Member Spotlight

Member Spotlight:

Michele Miller Houck

Look up the word “energy” in the dictionary and chances are you will find Michele Miller Houck (pictured center, above, with candidates endorsed in the 2009 Charlotte City Council race and NWPC board member Leigh Rose). She acquired a love for politics at an early age; her father’s involvement in and respect for local and regional politics inspired her current work as President of NC-NWPC to involve women in the same way. Over the past year, Michele has gone above and beyond her duties as President of the North Carolina Women’s Political Caucus to organize her membership resulting in an extremely successful and productive year. A master of online communication in an age when social media is the new buzz word but not always used to the best effect, Ms. Houck knows how it’s done. She opened a Facebook account for the NC caucus which has proven to be the perfect communication tool to galvanize membership into action. Most recently they met with the Executive Director of Senator Kay Hagan’s state senatorial office to advocate for the Paycheck Fairness Bill.

Both Senator Kay Hagan and Governor Bev Perdue (North Carolina’s first female governor) owe a large part of their respective electoral victories to the voting turnout in North Carolina, as there was a 12% gender gap on voting day. No doubt the outstanding efforts of the North Carolina Caucus under Michele’s leadership contributed greatly to this outcome.

Recently the Caucus endorsed four Candidates for City Council in Charlotte – Jane Bott – Childrey, Patsy Kinsey, Nancy Carter and Susan Burgess. Michele is actively recruiting new local caucuses in North Carolina – four strong potentials are in Wilmington , Lenore, Hickory, and Monroe.

Michele has two absolutely adorable daughters, Sarah, 14 and Meg, 10. Her husband Charles, “a wonderful feminist,” by her account is a professor of International Studies at University of North Carolina in Charlotte.