Little Michelle was born into a very loving family. She had an older brother, a father who worked at the local water filtration plant, and a mother who's been highly active in community life. Michelle's childhood was full of music and art, as her father was keen on listening to jazz and enjoying artwork. Her great aunt, Robbie, was a piano teacher who lived just a floor below. Michelle could hear her aunt’s students playing the scales and songs. At the age of four, she also started taking lessons from her aunt. She performed her first major piano recital at the Roosevelt University Concert Hall.

With time, Chicago's South Side has transformed reasonably. In 1950, the neighborhood was 96 percent white; by 1981, it became 96 percent black. Michelle was born right in the middle of this transformation, so when she became a school student, there was a mix of different black and white families.

As Michelle got older, many families relocated to the suburbs, so businesses and schools in the neighborhood began to downgrade. Finally, real estate developers labeled the region a "ghetto." Michelle did her best to be a successful student. In the second grade, Michelle cried to her mother that the class was horrible, full of chaotic kids throwing things and a teacher who couldn't do anything. Thanks to her mom, Michelle passed the test and got into third grade with other high-performing kids who enjoyed studying.

Then, Michelle enrolled in the Whitney M. Young High School in the heart of Chicago. It was called a magnet school, with progressive teachers who taught high-performing kids from all over the city. When she successfully went through, she still had doubts about whether she was good enough. Lack of confidence wasn’t her only problem at that time.

The road to the school took 90 minutes on two different buses each day, while other kids lived in nearby high-rise apartments. Those students talked about their summer internships and had designer purses. Everything they did seemed effortless to Michelle. Despite some nagging self-doubts, she focused on her studies. Finally, her excellent results helped her overcome the feeling of being a black sheep.