Ginette Michaud was born on March 14, 1956, in Port-au-Prince and raised on the city's Bolosse Avenue.[1] Her parents were also from Port-au-Prince.[1] Michaud is a Baptist Christian.[1]
She attended a public school and then the Maranatha Evangelical college for elementary school.[1] Michaud then enrolled at Roger Anglade collège (junior high school) and before graduating from lycée des Jeunes Filles.[1] Following high school, Michaud was admitted to the Faculty of Medicine at the State University of Haiti, where she received her medical degree in 1984.[1] Michaud completed her medical internship in Port-de-Paix, Nord-Ouest department.[1]
Michaud returned to Port-au-Prince, where she specialized in radiology at the Hôpital de l'Université d'État d'Haïti (HUEH).[1] She opened her first radiology clinic in 1994.[1] She worked as radiology for the Ministry of Health's Sanatorium for almost twenty years, as well as the Hôpital OFATMA in Port-au-Prince for fifteen years, and almost ten years at Food for the Poor.[1]
Michaud met her future husband, Jocelerme Privert, in 1986.[1] The couple married in 1988 and had three daughters - Nandie, Fadha, and Nadia.[1]
She worked as a diplomat at the Haitian Embassy to the Dominican Republic in Santo Domingo for six years from 2012 to 2016.[1] She left her diplomatic posting when her husband became interim President of Haiti in 2016.[1]
Michaud worked at Haiti Adventist Hospital (Hopital Adventiste d’Haïti) in Carrefour from 1985 to 1986.[2] On April 1, 2016, the First Lady attended the opening of a new surgical suite, clinic and laboratory to mark the hospital's 35th anniversary.[2]