Unleash Your Inner Drive with Michelle Denault

In July 2023, I decided to leave my position at the local rape crisis center and venture out on my own to speak my truth. The month before that decision, I had been “discovered,” so to speak, while sharing my story at the Illinois Association of School Resource Officers Conference in Bloomington, Illinois. The most amusing part of being “discovered” was my conversation with my husband, who is also a superintendent, as I packed to head to that conference. These were his words to me:

“Don’t be upset if you don’t get many new gigs from this. The resource officers can suggest it to their administrators, but it may not go anywhere.”

When I stepped on that stage, I had no expectations. When I stepped on that stage, it was the biggest one I had been on, with the largest crowd I’d ever seen. When I stepped off that stage, my world began to change in the best way possible.

I was met by Officer Flood, Board President of the Illinois School Resource Officers Association. He told me that every “suit” in the room wanted my information, and a man named Mo Canady, Executive Director of the National Association of School Resource Officers, had asked him how he had never heard of me. Next, I was at a table surrounded by compliments, well-wishes, offers, and even tears. Paul Timm was at that table, a school safety advocate, expert, true gentleman, and now a very good friend. These were his words to me:

“You remind us of Michele Gay. You have such a powerful story and a great delivery.”

At that moment, I didn’t know who Michele Gay was, but I would soon find out.

Michele Gay is the mother of Josephine Gay, one of the 26 beautiful souls who were lost at Sandy Hook on December 14, 2012. She is also the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Safe and Sound Schools, a national nonprofit safety advocacy and resource center whose mission is to support school crisis prevention, response, and recovery and to protect every school and every student every day. The Safe and Sound team and speakers are all wonderful humans passionate about fulfilling that mission. If I am completely honest, I was not only in awe but slightly intimidated by her poise and power the first time I met her. She commands a room, and she inspires change with grace and kindness. As her team says, she is a “ray of sunshine” in this world.

It is my honor to announce to you that I have become part of the Safe and Sound team as a member of their Speakers Bureau. I couldn’t be more grateful for this opportunity to be part of something so amazing and to have the chance to grow my message far beyond what I had even dreamed.

I want to thank everyone who thus far has believed in me and supported me. I want to thank those who used to watch me make videos in my basement with a dry-erase board, to those who helped me get out of that basement, to those who gave me that first chance to speak in schools, to those who let me in and to those who have been pushing me forward ever since. I am so incredibly blessed to have met so many phenomenal humans who have the safety of our children at the forefront of their lives. My mission remains the same: to speak in every institution that will have me—to adults and students alike—spreading the message about grooming, abuse, healing, and hope for a better tomorrow.

If you are interested in booking me for an upcoming engagement, please contact Safe and Sound Schools’ Speaking Coordinator, Brian Regan (brian@kirklandproductions.com), or fill out that second contact box on my Home page!