even remember their family members’ names, but they remembered the song lyrics. Now that’s the power of music! More info: ResoundingJoyInc.org
As a member of the San Diego County Alumnae chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota, Michelle organized 2 music outreach projects with Girl Scout troops in San Diego, and participated in both, too. They involved making musical instruments from everyday household items, like cans and rubber bands, and a drum circle with different sizes of buckets plus shakers made with soda cans and uncooked. Making music and having fun with it can really be that simple.
Overcomer is almost here!
Big news! Michelle’s newest song, Overcomer, is finally recorded!
The recording session was filmed as part of a young adult cancer survivor documentary, which is in-progress.
Overcomer is inspired by her own health and life struggles with cancer treatment side effects, by cancer family friends, and by her dad who’s had Parkinson’s for over 20 years.
On the community side, she want to highlight people’s Overcomer stories, which can be as simple as a mindset shift—like when she reframed herself from “failure” to Overcomer, and everything started to shift. She encourages people to share a story, since sharing stories and hearing people’s stories is so inspiring.
What Michelle has learned through her years of life challenges is this:
It doesn’t matter how many times you get knocked down. What matters is that you get back up!