Making a difference
This inspired her to start the Good Start Foundation a year ago to help students who do so much for their community but don’t have the financial security and means to study further.
“Additionally, I started it to make sure that doesn’t happen to anyone else,” Michelle says.
It was 2018 when she moved from Fiji to New Zealand with her family.
In the same year she founded her first company, Kiwi Essence, with friends when she was attending Edgewater College in 2019. She carried it forward into 2020.
Kiwi Essence won multiple awards – the Excellence in Product Design for the East Auckland Region and Excellence in Perseverance Category in the Yes East Auckland Region Awards.
She also assisted in the company’s inclusion in the EA Region Top 8 Yes Companies list.
And she was head girl at Edgewater College in 2020.
However, despite her accomplishments, her applications to multiple scholarships were rejected.
Read more here.