Michael Gilbert Sherbert is an Algonquin of Pikwakanagan First Nation in Ontario. He spent his formative years and childhood in Kingston, Ontario, where his family has primarily resided, including his great-grandfather, a survivor of the residential school system. At the age of 10, Michael and his family moved to Southern Alberta and lived across multiple towns and communities, most notably Cardston, Alberta. His time in Cardston granted Michael the chance to intimately engage with Indigenous culture, living in close proximity to the Kainai Blood Tribe Reserve. Michael and his father actively participated in cultural events, such as Pow Wows and a Sundance ceremony. Alongside members of the Kainai Blood Reserve, Michael engaged in Indigenous hockey tournaments, proudly representing Treaty 7. Upon completing his teenage years, Michael made his way back to Kingston.

However, Michael’s homecoming was bittersweet, experiencing a cultural disconnect upon returning to his Kingston community. Eager for new opportunities after completing his post-secondary education, Michael's partner happened to come across a Facebook post from the IFA, showcasing the IndigiTECH program. Intrigued, Michael enrolled, acknowledging IndigiTECH’s capacity to impart practical tech skills, secure internships, and provide insights into Indigenous cultural teachings. Through Phase One of IndigiTECH, Michael developed technical skills in web development, UX design, and digital art. He commended the supportive ecosystem at IFA, offering additional instruction to facilitate his learning curve in HTML, CSS, Javascript, Ruby, and SQL. Michael recalled one of his most memorable experiences of IndigiTECH being the guest speakers who shared their immense cultural knowledge and experiences. Michael still holds onto the inspiration drawn from James Vukelich’s lesson on the 7 Grandfather Teachings.

Upon successfully completing Phase One of IndigiTECH, Michael secured a paid internship with Phyxable, a comprehensive virtual physical therapy and health platform. While his primary role was that of a quality assurance analyst, he also contributed to product testing and played a role in UX testing and design for the Phyxable application. Most notably, Michael’s time at Phyxable afforded him the opportunity to work on a medical prototype for the Canadian Space Agency’s (CSA) Health Beyond Initiative: The Connected Care Medical Module. His experience at Phyxable illuminated the pressing need for improved healthcare accessibility in Canada, fueling his determination to advance public health through innovative technologies that improve patient access and efficiency. With a deeply personal motivation stemming from his youngest son's profound experience with autism, Michael aspires to develop new Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) tools that can assist in communication for his son and others facing similar challenges, aiming to improve their quality of life.