After surviving a violent childhood, Michelle Renee became a runaway at age 15.By the time she was 35 she was an Assistant Vice President/Executive Banker.Life dealt Michelle another devastating blow when three masked gunmen broke the door to her home down, held her and her daughter hostage for 14 hours, taped explosives to their bodies and forced Michelle to rob the bank she managed to save their lives. Yet it was in those 14 hours held hostage, as she was preparing to die, that Michelle says she knew it was time to heal her life...all of it. Today Michelle Renee is an award-winning author, international speaker, respected activist, radio show host, and PTSD breakthrough coach/expert. Michelle is the Founder/Creator of Women Who dreamBIG® and Rock To Stop Violence. Her 2nd annual Rock To Stop Violence event will be held on May 19th 2010 at the world famous House of Blues and will feature classic rock icons such as Chris Slade of AC/DC and Spencer Davis of the Spencer Davis Group.
Michelle’s debut memoir, Held Hostage, is now a Lifetime world premiere movie starring Julie Benz; a project she served as Creative Consultant and Associate Producer on.Michelle and her daughter are honorees shown on the Chicago Survivor Wall alongside Oprah Winfrey, Maya Angelou, Joe Torre and Shelby Lynn, to name a few.She is a Family Advocate for the National Child Traumatic Stress Network and is currently working on her sophomore book, Hostage No More.Her profound and insightful speaking topics include: The Power of Choice, Breaking Through the Three Roadblocks to Success, Parenting Through Pain, and PTSD is REAL.
Michelle has been seen on Good Morning America, CBS 48 Hours, Fuji TV (Japan), W Network(Canada), Lifetime, A & E, BIO, Fox, CBS, NBC, KPBS, and numberous other television and radio shows. She was recently a contributor to NY Times, Washington Post, is a featured Huffington Post blogger, and More Magazine online contributing writer. She resides in Southern California with her daughter Breea and dogs Gypsy and Spike.
