Michelle Freeman was born in Austin, Texas in the mid 1960’s at the height of the civil rights movement. She was educated in the Austin Public Schools graduating from high school with honors in 1983. She completed her Bachelor’s Degree in Humanities at New College of California in 2007. Michelle has had a varied professional career including serving as an IRS Tax Auditor in Austin, TX, a Logistics Supervisor for UPS, a development administrative coordinator for Rice University, Houston, TX and as a Office Manager for a 15 member rehabilitation physician practice at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. Michelle grew up in the Missionary Baptist faith in Austin and was baptized at the age of 7 by her late great great uncle Rev. S.L. Davis. She was a member of the Baptist denomination for over 29 years before joining the Metropolitan Community Church of Austin in July of 1996. In the MCC faith, Michelle’s call to ordained ministry became very vivid and clear but she had to overcome the obstacles of hearing her entire life that women were not meant to be ordained or leaders in the church which was echoed constantly in her Baptist church. Having overcome this obstacle, Michelle enrolled at Pacific School of Religion in August 2008 to begin her Master of Divinity studies. She has just completed her first year of studies and is looking forward to a future in ordained ministry within the United Church of Christ. Michelle shares her life with her beloved spouse of 13 years, Georgia Chambers and their very handsome five year old lab mix named Franklin. They currently reside in Berkeley, California.