Michelle Castillo is an interdisciplinary artist, writer, educator, cultural worker, entrepreneur, and community organizer living on Cahuilla land AKA Palm Springs, CA. Castillo is the Founding Director of the arts + wellness collaborative/non-profit Wyld Womxn, the Chef-Owner behind Lola's Kusina, and a Co-founder of Bayanihan Desert.

Michelle utilizes the arts as a tool to cultivate, bridge, and create generative communities through relationship-building. Her body of work includes musical performance, literary arts, culinary arts, experimental sound, and socially engaged installations that explore communal experiences, alternative economies, labor, the nuances of home, identity, and what it means to belong.

She has designed multidisciplinary arts and cultural programming for non-profits, hotels, cities, and museums, collaborating with brands like the Ace Hotel & Whole Foods Market. Her one-of-a-kind happenings have taken place inside studio apartments, coffee shops, malls, supermarkets, and in the middle of the desert.

Castillo's writing and poetry are published in USA Today, The Desert Sun, Coachella Magazine, East Jasmine Review, DESERT Magazine, alternative weeklies & DIY zines.

Recognized as one of six community leaders in Palm Springs Life's 'Women Who Lead' in 2018, Michelle is celebrated for her contributions to the community and her roles in business and life.

Michelle's work has been highlighted in NBC News, VoyageLA Magazine, Feminist Magazine Podcast on KPFK (90.7 FM), Palm Springs Life Magazine, The Palm Springs Post, and others.

Castillo has won and received grants and funding from California Arts Council, Caravanserai Project, The California Dream Fund , City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, and Center for Cultural Innovation.

She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of California, Riverside. Currently, Castillo is at work on her first book about growing up in the desert in an intergenerational immigrant household.