Michelle Procise

SUCCESS STORY

Featuring: Michelle Procise

GREETINGS MICHELLE

The 321 is lucky to have this gem of a lady who has been a resident here for the last 36 years…because without her, we wouldn’t have our iconic ‘Appliance Direct lady’! That’s right, Michelle Procise has been the green and yellow suit wearing, sometimes even knee brace wearing, If You Didn’t Buy Direct, You Paid Too Much lady! Not only is she the voice we hear on TV and the radio, but she’s also well known within Calvary Chapel Academy as a beloved teacher, lunch lady, and before/after care education.

Born in Leesburg, Georgia (attending the same high school as Luke Bryan 😉), she married her husband Dave in 1986 and together during Christmas of 1987, they moved to Melbourne, FL. They lived in a travel trailer for the first 3 years while Dave worked with his dad at TV56 as a production manager. They were able to eventually upgrade to a house and have lived in West Melbourne ever since.

Michelle didn’t have her eyes set on commercial stardom, instead she wanted to be a teacher from as far back as the 4th grade when her teacher asked, what do you want to be when you grow up? As we all know, life happens, and teaching didn’t come right away for Michelle.

When she first arrived in the 321, she worked for Winn Dixie and sold above ground pools for Recreational Factory Warehouse and dabbled in data entry. They started a family, and she became a stay-at-home mom to her 2 girls and babysat for others. All while in full mom mode, she decided to finally start taking classes for her teaching degree, ONE class at a time! This was before online classes were a thing, so she had to actually ATTEND night class, one class per semester. On the weekends, she worked at the popular Metro Movie Theater where she served, started the movies and yep, you guessed it, old school, even learned how to splice the movie reels together! She eventually earned a teaching certificate and was hired at Calvary Chapel (after 3 years of applying) as a teacher aide and had her first preschool class in 2006.

In 2000, she started doing commercials! Dave was then head of the production department at Time Warner and was asked by the sales department to help with an Appliance Direct commercial. After visiting Dave at work a few times and getting to know the staff, the media sales rep at Appliance Direct asked her to be in the commercial. She remembers him telling her, if you’re going to do it, be sure you’re all in because it’s going to get BIG! Her first thought was, we live in Melbourne, how big can it get?? Well, if you’re a local you KNOW just how big it got!

She recalls her first time being recognized as the Appliance Direct lady in the mall while shopping with her then 8-year-old daughter. They were standing in line at JCPenney waiting to be checked out when an older guy ahead of them kept staring and then eventually started asking questions, odd at first, but then the light bulb went off and when he finally got it figured out…he let everyone around them know she was indeed ‘that lady on TV’! Before she knew it, she had a line of people surrounding them asking for her signature, she ended up signing their sales receipts!

From there, her fame grew pretty quick and even stretched to Universal Studios where the Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure did a skit with her character in it! Her and Dave went to the show to watch, and she wasn’t sure who was more nervous, her watching herself being portrayed on stage or those who were portraying her and knew she was in the audience.

Her reach didn’t stop there, it made it to the music industry when Bubba Whoop Ass even wrote a song about her that’s available on iTunes!

There’s also a meme referencing her as Terri Irwin, and even a Barbie Doll that’s dressed in green and yellow plaid!

But in her words, “you know you made it big, when people start dressing up as you for Halloween!”

Through it all, Michelle strives to keep it as real as she can and stays as grounded as she can. She doesn’t want to change who she is. And during this crazy ride of commercial success, she eventually earned her bachelor’s degree in education just this past year!! She finally was able to ramp up her class taking and completed her education which she had set out to do so many years ago…23 years later, she officially has a degree she can be proud of!

ENJOY MICHELLE’S RESPONSES

TOP 3 BUSINESS TIPS

Always Stay Grounded
Stay the person that you are. You’ll get more out of experiences than you ever expected if you stay who you are and keep it real. Definitely have fun along the way…good or the bad…and hope for the best! Always stay positive!

Just Do It
If you’re thinking about being on TV or any stage, just do it!! If it goes good, great. If not, at least you tried and you won’t be sitting there 30 years later saying you wish you did!

Stay A Kid At Heart
In teaching, every day is different. Kids are going to be kids and you have to stay a kid at heart. Kids are different now than when I was a kid or even when my own kids were kids. Learn to figure them out. Just like doing commercials, you have to have fun along the way.

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT

Delegating… I have a tendency to wear too many hats, one thing I need to learn to do is delegate and share the wealth! 🤣

INSPIRATION BEHIND THE JOURNEY

My daughters… knowing they watch and learn from Dave and I, I want to show them, so what it took me 23 years, one class at a time, to finally get a bachelor’s degree! I can look back and say, I did it! I want them to see what their mom has accomplished, and I want them to know they can do it as well, no matter how long it takes!

FINAL THOUGHTS

If there’s anything you want to do, you have to at least try to do it! If you like it, continue to do it. If you don’t, do something else, but hey, at least you tried! If I didn’t do those commercials, we wouldn’t have “that Appliance Direct Lady”!

