SO... WHO THE HECK IS DR. RENEA?
I study people.
Communication Expert · Speaker · Author
I help people figure out what’s actually happening
when communication gets weird, hard, emotional
or completely ridiculous.
I spent a lot of time thinking.
I needed to say things better.
I joined the military at 17 and spent 22 years learning how to hold it together... and say the “right” thing.
And I got really good at it. Maybe too good.
I read the room. Edited myself in it. Avoided some conversations. Over-explained others. Replayed plenty of them later thinking, That’s what I should’ve said.
I thought if I could find the right words, people would finally get me.
They didn’t.
Then life hit hard.
Loss. A brain tumor. Everything slowing down whether I liked it or not.
It wasn't only what I had been through. It was how I had been showing up in conversations the entire time.
Avoiding. Performing. Pushing. Trying to control how things landed so I could feel okay.
Exhausting.
That's when communication stopped being something I studied and became something I understood differently.
They overthink it.
They try to say it perfectly.
They avoid the conversation completely...
then have it 47 times in their head.
They say “I’m fine” when everybody in the room knows they are absolutely not fine.
Communication isn’t about memorizing the perfect sentence.
It’s knowing what’s actually happening between two people so you can stop overthinking every word, stop trying to manage everybody’s reaction, and say what you mean.
But enough résumé.
• I’m a mom of three amazing children.
• I'm married to my high school sweetheart.
• I’m a combat veteran.
• I’m a chronic under-packer.
• I love reality shows and waiting to be on one.
• I was in the season finale of Yellowstone. Yet, never seen it.
• I’ve run 23 half-marathons and one full marathon.
• My favorite color is anything blingy.
• I want to represent my books on a well-known talk show.
• And yes, going on an actual picnic is on my bucket list.
