“I had always been involved in technology even in high school when I took programming classes to get out of math. But it had never been my focus – just something I enjoyed or did on the side.”

“Similar to many people in the web industry, I did not study technology in college and had not planned on a technology oriented career. I came to DC (back in 1986) to go to George Washington University and went to school for Political Communications. In general, my early career had a public communication/PR focus.” Michelle worked in the press office of the U.S. State Department and then as a Communications staffer in a trade association.

“I was working as a Writer/Editor in a trade association and the first thing that we wanted on the web was the membership newsletter. Since the newsletter was my responsibility, I became the web person. I eventually became the Manager of Online Communications. It was the early days, so some of my responsibility was to help get our members and sister associations on the web.”

Michelle developed a very powerful tech skill set beyond just getting people on the web. With a solid background in HTML, _Javascript, accessibility, usability and information architecture, Michelle decided to work for her own firm. Until the end of 2003, Michelle and her husband Tytus Mapp were owners in InkSpot Media, Inc. (http://www.inkspotmedia.com/)

“Currently, we own our technology firm Bishop Communications (http://www.bishopcommunications.com/). We just started this company in January 2004. We provide web design and web application development (primarily ASP/.NET and PHP), along with a variety of training/consulting services. Most of our clients are associations, but we also work for George Washington University and several companies.”

Michelle’s work offers her the ability to use many of the skills she has in a variety of ways.

“One project that I currently enjoy is a contract with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Basically I help provide information design (print and web) training to state governments so that they can improve the usability of their food stamp applications. It is an interesting, unique and rewarding project. We are a partner on this project with Kleimann Communication Group.”

Michelle has already begun work on her top professional goal. ”While I love development, I see a future path with more of a focus on management consulting and training. I am starting my MBA program at the University of Warwick (UK based) and I am hoping to develop my business, training and team building skills in order to work with technology firms to improve performance and communication.”

Despite the time constraints of pursuing an MBA and working for her own company, Michelle still finds time to give back to the community.

“Right now I have a somewhat hobby that I hope may turn into more of a career at some point. I work part-time as a Ropes Course (http://www.geneseevalley.org) facilitator with both kids and corporate groups. A ropes course or challenge course, provides a variety of activities design to work on skills and concepts such as team building, communication, trust, etc. It is great fun.”

“I think it is always wonderful to see people push themselves to try new things and to move outside of their "comfort zone" in order to learn and grow.”