Michelle Lee

Principal

Michelle Lee, affectionately known as Mush, is a nationally-recognized nonprofit leader, cultural strategist, poet, consultant, policy advisor, and pioneer in the field of youth spoken word and narrative pedagogy. Her work bridges culture, policy, and systems change to move people, communities, and institutions to discover new  language for transformation.

Mush’s leadership has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, the MacArthur Foundation, Harvard University, the City of Oakland, the Hip Hop Theater Festival, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and more. A pioneer in the field of youth voice, cultural strategies, and spoken word pedagogy, Mush’s 300 keynotes, talks, presentations, and seminars have been heard at 60+ conferences hosted by Aspen Institute, Social Ventures Network, American Institutes for Research, Othering & Belonging Institute, and Kaiser Permanente. 

As a speaker, writer, and poet, Mush's insights and stories have been featured on HBO, PBS, NPR, AfroPop, New York Times, and Vogue. Her writing appears in All the Women in My Family Sing and her talks on Hip Hop pedagogy are published in Freedom Moves (2025) and The Room Is On Fire (2019).