After reporting local news as a photojournalist, Michael became an independent freelancer. In 2015 voters elected him to the school board at Mt. Hood Community College where he championed affordable tuition, housing and child care for students in need. Michael ran for state legislature as an independent and refused to accept special interest funding. He fell short of victory, and then worked with the Oregon Secretary of State on voting rights and government transparency. Michael then rallied the local community to successfully pass a funding levy to save the regional library in the small town of Stayton, Oregon.He's had experience at a bakery, movie theater, live television newsrooms and Tesla. Several Fortune 500 Companies and more than a dozen Oregon-based social safety net philanthropies are among his clients. Michael’s training and career as a broadcaster, filmmaker and field producer have taken him to Japan, Costa Rica, the U.K., and across America. Michael was born in Portland and is one of five children whose parents were the first in their families to go to college in America. His degree in Journalism is from the University of Oregon in Eugene, a shared alma mater of his partner, a public school educator. His family resides in Southeast Portland and are members of the League of Women Voters, City Club of Portland, Oregon Historical Society, Portland Business Alliance, Portland Japanese Garden, Oregon Zoo and Electronic Frontier Foundation.