Michele Olinde is a mixed media artist based out of West Monroe, Louisiana. She majored in advertising design, illustration and drawing. She was formally trained in a variety of art media from Northeast Louisiana University. Shortly after graduating as a fine arts major, she returned to N.L.U. receiving a master's degree in education with a minor in history. For approximately 30 plus years, her focus has been on achieving a quality art program at the high school level in Northeast Louisiana. The majority of those years were spent teaching gifted art to 9th-12th grade level students. Many of her students received top honors and awards in local and regional art contests. Her personal work has been displayed in various art exhibits in Northeast Louisiana, competitions throughout the state as well as internationally with the Delta Kappa Gamma online art gallery. Olinde was chosen 4 times for her designs in the prestigious community/business heron contests sponsored by a local ULM professor. Her favorite subject matter includes mixed media portraits, whimsical ink drawings and romantic landscapes with a loose, impressionistic style. Recently, she retired from teaching and is concentrating on her work with Pelican publishing. In April, she completed illustrations for author Rickey Pittman's next best seller titled "What Do You Want To Be? A B C" . This children's book will be available soon.