hi! I am Richelle.
For most of my life, I believed my highest calling was to be
harmless.
my truths
With roots in the rural Ozarks, I absorbed the quiet lesson that women survive by accommodating everyone else first, keeping their needs silent and their edges soft. That quest for perfection cost me decades of disconnect from my own body, my voice, and my truth.
The turning point came when the life I carefully braced began to collapse. Through divorce, family storms, and the slow, rigorous work of facing old traumas, I realized that grace doesn’t come from following someone else’s script. It comes from stepping into the fire of your own story and realizing you are strong enough to survive it.
Today, I write to build monuments to that survival. Whether through prose, art, or quiet mornings on the water, my work is dedicated to the wild, sacred act of living wide awake and belonging entirely to yourself.
Ozarks
morning mist
I live in Missouri, where my mornings start early on the water in my canoe, surrounded by morning mist and blue herons. When I’m not writing, you can find me painting, experimenting with organic recipes, and laughing with my family through life’s messy, beautiful moments.
beautiful moments
About the Author
Richelle Rennaker is an author, writer, and artist whose work cuts to the bone of female conditioning, somatic healing, and generational reclamation. With roots in the Missouri Ozarks, she has spent decades exploring the intersections of literature, trauma, and embodiment.
Her debut memoir, From the Ashes of a Good Girl, offers an unflinching, darkly humorous examination of what happens when a woman stops being agreeable and starts becoming real.