Michelle

“So, tell me about your background and why you are a good fit for this role,” she said to me, picking at her cuticles, a habit I would watch many more times over the years that would follow. This was my introduction to the GM of services at GEHC Life Sciences at that time, Michelle Lillard Bockman.

When you hear the word hustle, there is no one that encapsulates that more than Michelle. And we aren’t just talking hustle, like work a lot, we are talking hustle, like being the only woman executive on team after team, rising through the ranks in places where most women would not stand a chance. Past roles in places like Stanley Powertools (she was the President of the StanleyX division) and HP (Global GM of 3D Printing and Digital Manufacturing). Not small shops. Michelle is a big fish in the biggest oceans of all. Oceans that are often filled with sharks.

It would be years later that we would form a friendship outside of work through mutual friends locally, with Michelle and her husband Bill often hosting super fun parties at their place in the next town over, playing music and having fun activities like wine tasting. The wine tasting events would consist of each guest bringing a bottle in a brown paper bag so no one could see what it was. We all would taste the wine and then rank them based on taste, a winner awarded based on the one who brought the best bottle.

First time, I decided to play a joke on everyone and brought a bottle of Manischevitz. There was one other Jewish person there who saw the clear glass wine bottle under the bag and immediately became highly suspicious. lol. Not a lot of wines you buy in clear glass, rectangular bottles, IYKYK.

Second time, we decided to up our game and instead of bringing a joke wine, we decided to bring the bottle that our neighbors gave us, made from their private backyard vineyard. I really thought we would fare better the second time around, though admittedly, we hadn’t actually TASTED the neighbor’s wine at that point. We lost. Like, lost by a landslide. Like, lost worse than when I brought Manischevitz. Clearly, that outcome was never shared with said neighbor.

We really miss the fun times with Michelle and Bill, but they are currently living their best life, splitting time between Mexico and LA. Michelle truly is my spirit animal and someone I am inspired by over and over again.

The next piece in my portrait series is entitled, “Michelle” and is a collection of blue glass to encapsulate her life at the beach, with crystal blue waters and iridescent skies. She has gorgeous blue and purple fabric in her hat and a blue rondel necklace. She is wearing a gorgeous blue and purple Fremont Antique Glass shirt and she has purple flowers and blue and purple dichroic glitter pressed into her face with the words, “It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.” Michelle NEVER forgets to live!