THANK YOU MICHELLE

Thank you, Michelle, for giving my readers insight on how you found success, when you least expected it, all while continuing to pursue your teaching ambitions. Readers, I hope from Michelle you have learned how to STAY GROUNDED, despite this crazy life we have and when your faced with a question of should I… JUST DO IT, who knows where it can lead you and most importantly, through the good and the bad, STAY POSITIVE!

TOP 10

Washing Machines

According to Good Housekeeping the following are the top 10 Washing Machines:

1. GE Appliances Ultra Fresh Front Load Washer with Odor Block

2. Maytag Top Load 5.2 cu ft Capacity Agitator Washer

3. GE Profile Top Load Washing Machine

4. Whirlpool Top Load Washer with 2-in-1 Removable Agitator

5. Maytag Pet Pro Top Load Washing Machine

6. Speed Queen Top Load TR7 Washing Machine

7. GE Profile Washer with Smarter Wash Technology

8. LG 5.8 cu ft Mega Capacity Washer

9. Samsung Smart Dial Front Load Washer with Opti-Wash

10. LG Wash Tower Laundry Center

ATHLETES

Don’t Air Your Dirty Laundry

In the day and age of social media, athletes must be cognizant of what they post on their favorite digital platforms and pay attention to what others may be linking them to in their post as well.

Recruiters monitor your accounts! If you’re looking to play at the next level, you must be mindful of your social media presence. If you are posting and/or involved in anything that doesn’t align to school standards or just ethics in general, this could be the determining factor if you are awarded a scholarship or get to keep the one you already have.

Think before you post! Think to yourself, as a student athlete, is this ok for my coach and teammates to see? Am I portraying myself in any kind of derogatory way? Am I in a questionable situation? If you have to think about it too hard, then avoid the post! It’s better to be safe than sorry!

Although you may feel something needs to be put on your platforms, consider the long-term effects of it? Is that one space in time worth the repercussions that could last a lifetime? 

Think twice and don’t air your dirty laundry!

PARENTS

Teach Your Kids to Do Laundry

I’ll just do it, they don’t do it right, they take too long, or they’re too busy to do their own laundry! No, No, NO! Teach your kids how to do the laundry!!

In teaching your kids, you’re not being a bad or strict parent, you’re being a PARENT! You’re teaching them a much-needed life skill, which can be started at an early age!

Now that I have two in college, I hear from them, so and so doesn’t even know how to turn the washer on, or they don’t fold clothes, or they don’t even know where the detergent goes and so on! Prepare your kids! You’re not always going to be there to do simple life skills for them!

Laundry is one of the easiest and can be a FUN chore! I remember playing the ‘laundry game’ with my brother when we were little! My mom would fold all the clothes and have them in piles, then she would call out…’it’s time for the laundry game’! The game was, we would run in grab a pile and we would have to put it up and whoever got done first…won! It was just a fun competition she created all while getting the laundry done!

The laundry game can be started at a super young age! Make it fun! Start small and add to those piles! If there’s only one child, play the game with them!

As they get older, add more responsibility to the chore, teach them how to sort clothes. Let them switch clothes from the washer to the dryer. Teach them how to fold. By the time they are in middle school, if not before, they should be MORE THAN CAPABLE of starting a load of laundry and following through until it’s all put away!

But my child is SOOO busy, they have hard classes, they’re in sports, they have lots of extracurriculars and homework…SO WHAT!!!! Perfect opportunity to teach them to time manage! Laundry isn’t a 5-consecutive-hour process! You start a load and leave, or start a load and do homework, switch it out, do something while it’s drying! As soon as it comes out…PUT IT AWAY!! It does not take THAT LONG! Plus gives time for a mental break!

If laundry gets backed up, which we have ALL BEEN THERE! Work as a team to get it done! As a house cleaner, I’ve seen many piles of laundry, clean and dirty! If y’all work together, it doesn’t have to fall on one person’s shoulders! Time yourselves! You’ll see working together gets it done much faster! At the end of the day…GET IT DONE! Everyone will feel better and more importantly, everyone will have clean clothes and be prepared to start their days!

LIFE

Don’t Throw In The Towel

Why? Because you’ll just create more laundry!

In life, not everything always goes according to plan, we can either throw in the towel or adjust! I’m not usually one for throwing in any towel, I find a way to adjust or make things happen.

When faced with a challenge, challenge yourself to overcome it! Whenever you can successfully overcome anything, you feel so much better and accomplished! It may not have gone exactly to plan, but you managed! When you decide to throw in the towel, this is when regret sets in and the I wish, and I should’ve start occupying space in your head.

Now, of course, there are going to be some cases when those towels just need to be washed! If you find yourself in a situation that just can’t be overcome, then throw that towel in, wash it, and when it comes out clean…that’s a clean slate for you! Move on from the situation and don’t dwell any longer, let it wash away!