Media Kit

Michelle Ptacek is an educator, writer, and presenter focused on cognitive diversity. She has worked with over one thousand students worldwide, and provided consulting for clients from Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, and Australia. Closer to home, her primary focus is facilitating M-F online homerooms for Davidson Young Scholars in the US and Canada. Michelle has a B.A. in special education, M.A with a focus on gifted education, and is currently working on her doctorate in cognitive diversity. From young scholars to professional organizations, Michelle uses foundational principles in psychology to help people gain awareness about themselves and their teams. She provides workshops, lectures, and what she calls “keynote concerts,” bringing her lessons to life using examples from biographies. She continually churns out songs about inventors, artists, authors, entrepreneurs, explorers, and more while referencing her research. In her free time, Michelle blogs about the “First Creative Dollar” of figures such as Frederick Douglass, Louisa May Alcott, Rachel Carson, and Bob Ross. In a variety of ways throughout her career, she has worked enthusiastically to bring useful ideas from the world of gifted education to the broader public. Likewise, she strives to connect the psychological science of expertise and concepts from organizational psychology to the practice of gifted education. Michelle lives in the Midwest with her husband and two children.

Michelle Ptacek explores the history of creativity using biographies fused with music and storytelling. She specializes in taking true stories from the past and presenting them in an engaging way with folk music. She performs her one of a kind keynote concerts at conferences, private events, corporate trainings, and schools.

Her original music is one part of a larger project focused on innovation throughout history, distilling research into songs, classes, and written articles about inventors, artists, authors, entrepreneurs, explorers, and more. Michelle owns an online education business and loves teaching in a variety of mediums about topics relevant to curious and passionate learners.

Show highlights from the past include the Des Moines Art Festival, Austin Artsworks Festival, La Crosse’s Great River Folk Festival, Minneapolis’ Lake Harriet BandShell, Madison’s Art Fair on the Square, and Wausau’s Festival of the Arts – among hundreds of other performances.

Michelle has shared the stage with musicians such as Pieta Brown, Bo Ramsey, and Lissie, and opened for musicians as diverse as Chris Koza, Koo Koo Kangaroo, and Joe and Vicki Price. She lives in the Midwest with her husband and two children.

Michelle Ptacek explores the history of creativity and the history of cognitive diversity using biographies fused with music and storytelling. She specializes in taking true stories from the past and presenting them in an engaging way with folk music. She performs her one of a kind keynote concerts at conferences, private events, corporate trainings, and schools.

Her original music is one part of a larger project focused on innovation throughout history, distilling research into songs, classes, and written articles about inventors, artists, authors, entrepreneurs, explorers, and more. Michelle owns an online education business and loves teaching in a variety of mediums about topics relevant to curious and passionate learners.

Growing up on a century farm near Effigy Mounds National Monument in northeast Iowa, Michelle was always interested in reading and writing as a way to explore the world. She received her first guitar on her 17th birthday and soon began writing songs. She recorded her first album two years later and then began performing locally.

NE Iowa arts monthly Tapestry Magazine described her debut album "Jump Roping in Chains” as “A fearless collection of songs that strips away any pretension…” A local newspaper noted at the time, "Her voice comes out confident and reassured, her songs possess tightly woven lyrics and her guitar playing ability is inspiring and mature." This warm local response, coupled with her relentless performance schedule, broadened her horizons and introduced her to many new friends, supporters, and collaborators. Early in her career, Michelle was asked by Emmy-nominated writer/director Becky Smith to perform as a “guitar body double” in the movie “16 to Life.”

Her second album, Hospital Radio, was released with the assistance of area musicians Adam Ptacek and Matt Olson (Rearview Mirror). This musical partnership would help drive her vision and sound forward in the future. After spending a year in Austin, TX she returned with an album titled “Pre-Echoes for the Postmodern,” and was in the position to devote herself to performing and recording music full-time. A radio producer in Wisconsin proclaimed that “Michelle models growth and insight through her music; passing on lessons of development and transformation.”

“Sundial Tree” was written exclusively in Texas and was the first record to feature Ptacek and Olson—now dubbed “The Bad Passengers”—backing her on nearly every song. With her music and vision further developed, Inspire(d) Magazine publisher Benji Nichols declared her “a regional favorite amongst music enthusiasts.” Michelle then created a well-received fifth album (titled “Without an Outline”), took a long break from recording, and left full-time musicianship to create other businesses as a freelance writer and online educator. Throughout this dormant era, she continued to write educational songs at a prolific rate. She now has over 40 songs broken into three albums - The Inventors, The Explorers, and The Interrupted. This collection of songs (focused on biographies and cognitive diversity) is an evolving writing exercise she hopes to record soon.

Show highlights from her past include the Des Moines Art Festival, Austin Artsworks Festival, La Crosse’s Great River Folk Festival, Minneapolis’ Lake Harriet BandShell, Madison’s Art Fair on the Square, and Wausau’s Festival of the Arts – among hundreds of other performances.

Michelle has shared the stage with musicians such as Pieta Brown, Bo Ramsey, and Lissie, and opened for musicians as diverse as Chris Koza, Koo Koo Kangaroo, and Joe and Vicki Price.

She lives in the Midwest with her husband and two children.