After graduating from Wichita State University, she taught financial literacy to Latina women across the country with MANA National, built homes with Habitat for Humanity, started a Latina teen empowerment Conference in Topeka and participated in the Capital District Group that revitalized downtown Topeka. She served as chief financial officer and executive director of two non-profit organizations, and successfully ran a state-wide supplier diversity and diversity and inclusion programs for a Fortune 500 public utility. Michelle was elected to the Topeka City Council in 2013, and Mayor of Topeka in 2017. As mayor, she focused on economic development, equity, and infrastructure improvements. She was elected by her peers to the US Conference of Mayors Advisory Council in 2018. In 2020, she ran for U.S. Congress in KS-02 while serving on Shawnee County’s Covid-19 emergency management team managing crisis communications and facilitating community collaborations to mitigate the effect of the pandemic in the community to safeguard citizens, medical resources and the economy. Michelle retired as Mayor in January 2022, and worked as a Managing Director at the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation while obtaining her Masters in Public Administration at Harvard University. Michelle graduated Harvard Kennedy School in May 2023. She is now the CEO of Hack.Diversity, where she along with her team work to transform the economy by breaking down barriers for Black and Latin@ professionals in tech. She sits on six Boards for social enterprises, these are: The American Journalism Project, Education Superhighway 2.0, Accelerator for America, The Well, Partners for Justice and Brilliant Detroit. The title she holds dearest to her heart is "Mom" to Erick, Cristina and Lorraine.