Michella Filipowitz, Co-Chair Of The DR Family Foundation, Chats AboutThe Beauty Of Nontraditional Family And Love
How one model’s unexpected journey to love and fulfillment is a learning lesson to us all: nothing good in life comes easy, and the art of life is following the beat of your own heart.
Society has morphed a particular path for family and love that we all seem to hold as our gold standard. There is nothing particularly wrong with the “traditional” trajectory of finding love, marriage, kids, and the full nine yards – however, the reality is that so many people do not fit this predetermined mold … and that is a beautiful thing.
It’s beautiful because it creates a diversity of life within our communities and can be a sprouting point for change and passion.
This is one way to accurately describe the essence of Michella Filipowitz, art dealer, model, mother, and Co-Founder of the DR Family Foundation.
I had the pleasure of sitting down with her to discuss her life story, which is a true inspiration when it comes to navigating familial challenges, the quest for love, and forging a career path around what lights your soul up.
Filipowitz moved out of her home at the ripe age of 15 to pursue a modeling career in Paris. Young, but ready to experience the world, she describes these years as transformative to the person she is today. She made note of one of the first times she realized our society doesn’t have adequate mental health support – when she experienced trauma for the first time and didn’t have an outlet for emotional comfort.
Fast forward in time, this became her passion project.
A few years later, aged 23, she had her son, Benjamin. Little did she know at the time that he would change her entire world.
“Right at the time I brought Benjamin into this world, I became a single mother. I, unfortunately like many women, was in an abusive relationship. I am fortunate to have had the tools to escape the toxicity and proceed with my life with Benjamin in the best way I knew possible: leading with love, kindness, and safety.”
“Being a single mother is the hardest job in the entire world. I am so fortunate I had support, but to tell you the truth, I don’t even know how I managed half of the time. What is unique to my and Benjamin’s experience was that he was diagnosed with autism by age 3. The signs leading up to his diagnosis were heartbreaking; I noticed he wasn’t ‘progressing’ as quickly as other children his age, and from there, I knew something was out of his control. It was incredibly hard to accept his diagnosis because I knew what it meant for him, and I refused to accept a life of loneliness, exclusion, and a lack of support for him.”
Filipowitz was living in Miami at the time. She did extensive research on various kinds of therapies, the right kinds of school environments, and more. She explains, “If I have any advice to any parent going through their child being diagnosed with autism, it is to go and get help immediately. Do not procrastinate. The sooner you can engage your child with therapy, it can immensely help alleviate some of the challenges coupled with a disability.”
After extraneous research, she was able to find the right school for Benjamin. The challenge with many parents in Filipowitz’s case is that private schools tend to reject children with disabilities for fear of them “disrupting” other students, and schools dedicated to serving children with disabilities tend to silo children and break the opportunity for them to interact with children both off and on the spectrum.
“Then, I met my fiance. At this point in my life, I was working as an art dealer [as I still do]. We hit it off instantly. I remember our first date so vividly. We had a 5-hour lunch. I think when you realize you’ve been chatting with someone you just met for that long, there’s something special. I felt it instantly, and he did too. It may sound cliche to some, but we truly fell in love that day, and I haven’t stopped feeling this way with him since that very day.”
“Spoiler alert, we later got engaged in St. Bart’s, but perhaps that’s a story for another time. He is from Sydney, and he convinced me to move, which meant restarting the process of research, vetting, and selecting the right therapists and schools for Benjamin – he was my number one priority. My fiance knew and embraced this and loves Benjamin like his own son, which is one major reason why I love him so much.”
Filipowitz’s move to Sydney was no easy feat. She realized, similarly to when she was 15 years old in Paris, there was such a lack of mental health and disability support in Australia’s systems.
“The lack of support is astounding. This has made me value my familial support tenfold. My fiance and his three children accepted Benjamin and me with their whole hearts and open arms; it has been such a beautiful thing. Understanding a child with autism or any disability is challenging, but what defines you, in my eyes, as a good person is putting forth the effort and willingness to learn. I dream of school systems here implementing programs for both students and teachers to better understand disabilities and how to foster communities of kindness rather than judgment. I found that in my family gratefully.”
Filipowitz and her fiance not only have built such a beautiful life via a less “traditional” path, but their passion for spreading love and kindness is expanding. Together, they started their family foundation with Benjamin’s story at the forefront of their mission. Their plan is to build a home for children from all walks of life, whether that be from broken homes, struggling with disabilities, and more to come together in a safe space. Their foundation also helps to cover the costs of school for children in these disadvantaged situations, and they have dreams of expanding into other areas such as helping abused women, hosting community volunteerism events, and more.
At the end of the day, Filipowitz’s life story is an inspiration to us all and is a reflection of just how important finding love and support is. “Benjamin is my first love, my son. He changed my life for the better. Now, my fiance is paving a new pathway to love, acceptance, and warmth in my life.”
To find and learn more about Michella, follow her Instagram @princessmichella. Stay tuned for updates on the DR Family Foundation home and more in Summer 2025.
