Michele Byrd-McPhee

Michele is the creator of the Ladies of Hip-Hop Festival, an annual five-day celebratory and educational festival of women in hip-hop culture. The goal of the festival is to increase and sustain a positive presence of women in the hip-hop community. An elite group of female instructors, artist, and businesswomen serve as positive role models and lead workshops in dance and business. The festival aims to remove barriers and build bridges for women in hip-hop. The festival creates a space for women to share, discuss, and pursue their interpretations of hip-hop dance, music and art.

Michele is a hip-hop dancer first and foremost. She creates hip-hop dance for women. Michele's roles have evolved into director, organizer and activist, but ultimately it all comes back her art. As a dancer she began to miss a sense of sisterhood and female representation in the male dominated hip-hop culture. She responded by organizing a group of female "street dancers" and invited them to join her company of women dedicated to creating Hip-Hop dance works, called Montäzh. Michele is a pioneer for women in hip-hop and is reshaping the field. Montäzh events and full-length shows are known around the country. Michele created The Ladies of Hip-Hop Festival, a Philadelphia festival that focuses on women and their relationship to hip-hop culture. She is dedicated to giving women the tools and the support to change the economy and workplace of hip-hop dance culture, so that women can have powerful, influential, well-paid roles as directors, choreographers, and leaders in the field.