Age: 47
Hometown: Maine
Profession: Educational Consultant

Michelle was raised on the Maine coast where she grew up exploring the forest and seaside areas. She spent a majority of her free time outdoors with her older brother, wandering the woods, fishing off the town wharf, combing the shore, and generally getting up to childhood mischief. Her mother, a teacher, and her uncle, an avid outdoorsman, had a significant hand in inspiring her love of nature, teaching her about the incredible world around her and taking her camping and fishing.

Michelle received her degree in elementary education but instead of entering the classroom after graduation, she chose to pursue bushcraft studies and lived primitively in a semi-subterranean dwelling for nearly two years, taking classes and practicing various skills such as tracking, shelter making, and wild edible identification. She spent years running or supporting classes for adults and children to help them connect with the wilderness.

Eventually she ended up in a public school in Alaska, teaching Siberian Yup’ik children on a remote island off the coast of Nome where she continued to learn traditional skills from the village elders. There she met her husband, Doug, also a teacher, and they now make their home in rural Maine renovating an 1820s farmhouse.

Since appearing on Season 8 of Alone, Michelle has enjoyed jumping back into life in rural Maine – fishing, sailing, tending her vegetable garden, and harvesting the six acres of blueberry land she and her husband recently purchased. She looks forward to connecting with the amazing Labrador coast and learning as much as she possibly can from the land and all the challenges and opportunities it will offer.