Do what you love. Be brave. Take a chance.

These are all things I’ve talked about often on this blog, since my decision to take an artistic sabbatical and share the journey with others. Recently, I met someone else who took a similar leap: Michelle Lesniak-Franklin, winner of Season 11 of Project Runway (yup, it was her I was writing about at the end of this previous post). You’ll remember her personal style and razor-sharp wit, and probably her obsession with wolves, too.

I met the Portland native at her studio last week to chat, and she was just as funny, tough, and candid as she appeared to be on the show. She was also game for a photo shoot in Portland’s Japanese Gardens, inspired by Hayao Miyazaki’s anime classic, “Princess Mononoke”.

Here’s Part 2 of the interview, click here for Part 1.

BLCKSMTH: We share an obsession for the periodic table of elements. My personal token of strength is the “Fe” symbol for Iron, and yours seems to be “Au” for Gold. When did the transition happen from the name of the brand “Michelle is well” to “Au”?

Michelle Lesniak-Franklin: I got advice from a friend and investor about the name “Michelle Is Well”, that it sounds like a hospital update. “Oh, we went to the hospital to visit Michelle, how is she?” “She’s doing great, Michelle is…well.” I never loved it either, I thought it sounded really juvenile, but was something that just stuck.

I like to be smart, and articulate, and slightly geeky. And so the periodic table…you know I have a little bit of a science background, it just stuck with me. And I wanted it to be Au, to represent a golden moment, a golden piece of clothing that will stay in your closet until the end of time. You know it’s geek chic, but there’s also something tough and hard about gold.

What was it like on the show to represent an entire city? And also, by the way, how did you handle going from a private person, to being a public figure?

Born and raised in Portland, I felt very much Portland. You know, I’m a Portland girl, you transplant me somewhere else, and they say “I bet she’s from Portland!” The support has been great. There are times when I just really wish I was private, and that perhaps I should don a wig. For example, I use exercise to get out a lot of frustration and depression, and anxiety, and feeling stuff, and when I’m running the Esplanade, it’s probably not appropriate to stop me and ask if I can take a photograph. That is not the best time to do it. Or when I’m in the middle of a tearful cry with a girlfriend at a dinner table. Also not the best time to ask for a photo op or a signature!

Portland’s great. People will hang out their car windows: “We love you!” It’s the big hug.

How is being a public figure? Are you ever wary of sycophants? Are you ever suspicious of people’s motives when they’re befriending you…or in dating them?

No, because I think that people are generally good people, and I give them the benefit of the doubt. I’m also certainly naive, which could get me into trouble. Dating, which has been really tough for me, um, and it’s just this generation of dating that I’m not used to, it’s been a long time. I will say that 99% of the time the men that I go on a date with don’t know who the hell I am, because they’re heterosexual men!

Wait. So you don’t go out with gay men?

(laughs) Unless they’re sitting there watching it with their girlfriend or wife, which would have been pretty recent, I’m kind of in the clear. I generally don’t bring it up, I’d rather keep it private until I find out what kind of person they are.

I’ve also gotten advice that because I’m a public figure, I probably shouldn’t go online dating, and should probably do background checks when you go on a date, just things I never would have thought of. I never thought I’d be online dating…which I’m not, and I hopefully never will have to.

So what’s next for you?

It’s really daunting right now, and overwhelming. I definitely have the “where’s the brown lunchbag for me to breathe into” kind of panic attacks. And I’ve met some really wonderful people who helped me, you know (pantomimes slapping self) “Stop it! Get out of that headspace! Here’s how you’re going to attack your next step”. I do a lot of speaking engagements, which I love. I’m doing three fashion shows in Portland this fall. I launched a t-shirt recently that had a lone wolf woman on it, and a portion of the proceeds goes to Oregon Wild, who are trying to bring the grey wolf back to Oregon.

Speaking of keeping busy, we have a mutual friend, Brent Blackwell, who I met while staging a photo. He’s involved with the Cascade AIDS Project, where you’re throwing the first pitch at the benefit.

Yes! I’m not going to throw the first pitch at something I don’t believe in, I don’t want to speak at an engagement that I don’t believe in. I really do want to be accessible and talk to people and inspire them, because I’ve been inspired by so many people.

What advice would you give to someone leaving a place of extreme comfort to do something they felt they needed to? What would you have done differently?

I made sure I had a job before I left, and it was a job that was closer to the field that I wanted to get into than where I was, knowing that the job was going to teach me a lot. I did alterations for about a year and a half, and I learned leaps and bounds more than I would have if I had gone to school for fashion, because I was deconstructing and reconstructing garments, and doing tailoring, and doing fittings, and having to do it quickly. Learning how to pattern, and doing a custom dress for someone, and having to do it in two days.

At the time, I had a husband who was pretty supportive, and so even though I was making less than I had in my wine career, we were still able to put a roof over our head, not everyone can do that. If you’re single, and you really want to follow your passion, it is much more daunting. But you have family, you have friends! Move out of your apartment, get a room in somebody’s home. I am a firm believer that if you are passionate about what you do, and what you love, you’ll be successful no matter what, because there is no other choice.

How big a part of your plan or strategy was Project Runway?

It wasn’t ever a preplanned chess move, that “I’m going to get on this and it’ll get me where I need to be.” But it was something that I thought about. “If only I could get on this public platform, it would propel me so much further, because it’s a commercial for my aesthetic, and my designs.” You’re starting this new journey, this new career at 32, 31, you’re behind in the fashion industry, unfortunately.

Never regret. What you know now is not what you would have known 10 years ago. I have to tell myself that every single day, because “this is the way it was supposed to be.” And luckily I got on, and I won, which is totally crazypants. When I first tried out, for season 9, I made it really far in the process, and when I didn’t make it, and two other designers from Portland did, I was devastated. I think I stayed in the house for weeks on end, I was so upset and depressed about it. And when I made it in season 11, and talking to Tim [Gunn], when he came and did the home visit, and I told him about the process, and how far I had gotten, and how upset I was and how devastated, he just turned to me and said “Michelle, that was not your time. This is meant to be your time. Don’t see that as a bad thing, if it’s not meant to be, it’s not meant to be. You just have to keep moving forward.”

Thanks so much Michelle for the inspiration! I look forward to seeing what’s next from her, and watching her set the fashion world ablaze. You can follow her on Twitter, or on Facebook.

All photos and mask construction by Summer Olsson, digital artistry by Tucker Cullinan.