IB Woman
Issue No. 47 - June/ july
Michele’s commitment to life
by Penelope Herbert
When the world serves up lemons you make lemonade. Michele Colmer was hit by a car and severely injured before her third birthday; doctors told her parents to expect the worst. Thanks to an incredible sequence of events involving chocolate, which Michele credits as having saved her life, and an indefatigable attitude, Michele has certainly made a sparkling brew from the lemons dished up to her.
“You create your own window of opportunity,” she says with her trademark smile. “No-one else can do it as well as you because no-on else knows what’s important to you, but you.”
Michele has taken her life experience and turned it into a career where her inspirational speaking helps teens and adults gain some perspective and opportunity in their lives.
She says her signature mantra is persistence; she encourages people to commit to areas of their life that are important to them.
“It’s OK to fall,” she says, “but it’s even more important to pick yourself up and try again. I call it a check-up from the neck up,” Michele laughs.
She does that often, and it seems she has plenty to laugh about. Her message is simple; if I can do it, you can do it. Michele knows life can be unpredictable and her goal is to share her message far and wide. So far she’s doing just that.
A sought-after corporate speaker, Michele adds a variance that people notice. She says she knows her message is getting through when her speaking evokes absolute silence.
“I know the audience is interested in what I have to say because they are thinking, not fidgeting,” says Michele.
“I share what I call ‘bell ringers’, strategies learned from my own experience which seem to resonate with my audiences.”
She says her inspiration comes from small things, but also from when people speak to her after a presentation.
“When they approach me to share their thoughts and experiences it means I have been an open book, and I like t...
