It all began with a basic omelet recipe from a magazine.

In fifth grade, Michelle taught herself how to make an omelet, a dish she she can still excels at to this day, and launched her interest in cooking. While her mother had always encouraged all four Linn kids to help in the kitchen, or cook for themselves, making the omelet remains a defining moment in Michelle’s life.
When Michelle began running competitively when she was twelve, she also found she wanted to make recipes more healthful. During high school (in the late 1980s) she attempted to make pizza with wheat flour, an ingredient that was not as readily available or used as it is today. She continued experimenting with the little knowledge available, like using applesauce in place of sugar in oatmeal cookies, while fine-tuning recipes including her paper bag pizza.

But it was several years ago that Michelle realized she could change a recipe and make it work without much effort, as if all those years of experimenting paid off.

Cooking, and feeding others good meals, gathering people around her dining room table, is a form of creativity for Michelle. She uses it as a break from her work motivating people through speaking and writing.

For nearly twenty years she has traveled the world speaking and writing about suicide loss, about preventing suicide, and inspiring people after loss and change in their lives. She has written eight books, some about suicide, some fiction, and has a doctorate in family studies from the University of New Mexico.

However, all in all this, she never stopped cooking or working to maintain a healthy lifestyle even as challenges surrounded her. Now she is sharing her knowledge of a healthy lifestyle as Chef Chelle, the merging of food with our lives in the Food & Wisdom Diary.