ABOUT MICHELLE
Ethos and Bio
Hi. I'm glad you're here. I am a conflict resolution coach, organizational consultant, negotiation strategist, university lecturer, and speaker with a background in mental health and a focus on helping people improve their relationship with conflict so that they can resolve it with less stress and better results. I am on a mission to help people deconstruct their beliefs around conflict and reconstruct their approach so that they can turn conflict into gold.
While most people are running away from conflict, I lean into it. You might be wondering how I got here...
While working as a social worker in the Lebanese prison system, I found that one of the most common topics in my work with incarcerated people was the inability to navigate conflict effectively —both inside the prison system and outside its walls. I became acutely interested in the neuropsychology of conflict and the relationship of corruption, conflict, and transgenerational trauma.
After turning my attention toward the psychology of conflict, I packed up and headed from the Middle East to New York to pursue a Master's degree from Columbia University in Negotiation and Conflict Resolution. While living in New York I worked in research on the Sustainable Peace Project at Advanced Consortium on Cooperation, Conflict, and Complexity at the Columbia Earth Institute. I later moved on to work with underserved communities in New York City as a Harm Reduction Specialist before joining the Federal Emergency Management Agency as an Alternative Dispute Resolution Advisor, where I spent several years traveling to federally declared disaster operations to advise on and facilitate the effective resolution of interpersonal, organizational, and community conflict. I also acted as the FEMA Ombuds for a year where I focused on helping agency constituents identify and resolve systemic and policy-based conflict. I have since become the ADR Reservist Program Manager where I leads a large cadre of practitioners.
In my consulting practice I work with individuals, couples/families, teams, and organizations to deliver conflict resolution coaching and consulting, mediation, facilitation, team building and training, and organizational development services. I have coached leaders at numerous American Federal organizations and Fortune 500 companies including DHS, DNFSB, DoD, ICE, FMC, FRB, TSA, Airbnb, Amazon, and Boeing. I also returned to Columbia University in 2021 as a faculty member for the Negotiation and Conflict Resolution graduate program.
In a nutshell, I work with people in inter and intra personal conflict and I am passionate about helping people change the way they talk to themselves and to one another. I hope to help people embrace conflict as a learning opportunity to create forward force, rather than a problem to be dealt with. I am driven by using neuroscience to help people better understand themselves and others while building the skills of emotional intelligence, diplomacy, and effective leadership. I am passionate about coaching leaders to lead conflict-constructive workplaces and works with clients to create organizational alignment by maximizing engagement and collaboration through initiatives that build capacity, improve corporate culture, and minimize the cost of conflict-- from the bullpen to the C-Suite.
I am excited to be working on my book, Becoming Conflict Constructive, that is centered on helping people understand how they can turn move from destructive conflict to constructive connection.