Michelle Mobley
Meet Michelle Mobley, the woman behind IWP’s Lisbon Happy Hour, with a love of bringing people together and a story full of unexpected turns.
(by Tess Robeson)
“Take chances. If you really want to do something, try it.”
Michelle Mobley is the sociable event captain of the Lisbon Happy Hour. She took over the helm of the popular event in August this year. “I enjoy organizing events, and have a passion for entertaining,” said Michelle. It sounds like the role is a perfect fit for her.
Michelle is from Chicago. She majored in International Business and Spanish in college, which included staying in Costa Rica for a semester to help with her Spanish language skills. Right out of college, she “fell into a very specialized area of insurance, political risk insurance.” Michelle was considered “an ‘expert’ in political risk at the age of 24,” negotiating million-dollar contracts on behalf of her multinational clients.
Michelle married her college sweetheart. “In our late 20s, my husband Clint and I quit our jobs to move to Arizona so I could attend grad school full-time at the Thunderbird School of Global Management,” said Michelle. She studied in Lisbon and Madrid as part of the program. “After I completed my MBA, I was recruited by a global leader in security risk management specializing in kidnap and ransom response.”
With a successful business career, Michelle said her friends and family “were shocked when I quit my job to stay home with our firstborn.” Michelle had a son, followed by a daughter four years later. “I loved being a stay-at-home mom! I was active in our kids’ lives.”
Michelle and her husband, who are into cooking, wrote two novelty cookbooks. Both avid golfers, the couple aimed to market their cookbooks to golf enthusiasts. They formed a company and sold the cookbooks to golf courses and, at the advice of a manager at a golf casino, to casinos across the country for 10 years. Their first book, I’d Rather Be Grilling! A Golfer’s Cookbook, included recipes like “Hole-in-One” Calamari and “What a Shank” Steak.
When Michelle tried to return to the workplace after her kids were of school age, she found that companies were hesitant to hire women with career gaps on their resumes. Not one to be deterred, Michelle started her own recruiting firm specializing in the placement of highly educated professional women who had taken planned breaks from their careers.
After their youngest child graduated from high school, Michelle and Clint moved to Tampa, Florida, for what they called “pretirement.” Michelle started a new career in real estate. She had navigated corporate workplaces, founded two companies, and successfully returned to the workplace after an extended absence. “Take chances,” advised Michelle, reflecting on her life’s journey. “If you really want to do something, try it.”
Added Michelle, “We’ve made six cross-country moves in our life together,” noting that they had lived in San Diego, Phoenix, Washington, D.C., Chicago (twice), and Tampa.
From Florida the Mobleys moved to Portugal and retired. Their son, now 27, is in Milwaukee, but their daughter, 23, lives with them in Lisbon. She’s in school, studying for a master’s degree in Psychology.
“We are enjoying retirement more than we ever thought we would,” said Michelle. “We’ve met so many fun, interesting people here in Lisbon, and we’re making plans to visit all the places we never had time to travel to when we were working and raising our family.” Michelle and Clint will be celebrating their 30th anniversary in Italy next month.