Five Finds on Friday: Michelle Moshier
Photo by Sarah Cramer Shields.
Today’s Five Finds on Friday come from Michelle Moshier, Director of Operations of Mockingbird and The Local. Featured in the upcoming book Badass Women of Charlottesville, Moshier is battling cancer for the third time, with her prior two cases coinciding with the birth of her three children – first the daughter she delivered in March 2021 and then the twin boys her wife delivered in July 2023.
With her latest recurrence in January 2025, the food community is rallying to her support. At an epic Battle of the Chefs: Cooking for a Cure on Tuesday, April 15, two husband-and-wife teams will compete in a multi-course cookoff: Matthew Hart (The Local) & Melissa Close-Hart (Mockingbird) vs. Tricia & Dave Stone (Chickadee). Guests will vote for the winner and bid on auction items donated by the community. If you can’t make it, you can still bid on items here, or donate by purchasing an “honorary ticket” in any amount you wish. All proceeds go to Moshier and Young Survival Coalition. Moshier’s picks:
1) Crispy Shrimp at The Local. “A shameless plug, sure—but also the truth. I’ve worked at The Local in just about every role over the past eighteen years, and I still eat the crispy shrimp every week. It was love at first bite, and somehow it never gets old.”
2) Beets at Oakhart Social. “My wife and I shared this dish on our first date, so it’ll always have a special place in my heart. We go back to Oakhart often for lots of reasons, but I still find myself chasing that first bite of beets.”
3) New Orleans Roll at Now & Zen. “A perfect mix of textures and bold flavors—I can’t get enough. I always order way more than I should, but with these rolls, more is more.”
4) Chicken Philly with Frites and Paprika Mayo at Beer Run. “A total guilty pleasure. It’s my go-to comfort order, always with an Allagash on draft with a lemon wedge. That paprika mayo is next-level.”
5) Prosciutto Pizza at Ciaccia. “They just opened and they’re only steps from my office— dangerous territory. I tried this during their soft opening, and now I’m counting the days until I can make my way through the rest of the menu.”
Coming April 21, Badass Women of Charlottesville by Rachael Kesler Palm will be available locally at Rock Paper Scissors or through her website. An excerpt:
Michelle Moshier was 37 years old and 38 weeks pregnant when she found the first lump. “It was bright red and very hard. It didn’t hurt, but I felt something was wrong,” she says. She was getting out of the shower when she noticed that her left breast looked unusual, yet earlier that same day, she’d had a healthy 38-week prenatal well-visit with her OBGYN.
Moshier went to a breast cancer specialist the day after her prenatal visit. The doctor completed a biopsy of Moshier’s breast tissue and sent her home with antibiotics that they hoped would clear up whatever was making her left breast inflamed. Moshier was hopeful—she tends to seek out the positive in every situation. “Michelle has always been a silver lining kind of person, able to see the bright side of everything, ever since she was a kid—her parents told me this!” de Guzman says. Moshier was hopeful . . . but the next day, that hope disappeared.
The biopsy confirmed a diagnosis: stage 3 inflammatory breast cancer, a rare and aggressive type of cancer that moves quickly. Letting things go even a week or two could have been catastrophic, Moshier remembers being told. “I realized then that if I hadn’t been pregnant, if I hadn’t been paying such close attention to my body, I probably would have let this go,” she says. “The results of that could have been pretty horrible.” Doctors told Moshier she would need to give birth immediately in order to begin treatment as soon as possible. She was induced that evening.
Mackenzie Moshier de Guzman was born on Thursday, March 11, 2021. “It was an especially easy delivery,” Moshier says. She was in labor for just six hours and pushed three times before Mackenzie arrived. “It was like my daughter was saying, ‘It’s time for me to come out so we can fight this.’” In their hospital room, Moshier and de Guzman soaked in time with Kenzie. “We cherished those first moments.” Moshier says. “Then the next morning, we wheeled her to the nursery, and we walked across the hall to meet with oncology.”
