Managing parallel careers in medicine, stage & screen acting and education seems an impossible balancing act… but Perth-born Renee does it all with energy and aplomb – and a healthy dose of passion!

The established screen actor known for her gritty roles in films and TV dramas like East West 101, The Dry, Never Too Late, Secret City, Pulse, Clickbait,
Ask the Doctors, Unusual Suspects and Please Like Me as well as critically acclaimed stage productions such as The Wolves, Dresden, His Mother’s Voice and Coup d’Etat began her professional journey 20 years ago… in medicine!

Still caring for patients in Palliative Care and Geriatrics, Renee is now also a highly sought-after teacher of communication and relationship skills in the health sector.

She is Director of Program Development for the Pam McLean Centre, a senior lecturer at the University of Sydney’s Medical School, CEO of Changineers (an educational technology social enterprise), engagement and culture consultant in the NFP sector, popular conference speaker and a one-on-one coach to health professionals. Her core focus in education is self-awareness, communication skills, positive work relationships, self-care and wellbeing. And she’s constantly – magically – on stage and on screen!

The common factor in this breathtaking array of professional, artistic and educational work, says Renee, is the human factor.

“Improving and supporting people’s lives to help them achieve their goals while incasing their awareness of themselves – and others. That’s my passion!”

And she clearly thrives on the challenge of doing it all… and doing it superbly.

Renee has worked with Violet, Medicines San Frontier, Streetwork, NSW Ambulance, Foodwise, and a number of corporations, and was most recently the Health Grants Advisor to the Paul Ramsay Foundation, as well as the co-ordinator of their Peer to Peer program.

She is also developing a program known as The Value of Kindness in conjunction with KFilms, to encourage humanity in the workplace.

Apart from countless guess appearances on podcasts, video interview channels and talk shows, she shares much of her amazingly vibrant busy life in the entertaining, inspiring and empowering personal website “Nay in the Life”.

With videos, advice and more, its exhaustive (exhausting?) breadth is – like the woman herself – breathtaking!

With what must appear to most mere mortals as achieved only with the aid of a time-turner or a TARDIS, Renee manages to juggle skilfully those multifaceted roles of doctor/medical educator, actor/content creator and friend/compassionate ear. Work, passion, social.

“Whatever I am doing,” says Renee, “has to be bigger than me, bigger than the hundred people in the audience or the thousands watching online or on TV.

It has to create something, a conversation, a different way of thinking, some kind of impact that makes people consciously decide to behave the way they do.

It’s so important that what I do makes a difference in other people’s lives, beyond me.”

So, what’s a typical working day like for Renee? The short answer is… there isn’t one.

The day usually starts with coffee, a walk, and a spot of nature. Then a dive into time in front of the camera as actor or behind it as director, producer or writer.

Or there could be a hospital shift on the wards… a research session or a meeting with a client… some one-on-one mentoring, or a support or education seminar for a group of health colleagues… And there’s also got to be a ’window’ for some educational design on projects with her company Changineers, and a conference presentation or two… plus – at the end of it all – presumably enough sleep to prepare for the next day. Bring on the time-travel!

And what’s next for Renee? Well there are various TV shows coming up for broadcast, including The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart (Amazon), Five Blind Dates (Amazon), Black Snow (Stan) and The Bali Bombings as well as her voice appearing on a cute video game “Wayward Strand”.

She’s about to record season 4 of Little J and Big Cuz (SBS) as well as season 2 of The PM’s Daughter (ABC3).

She’s launching a new Brain injury communication tool with Sydney University, managing 75 healthcare workshops nationally, and serving on the board of dynamic indie Kings Cross Theatre Company (KXT).

Renee is even appearing in a new live stage show As Luck Would Have it for Merrigong Theatre Company at the Illawarra Performing Arts Centre from 26 July!

Don’t tell Renee there are only 24 hours in a day or just 7 days in a week. She doesn’t believe that for a second!

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