Michelle Candland was born in Los Angeles, California and was the older sister to three brothers. By the time she was three she had already learned the painful consequence of upsetting her alcoholic father, had witnessed her mother learning to please as a survival mechanism and was well on her way to accepting abuse as a normal way of life.
Her parents divorced when she was six and at the age of eight, Michelle’s responsibilities included cleaning the house, getting dinner started and tending her younger brothers when her mother was at work. She smiles when she says, “I feel like I’ve been a Mom all my life!” The negative lessons she learned as a child would guide her down numerous paths cluttered with missteps, poor decisions and misguided loyalties but the positive ones would give her the strength to never give up, the belief in a power greater than herself and the desire to make a difference in the world.
Michelle transformed her relationship inadequacies into an enviable marriage to her best friend, and her numerous short-term job experiences blossomed into a rewarding successful 20-year-career in commercial real estate. Her community involvement with Rotary International has provided her with a robust pool of opportunities to give back to the community and reap the blessings of service above self.
On a personal note, the light of Michelle’s life is her family. She marvels at the fact that although she and her husband Art have blended six children from very different backgrounds, they all get along beautifully and on the rare occasion they are all together at once, the room is filled with laughter. The children are all married and the grandchildren number in the double digits.
Anyone who knows Michelle knows she finds great peace and contentment in her garden. She tends to her flowers and cares for her koi like they were additional family members.
Michelle is looking forward to sharing her insights and observations in her blog as well as in additional books in the future.
