Meet Michelle
I didn't plan to
become a Life Systems
Strategist. Life made me one.
Meet Michelle
An ex burned-out 9-5er, MS girly, former caregiver, and recovering doer of all things. I turned the chaos of the hardest years of my life into a framework that actually works for real women with real lives.
Most of the women who find me have become the system. Everything runs through them, and nothing runs without them. I know because I was one of them.
The Before
The 9-5 that
broke me open.
For years, I was the jack of all trades in a toxic 9-to-5 environment. The kind of workplace that demands everything from you and gives back just enough to keep you showing up. I was good at my job, really good, but I was running on empty.
The toxicity wore me down in ways I didn't fully recognize at the time. I was slipping into depression, going through dark periods I didn't have language for yet. I just knew something had to give.
What I didn't know was that life was about to force my hand — and then force it again.
The timeline
the 9-5 years
Burnout. Depression. Dark times. Running on empty in a toxic environment.
During caregiving
Accidentally built her first life system tracking her dad's symptoms + meds.
October 2021
My father passed. Grief. Unraveling. Everything shifted.
January 2022
MS diagnosis. The pivot that changed everything.
The breaking point
Caregiving for my dad
taught me strength I didn't know I had.
When my father got sick, I became his primary caregiver. I was also forced to leave my 9-to-5 — which, honestly, turned out to be a blessing I couldn't see yet.
I started doing what I'd always done: taking notes. Writing down his symptoms, tracking when he took his meds, keeping everything organized. I didn't realize it at the time, but I was building a life system. Slapping notes and sheets of paper together, yes — but a system nonetheless. 😂
And while all of this was happening, I was taking my dad to his chemo appointments with my daughter doing distance learning in the backseat. She was in kindergarten. We were in the middle of a pandemic. And somehow, we showed up.
Caregiving for a loved one — especially a parent — unlocks a level of strength you don't know you have until you need it. My dad passed in October 2021. And in the grief of losing him, everything I thought I knew about managing life started to unravel.
The diagnosis
"See! This is why
I'm bat shit crazy!!!"
About month after losing my dad, my body started doing things I couldn't explain. It started the Saturday after Thanksgiving 2021 — dead arm and dead leg on my left side. I honestly thought I was having a stroke.
For the next 10 days, it was one random symptom after another. Then, while I was in Las Vegas for my husband's softball tournament, floaters appeared in my left eye. I was driving him to his first game Sunday morning genuinely questioning how much I'd had to drink the night before. Because when in Vegas, right? 😂
My ophthalmologist listened to everything, then told me she was going to be completely transparent with me. She ordered an MRI and said she believed I had early onset Multiple Sclerosis. A few months of waiting later, the results confirmed it: swelling in my brain and MS lesions.
My immediate reaction was to cry in my husband's arms — and then pull back and say "see, this is why I'm bat shit crazy!!!" 🤣 You have to find the humor. You really do.
The lesson
You have to find the humor. And then you have to rebuild — not around who you were, but around who you actually are now.
The realization
No job. No caregiving role.
A new diagnosis. And one
crazy idea.
After my diagnosis, I found myself at a complete crossroads. No job. No longer a full-time caregiver. A brand new chronic illness. And absolutely no idea what to do with myself.
But I kept coming back to something I'd noticed during the caregiving years — the notes, the systems, the structures I'd built without even realizing it. And I thought: what if the SOPs I used to run corporate environments could save a home?
What started as "Personal SOPs" turned into something I now call Life Systems. Built for real women. Built for moms. Built for women with chronic illness. Built for the 30% battery days and the messy rooms and the lives that don't look like the Pinterest version.
"I fix the system, not the person. Because you were never the problem — your expired routines were."
That's the work. That's why I'm here. And that's why every single thing I build...every system, every template, every conversation...is built around your real life, not your ideal life.
The Real Michelle
A few things you
should probably know. 🥰
Because a good life systems strategist also has a life.
🧠
MS Warrior
Diagnosed January 2022. Living proof that a chronic illness diagnosis doesn't have to be the end of building something meaningful — it can be the beginning.
🧑🧒
Girl Mom
My daughter did kindergarten distance learning in the backseat of a car during chemo runs. She's the reason I know flare-friendly systems aren't optional — they're essential.
🏞️
Landscape Photography Lover
Give me a good view and a camera and I'm completely in my element. There's something about capturing wide open spaces that resets everything.
🤣
Humor is Non-Negotiable
If I can laugh about my MS diagnosis in the same breath I cry about it, I can find humor in just about anything. Life is too heavy not to.
☕️
Real Talk Only
No toxic positivity. No "just be more consistent." No generic advice. Just honest conversation, real systems, and zero BS.
🥎
Softball Wife
Yes, I was in Vegas for my husband's softball tournament when the floaters showed up. We still laugh about the timing. When in Vegas, right? 😂
That's just scratching the surface 😏
The realization
Let's grab a
virtual coffee & chat. ☕
No sales pitch. No pressure. Just a real 30-minute conversation about what's going on in your life, and whether I'm the right person to help. Show up as you are.
Having your own support system is self-care. Life support is meant to sustain you, and your systems should too.