As Rural Director, Michele leads overall strategy and partnerships for Springboard for the Arts' rural programs in support of rural artists and creative community development, including the Rural Regenerator Fellowship, the Rural Futures Summit, Artists on Main Street, and the Falls Community Arts Exchange.

In 2024, she authored Heartland, Heartwork: A Field Guide to Place and Possibility for Rural Leaders. Developed in partnership with the Blandin Foundation, this comprehensive field guide is designed to empower rural leaders in planning and executing effective place-based projects centered in arts, culture and creativity.

Michele is a composer, creative writer and pianist with a BA in Music from Lewis and Clark College and an MA in Cultural Sustainability from Goucher College, where she was awarded the inaugural Rory Turner Prize in Cultural Sustainability. In 2015, Michele was selected by the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits for their Catalytic Leader Award. Her work is about creating and seeking out multiracial and multi-generational pathways to new rural futures rooted in repair, stewardship and joy, whether through policy, poetry, or karaoke!