One fateful childhood day, Michelle's father brought a home a Commodore 64 acquired from a yard sale. This pivotal moment of tech enlightenment ignited a path of discovery that would lead to an affinity for monospaced font terminals and the art of genuine mainframe hacking. Stacking up high and critical findings from penetration tests conducted on mainframe, web application and network environments, Michelle has enjoyed great success among her colleagues and loves bringing increased awareness to the mainframe hacking community in conference presentations worldwide.

Creating positive impact is a primary directive for Michelle, and she expresses this within the proactive cybersecurity community by volunteering with organizations that aim to equip others, such as Black Girls Hack, Red Team Village, and BSidesPDX. She also makes time to share her skillset by serving as the Director of IT for a regional nonprofit board as a way to give back. Hidden technologies that hold civilizations together are of deep interest to Michelle, and she is excited to share fresh perspectives on legacy tech that encourage and inspire renewed curiosity.