Michelle Christensen is a U.S. car designer. She was Acura's first female exterior designer. Since 2005 Christensen has worked for Acura and was the lead designer of the second generation Honda NSX. Christensen grew up in San Jose, California. She learned about the mechanics of cars from her father, who was into hot rods and muscle cars. In school she developed an interest in drawing and fine art and at community college she learned about car design and went on to study at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. Christensen said that car design is the ideal blend of her passions, "art, cars, and making things for people."Christensen undertook an internship at Volvo's Camarillo studio in California before joining Acura in 2005. She briefly worked for General Motors in 2010 before returning to Acura as Lead Principal Designer at Honda R&D. The 2016 Honda NSX was her first project as the lead designer. Christensen received the Woman on Top award from Marie Claire magazine.