Michelle Bailey Bio

There are some things that are so obvious that when they finally happen, you wonder why you couldn’t see them coming all along. Michelle’s story is kind of like that.

Michelle’s mom and dad met while he was stationed on a US Air Force base in Korea. She was born there on the base, but then moved to the States when she was about a year old. Michelle grew up in a multicultural home, but she undoubtedly grew up with the American Dream. She knew she wanted success and she took steps to achieve it.

But before she went off to college, Michelle spent a few weeks at an orphanage in Romania. She learned firsthand of the desperation of kids who have no people or resources to sufficiently care for them well. It was a defining experience to see faces and know names to associate with these all too common global struggles.

This transformation continued when she entered Baylor University in the fall as an International Business major. During her freshman year, God opened up her eyes to the love he has for all of the world and the fact that his dreams for her were global and not uniquely American. She began to see the way her whole life–her multicultural background, her love for language learning, her education in international business–were all a preparation for a career in cross-cultural commerce and compassion.

As she began to learn about BSSL, she experienced a strong attraction to what was happening here. Iraq is experiencing a once-in-a-lifetime transition, and she saw a great window of opportunity to use her skills to help shape the emerging societal transformation.

Michelle is putting her B-School skills to good use, serving as BSSL’s finance director. She is a fantastic administrator and helps to keep our accounts and operations in good order.

Michelle loves the fact she’s not just working to help one person at a time, but also building back into the local economy and partnering with other local organizations to make a systemic difference here. She’s not content with anything less than a chain reaction of change in Iraq.