Michelle Bart, CCA, CHTA was born and raised in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and lived in Los Angeles, CA over fifteen years until moving to the Pacific Northwest in 2008. Known to many in Southern California as the founder of the Foothill Arthritis Connection, Michelle is an award-winning media consultant and publicist with over 25 years’ experience in non-profit management, media communications, and human & civil rights advocacy. Michelle holds a communication’s degree and has applied her education and expertise to helping businesses and organizations obtain visibility through the media, community relations, and the Internet.
Michelle is President, Co-Founder of National Women’s Coalition Against Violence & Exploitation (NWCAVE). Michelle serves, as communications chair for the Clark County Human Trafficking Task Force, is a Washington State CSEC Trainer and is a Certified Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) in Washington State, she is a graduate of the FBI Citizen’s Academy and she is a trainer for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
Under the direction of Michelle, the NWCAVE’s Missing Children’s Division helps families of missing children keep their child’s face and case visible through national media outlets including “America’s Most Wanted” with John Walsh, HLN’s Nancy Grace Show, “Issues” with Jane Velez-Mitchell on HLN, Fox News, CNN’s Larry King Live, and People Magazine to name a few.
Michelle is producer of a full-length documentary “Your American Teen” (which won the Columbia Gorge International Film Festival ‘Best Feature Documentary’) she is a member of Society of Professional Journalists, Human Rights Campaign, GLAAD and Alliance for Women in Media.
Michelle was diagnosed at seventeen with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis and throughout the years has been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, Osteoarthritis and Cancer, which resulted in many surgeries; she turned lemons into lemonade by speaking out and advocating for the causes and people closest to her heart and ultimately helping herself in the process.
Michelle has been a presenter and keynote speaker throughout the country on topics related to rheumatic diseases, human trafficking, Internet Safety, media matters, child safety and LGBTQ issues. Michelle is a regular child advocate contributor for television, cable and radio including XRAY 99.9FM, Z100 –Portland, CNN, HLN, NBC, ABC and CBS networks.
In her spare time, Michelle is host of “Voices for Justice” on Blog Talk Radio, enjoys spending time with her two beautiful nieces and volunteering for causes near and dear to her.
