An award-winning performance, sport, outdoor, and lifestyle design leader and strategist specializing in top level future-focussed outerwear and apparel collections that bridge function and fashion for all humans, Michelle is also known for co-founding Struktur Event, the first design conference and community for the active, urban, and outdoor industries.Michelle has worked with start-ups, small-to-midsize companies, and billion dollar+ brands to chart new product paths and build new business while protecting and growing existing icons, like The North Face’s Nuptse Down Jacket, Denali Fleece, and classic Mountain Jacket. Her specialty, though, is in transforming modern fashion for women with future-focused performance gear that is badass, beautiful, and sustainable.From her early years working directly with Howard Schultz as a one of the first certified trainers for a small-but-growing Starbucks Coffee to designing across multiple markets as the first International Designer for Columbia Sportswear, Michelle has developed a passion and strength for understanding what lies at the core of a brand and how to make a brand’s true light shine through authentically. Through a superior understanding of materials technology, color theory, fit, merchandising, and storytelling, Michelle has designed and developed some of the most complete, cohesive, and profitable lines in the active, urban, outdoor industries. Her styles have regularly sold in the tens and hundreds of thousands, even millions, per year across the globe, and many of her design assistants have gone on to lead design at some of the largest and most-well-known brands across the industry.As a design leader, a fifth degree black belt, and a mother, Michelle stands for connecting humans, cultivating self-knowledge, and creating beauty and joy in the world. This comes through in every aspect of her work.