#WhatsYourStoryUMassD CAS: Michaella Lesieur '18 and MA'21, radiates positivity and energy.

Michaella Lesieur ’18 and MA’21, radiates positivity and energy. “I see it. I dream it. I make it happen,” she laughed.

The Westport, MA, resident knew that UMass Dartmouth was her right choice for transfer. “It felt like my home away from home the moment I walked on campus,” she said. “All the resources and the community feel made me know this was the place for me.”

Michaella studied English, writing, rhetoric, and communications and got so much out of it she went right into the master’s degree program. “In high school, I fell in love with communications,” she said. “I could have gone anywhere, but here the faculty, the students, they embrace you. It’s a team effort.” She joined The Torch student newspaper and the dance team and used the Tutoring Center and made ample use of faculty office hours. “My professors were so generous in giving me time and direction,” she said. She had such a positive experience she worked as a peer mentor for incoming transfer students at the CAS-STAR Center.

Her family has had more than its share of medical issues, but rather than stew about it she set out to do something about it. Her mom has a rare white blood cell disease called Hypereosinophilic Syndrome, or HES. As a rare disease there is not much research, but Michaella took on fundraising and event planning to raise awareness and funds for its organization, The American Partnership for Eosinophilic Disorders, raising more than $25,000. She’s in regular contact with the executive director and development staff, she creates materials for them. Her latest coup? A children’s book, called Luna Lung Meets HES, which she has published and has sold more than 50 copies. She continues to raise money for HES in honor of her mom.

Currently she works for the UMass Dartmouth Dining Services on a grant program with four other colleges. She is the Intern Marketing Manager for the Kendall grant, which promotes use of kelp and underutilized fish as a sustainable food source. She writes and appears in videos for social media.

And, in her spare time, she models for Donahue Modeling and Talent, and has created a fundraiser runway show, Fashion for a Cause, for this spring 2020 to raise funds for a women’s shelter.

Long term, she hopes to expand on her foray into design (she created a handbag with Kent Stetson Design called “A Wing and a Prayer” in honor of her mother) as well as more work as an on- camera personality. Or, she says, she may become an elementary school teacher.

Whatever she does (and she may do it all,) she follows her heart. “One foot in front of the other,” she said. “I take it day by day.”