She teaches Law, Culture & Society, Immigration Law, Public International Law, and Refugee & Asylum Law. Michelle attended Harvard Law School, where she was Executive Editor of the Harvard Human Rights Journal and graduated cum laude in 1995. Upon graduating from law school, she served as the Managing Director of Cultural Survival, an advocacy and research organization dedicated to indigenous peoples. In 1995, with support from Echoing Green, Michelle founded and directed the Amazonian Peoples' Resources Initiative, a community based reproductive rights organization in Peru where she worked for nine years as an advocate for global health and human rights. Michelle has published extensively on international law, human rights, reproductive rights, and immigration issues.