Michelle Angelo Dantas Rocha

Michelle Dantas Rocha is a current Ph.D. student in Technology in Education and Second Language Acquisition (TESLA) at the University of South Florida (USF). In 2016, she received her master?s degree in Latin America and Caribbean Studies with an emphasis in Sociology and Human Rights at USF. Michelle earned her B.A. in Communications with a specialization in Journalism (2007) at the Catholic University of Brasilia (UCB), Brazil.Michelle performs research in social justice issues such as human trafficking, gender, racial and ethnic studies, femicide, immigration, and educational inequality among low-income immigrants and people of color in the United States and in Latin America. She also conducted research on women in the Brazilian media. Michelle is also passionate about marketing, entrepreneurship, leadership, and Brazilian popular culture. Michelle also works with women and refugees through education, culture, and multimedia-based learning. In 2018, Michelle received the Scholarship, Leadership, and Service honors recognition by The National Society of Collegiate Scholars (NSCS) and the recognition of outstanding volunteer teacher assistant from CARIBE Refugee Program, in Florida. Michelle studied Human Rights at the International Association of Studies (AIE), in Buenos Aires (Argentina). She also conducted field research about Argentine women?s rights and femicide. She concluded an internship in Spanish with Las Madres de la Plaza de Mayo - an association of Argentine mothers whose children were victims of terrorism and violence during the Dictatorship period in Latin America. Michelle has previously held several academic research assistantships in Brazil and the United States. She had experience in conducting ethnographic research, supporting, and interviewing in Portuguese and English communities in vulnerabilities such as women victims of gender-based violence and exploitation, human trafficking survivors, and refugees from varied ethnicities. Michelle worked with American service providers, non-governmental organizations, human rights activists, educators, policymakers, and law enforcement that work directly with trafficking victims and refugees. She previously held positions in higher education and coordinated educational workshops and events for educators, international and low-income students from Hillsborough County Public Schools, in Tampa, Florida. Michelle is a certified personal trainer and sports nutrition by the International Sports Sciences Association (ISSA). Her passion for community empowerment through nutrition and exercising motivated Michelle to help coordinate the planning process and implementation of food packets for food insecure college students in the Tampa Bay area. Furthermore, Michelle also organized women and leadership workshops aiming to empower low-income college youth and adults. In Brazil, Michelle gained extensive experience in writing grant educational projects. She also produced several educational and cultural workshops and conferences for diplomats, artists, educators from public schools, and for more than 10,000 disadvantaged Brazilian students. Michelle was a TV producer and reporter for TV Brazil and worked with public relations, cultural production, and marketing in Brasilia. Michelle also participated and presented in conferences in several states of the United States. She is an active member of several national and international societies such as the Latin American Association (LASA) and TESOL International Association.