Michelle Icard has worked with parents, children, and teachers for more than 20 years, creating curriculum, books, and programs that help them better understand and navigate early adolescence.

Michelle is the author of three books on this subject. Her latest, 8 Setbacks That Can Make a Child a Success: What to Do and What to Say to Turn “Failures’ into Character-Building Moments (2023) is an invaluable playbook for anxious parents everywhere, ensuring that a child’s mistakes or rebellions don’t become the headline of their childhood, but instead become a launch pad to a better future.

She has two young adult children who mostly live elsewhere these days, which leaves lots of time for walking her dogs, binging shows, and puzzling (crossword and jigsaw) with her husband in Charlotte, North Carolina.