Certified Listener Poet,
Cohort 13 Winter 2026
In addition to being a Certified Listener Poet and Cohort 13 alum, Michelle Petties is a TEDx speaker, writer, facilitator of healing-through-reading-writing-and-storytelling workshops, and food addiction recovery expert.
She is the author of the award-winning memoir, Leaving Large: The Stories of a Food Addict, a deeply personal exploration of food addiction, emotion, trauma, culture, and healing. Her TEDx Talk, A Food Addict’s Lesson: Confusion. Clarity. Recovery. has inspired audiences globally. She is a regular contributor to Sisters from AARP and the Baltimore Times, where she shares insights about the relationship between our personal narratives and our beliefs about food. She works as an Underwriting Strategist for Maryland Public Television.