Meet Michelle Wright

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Michelle Wright. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Michelle below.

Michelle, so good to have you with us today. We’ve got so much planned, so let’s jump right into it. We live in such a diverse world, and in many ways the world is getting better and more understanding but it’s far from perfect. There are so many times where folks find themselves in rooms or situations where they are the only ones that look like them – that might mean being the only woman of color in the room or the only person who grew up in a certain environment etc. Can you talk to us about how you’ve managed to thrive even in situations where you were the only one in the room?
This is something that really is an ever evolving skill that I am learning. To be honest, it began at a very young age. In elementary school, I tended to be not just the tallest person in my class, but frequently the only person of color. Now, there were other people of color in my school and in my grade, but because we had class sizes of between 15-20, I was many times the only black person in that class. I learned everyone saw me, so there was no use in hiding. I needed to be who I was and excel at that. I learned to speak up, to ask questions, because I realized, I couldn’t hide, so if I didn’t know something, eventually someone would figure that out, so I might as well, ask. With that mindset, I then learned, most people were thinking the same thing, but because they could hide, they didn’t want to “stick out” or “draw attention” to themselves by asking. So, I unknowingly and unwittingly helped them. Many, in turn, then wanted to help me. That lesson has stuck with me through my life. I realized, many people, all types of people, the popular, the introverted, the successful, all of them truly desire deep down for someone else to speak up, and when that happens most tend to be very grateful and what to offer whatever help they can.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I feel very strongly that people need to know what is going on in the world around them. But I’ve noticed that more and more people are avoiding news coverage because the most newscasts focus on the negative. Whether is the the shootings, stabbings and killings or the divisive politics or people just acting inhumanely to other living creatures.
Or there are several national shows and publications that have such a bias and bent, that many don’t trust what they are watching or reading.
However, there are some very key things that are in the news that people should know about. Things that affect their lives and the lives of their friends and family members, but since they’ve tuned out the news or they don’t trust the source, they are not getting this vital information.
So, in light of that, in 2024, I’m launching a News You Can Use subscription platform. It will have a brief synopsis of the news that is important, topical and useful, that will be delivered in a short and entertaining way.
In addition to the above, the platform will also include travel hacks, tips, extended interviews with news makers and others, teaching modules for those who’d like to get into news or just want to learn how to conduct a good interview, along with new ideas that are on the cutting edge of what’s in store for the future, and a lot more.
It’ll be available at the website NewzYouCanUse.com or thru Instagram and YouTube @ItsTheWrightStuff

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
The three most important qualities or skills I found most impact for my journey are:

1. Knowing who I am and my strengths. I am naturally a curious person who likes to learn. So I love to ask questions and find out things. What is it you naturally like to do? What do you find yourself doing just normally? Chances are you can turn that into a career.

2. Learning/Practicing/Studying my skill. Just because I am naturally a curious person, doesn’t mean I was always great at interviewing people or telling their stories. I needed to study how to do it, make mistakes, and learn from those mistakes and put into practice what I learned. Then repeat the whole process again.

3. Having the right balance of humility and confidence. The two go hand in hand. I have to be humble enough to accept I don’t know everything and be able to accept and learn what I don’t know. But also be confident enough to know that I will learn what I don’t, implement it and then be better than I was before.

Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?
The most impactful thing my parents did for me is two-fold. The first part is they instilled a deep sense of confidence in me. I don’t know how they did it, but since I was a toddler, I just knew if there was something I wanted to do, I could try and figure out how to do it, and my parents would let me. When I wouldn’t succeed, they’d let me figure it out and try it again. The second thing was they would support me, even if they didn’t agree with my choices.

I remember one specific time that illustrates this point. I was in 5th or 6th grade and I found this recipe for Sunflower Scrambled Eggs. It was simple enough, so I asked my mom to get the ingredients so I could make them. She did, a package of salted sunflower seeds and eggs. The recipe called for “shelled sunflower seeds”. I thought that meant, you leave the shells on. My mom said “No honey, that means you take them out of the shells”. That made zero sense to me. “If they weren’t supposed to have shells on them, the recipe would have said ‘shell-less’ sunflower seeds” I retorted to my mom. She tried to explain again and I was having none of it. Finally she inquired “then how will the shells come off?” and I answered “I don’t know, they’ll probably just dissolve when they’re mixed in with the eggs and cooked”. At this my mom let me create my concoction.

As we all know, the shells did not dissolve, but I still had hope, When I plated the dish and offered some to my mom, she politely declined, knowing how nasty this dish would taste.

I, however ate them, and learned a valuable lesson. And amazingly, at no point did my mom say anything like “i told you so” or “you better finish all those eggs” or “I can’t believe you wasted that food”. She let me learn my lesson with respect and dignity, which help me build my confidence.

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