Staff Spotlight: Michele Gulley

Jul 11, 2023

Michele Gulley, BH WELL’s Multimedia Support Specialist, received her Bachelors of Arts in Media Arts and Studies from the University of Kentucky (UK). She started her career at the Media Depot in William T. Young library on UK’s campus. There, she educated and coached students in video production. Michele was later introduced to the UK College of Nursing through an internship opportunity, which eventually led to her working with BH WELL.

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Over the past 3 years at BH WELL, Michele has creatively influenced a wide range of projects. She oversees the BH WELL website and facilitates all the media our team produces. Michele uses her expertise in design, animation, and media to create all of BH WELL’s videos and graphics. Her expertise in fleshing out ideas into fully developed, high-quality products, supports every part of BH WELL’s mission.

BH WELL Executive Director Dr. Zim Okoli shares, “Michele brings an innovative and creative dimension to our BH WELL research. From lending her expertise in graphic design to creating engaging animated productions, Michele quietly, and behind the scenes, brings our research to life. Her work has been an indispensable part of translating science into modalities that are easily apprehended and accessible by the public at large. Michele’s unique expertise really makes the BH WELL work engaging and exciting!”

When you were young, what did you want to be when you grew up?

When I was younger and people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would tell them "I want to be a maker. I want to be someone who makes things." In another lifetime, I suspect I would have been an inventor. But in this lifetime, I find math frustrating. So, I became an artist instead. I am pretty casual about keeping track of all the art I make but my website includes examples of a lot of my recent work.

What path did you take to be where you are now?

My journey started in high school when I heard there was a half-day technical school that recently opened. I realized if I signed up, I would get to leave school for part of the day and go to a newer and nicer facility. So, I signed up. The technical school offered a course called media arts. I had no idea what media arts was but I knew arts was in the name. So, I signed up. It turns out I liked media arts and was pretty good at it. When high school ended, I decided to keep studying it.

What does being part of BH WELL mean to you?

With my specific position, being part of the BH WELL team means I get to take complex ideas and break them down into their basic components in search of what I call "the heart of a piece." My job is about taking complicated research and making it easy to understand and engaging for the audience. To do that, I need to understand the core of an idea and why it matters.

If you had a 3-day weekend, how would you spend it?

Oh man! In three days, I could get up to a lot of mischief! I’d probably start with a little sword fighting. I’m a co-instructor for a local martial arts group that practices HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts). And yes, we do practice with actual metal swords! Longswords are our main weapon but we occasionally practice with other weapons. Sword and buckler is my favorite. After sword fighting, I’d either play with my dog or guitar. I love three day weekends. So much time for adventure and resting afterward.

Thank you for all you do to support BH WELL, Michele!