She is a wife, mother and entrepreneur. When Renate and her family relocated from New York to North Carolina, she had a difficult time getting acclimated to her new surroundings. She had just ended her career in the corporate world, having worked worked in the industries of international education, Wall Street, and real estate. While facing the challenges of fitting into her new environment, she decided to turn the negatives around and use her skills and talents to create her own business. Renate had listened to parents express concern about struggling to convince their children to read and how poor reading skills affected their ability to function well in other areas of class work. In response, she decided to encourage and support literacy by writing children’s books and implementing them into the lives of children who struggle to read. Her style of writing is humorous with the intention to capture the attention of the reader while teaching how to deal with life events and challenges. In every story, she tells the reader something positive and uses words to build their vocabulary skills. Besides being an avid reader, Renate enjoys baking, cooking and gardening. She and her family maintain a healthy lifestyle that includes cooking and eating healthy foods. She noticed that many people have a negative view about consuming desserts. Renate believes that healthy eating doesn’t have to be daunting—when foods are made with wholesome, natural and organic ingredients, decadence and health can become one. To encourage healthy eating and promote the importance of reading, Renate decided to create a unique business combining a gourmet bakery and bookstore. Her pastries, cakes, and cookies are made fresh from scratch with wholesome, natural, organic ingredients and contain no genetic modified organisms (GMO), artificial sweeteners or preservatives. Her priority is seeking out the finest ingredients and incorporating fresh fruits and/or vegetables in her desserts. Renate believes in giving back for the greater good of society. She is an advocate for abused animals and an empowerment speaker on the topics of education, developing self-esteem and self-confidence in young girls, and teenage pregnancy prevention. She shares the proceeds of her sales with the causes dear to her; charities she supports include PetSmart, American Humane League, UNCF, Charlotte Humane Society and school fundraising events. Renate earned her Diploma in writing for children and teenagers from the Institute of Children’s Literature.
