Biography

documentary features; Pavarotti, Itzhak, How Sweet the Sound - The Blind Boys of Alabama, CinemAbility: The Art of Inclusion, Lives Well Lived, Capturing the Flag, Becoming Bulletproof 

and Dealt. Commercially released films include The Beatles: Eight Days A Week - The

Touring Years, and Miss You Already. She also video described The Great Muppet Caper for Disney Cable.

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Since 2014, she has sponsored and voiced the audio description for select films annually for Superfest: SF International Disability Film Festival and provided the same annually for ReelAbilities: NY International Disability Film Festival since 2015. She was a panelist

and sponsor for the opening of the 2018 ReelAbilities: LA International Disability Film

Festival. Michele also provides in-kind audio description production grants to prominent

museums, such as the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum in 2018.

Michele personally underwrites hundreds of patron attendance tickets, artist interactive

programs and assistive audience technology for the performing, visual and cultural arts

world. These underwriting programs serve disabled, senior, veteran and underserved communities. She is a supporter of Broadway Dreams, Actors for Autism, The Miracle

Project, Axis Dance, Deaf West Theater, Deaf Film Camp, Positive Exposure 109, SFJAZZ, 

Jewish Community Center San Francisco (JCCSF) Arts & Ideas, San Francisco Jewish Film Festival and Osher Marin Jewish Community Center (JCC) Senior Excursions. Michele also supports LightHouse for the Blind, Guide Dogs for the Blind (GDB), Helen Keller Services

for the Blind and That Man May See.

In February 2016, Michele served on a panel co-hosted by New York Women in Film

and Television (NYWIFT) and NY ReelAbilities; she spoke on post production accessible

media including audio description and captioning for filmmakers. As a member of NYWIFT, Michele serves as a judge on the annual Disability Awareness Film Panel and the Post

Production Documentary Film Panel. She originated and sponsored the first annual grant

providing audio description and closed captioning for the NYWIFT Disability Awareness

Films awarded, now in its fourth year. As of July 2018, Michele has also created the first

audio description production grant for the NYWIFT In-Kind Post Production Documentary

film selected. These women filmmakers are awarded at the annual NYWIFT MUSE Awards.

Michele was also the Voice of God (VOG) announcer for the 2018 NYWIFT MUSE Awards. She is also invited to make appearances for presentations and Q&A sessions at various

cinema screenings.

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Michele continues to promote and pursue thought-provoking panels, including a film 

accessibility panel for the 55th New York Film Festival (NYFF) and a recent media

accessibility panel for Women in Film LA (WIF). Educating future media makers

to incorporate inclusive mindsets has been an important focus of hers. In 2016, Michele 

initiated and sponsored the first British Academy of Film and Television Arts New York

(BAFTA) Media Studies Scholarship for Feirstein School of Cinema graduate film

students with disabilities of which both scholarship recipients recently graduated.

The multiple aspirations and advocacy of Woman of Her Word have been featured

in interviews with the Hollywood Reporter, NBC Bay Area Proud, Marin Arts & Culture Magazine, San Francisco Examiner, PRN.FM, KWMR, KPOO radio programs and

multiple podcasts. The select catalog of films and digital media for which Michele voiced

the audio description are listed on IMDb, and can be experienced in cinemas, via broadcast 

such as PBS, DVD and streaming platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu.

Michele's commitment is unwavering in the pursuit for inclusion in the arts. Her very

presence is a unifying force, which results in equality of experience to the communities

she serves.