Renee was raised in Colorado Springs by her amazing family*.  As a kid, she had ZERO respect for the beauty of her home town because she wanted to live in New York City. (As an adult she finds every time she visits "The Springs" she owes the town a humble apology: "Baby, I'm sorry. You're so pretty, I didn't mean it! "  Renee's love for musical theater began like every other kid who saw the touring production of Annie when it came through their home town. Renee was three, and after the performance, she sat her parents down and broke the news to them: she'd be singing and dancing the rest of her life.  

Her senior year in High School, after years of making her folks and kid brother sit through COUNTLESS recitals, plays, and musicals, Renee won The National Thespian Society Scholarship Award for the State of Colorado. (An honor, grand enough, that the newpaper articles citing this win, STILL hang on her Nana's fridge 12 years later.) After High School, Renee used that scholarship to study at Oklahoma City University (home of Kristin Chenoweth, and Kelli O'Hara). She then moved to Los Angeles and worked for Universal Studios Hollywood for several years, as a VIP Tour Guide, Dance Troupe Performer, and Host of Fear Factor Live, and Animal Actor's Stage Show. In addition to her "day job" at Universal, Renee also performed with numerous touring companies, and theater houses in Los Angeles. Some of her favorite shows include:  A Chorus Line,  It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It's Superman, Side Show (Ovation Winner), Mermaids: The Musical, and Little Shop of Horrors.