Hi There!

I’m Michelle and I am passionate about the role of food and women’s leadership in building a more sustainable world.

It takes courage to change the world. And I believe that it starts with changing your world. That personal transformation leads to societal transformation.

But I know that isn’t easy.

Over the last two decades I have worked as an environmental engineer, led research and education programs on sustainable development, run my own consultancy, taught thousands of university students and young professionals about sustainability and food systems and helped them explore how they can lead positive change.

Most recently, I was the founding executive director of an international research and education centre on Food Systems at ETH Zurich.

Through all this work, I was passionately trying to contribute to big global challenges by exploring solutions and empowering decision-makers. Often through the lens of food, which connects us to so many of the big issues we face in the world today.

But sometimes this all felt a little abstract and disconnected from the little personal decisions we all make every day. Even though they seem to be at the root of all the bigger problems we are facing.

I came to care more and more about how our everyday thoughts and actions shape our world and the world around us. 

I realised that changing human behaviour lies at the centre of tackling most of the major crises we face on our planet.

As my professional background is in food and sustainability, I started there. Thinking really carefully about how what I was researching and teaching about our food system played out on my plate and changing my habits accordingly.

This continued with deeper reflection about how I was living and leading. Wondering:

Was the way I was going about trying to create change actually sustainable?

How do we actually create change, and how does it start with each of us, and ripple out from there?

What type of leadership do we actually need to really transform our systems?

We know the world needs more women leading change on their own terms, what are the real barriers to making this a reality?

The more internal work I did, the more I understood that acting from a place of alignment, wellbeing and joy could help me more effectively contribute to my purpose in the world. That outside impact is actually an inside job.

That even in the face of deep systemic injustice and disfunction, we can find power inside ourselves.

To explore some of these questions more deeply I studied and taught yoga, meditation and did post-graduate studies to qualify as a personal development and leadership coach at the University of Cape Town. I hope to stay a life-long student and practitioner in all these areas.

Through this journey I came to realise that the sustainable development of the world cannot be separated from our own personal development.

I decided that I no longer wanted to have parallel tracks in my life but rather integrate the two, learning how contributing to the wellbeing of the world can also support our personal wellbeing, and vice versa.

Today, I help others like you navigate the dance between joy and purpose, working out how to make their unique contribution to the challenges we face in our food systems and the world.

Exploring together how we can create the new type of leadership needed for truly sustainable change and supporting you to make your unique difference in the world.

Michelle xo

You can find out more about my professional roles and experience over on LinkedIn.