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Michelle Renne Leach

I'm Michelle Renne Leach, an independent writer, reporter, illustrator, editor, consultant and communications specialist. I've developed news articles, features, press releases, TV and radio scripts, whitepapers, blog posts, social media items, handbooks and other memorable content for media outlets, news services and organizations in Sydney, Australia, London, U.K., Washington, D.C., Chicago, the active Detroit-area Flint market and throughout America's Heartland. 

Name an industry, I've probably written about it. Name a type of communication, I've probably developed it. 

I'm also a published book author and have partnered with authorities in respective fields to ghostwrite their books/book chapters, too. 

A graduate of the Medill School of Journalism (at Northwestern University) and Lake Forest College in Chicago's North Shore suburbs, I am a passionate and lifelong storyteller at heart. I take pride in, and am driven to, consistently bring topics to light and to life across communication type/format and media.

Listosaur | Hungry for Knowledge •

10 Unusual Marathons Around the World

More and more people are crossing "marathon" off their bucket list; in 2010, more than 500,000 American runners went the 26.2 distance, up from 299,000 in 2000. But where do you go when you've done all the classic races, such as New York, Chicago and London? If you don't opt to either shave your times or try the "ultra" distances -- generally considered to be any distance greater than 30.99 miles -- you may be tempted to seek out more unusual races in exotic locales to test your personal limits. Be forewarned: Some of these ...
SheKnows •

NBC bumps 9/11 moment of silence for Kris Jenner interview

Tuesday morning NBC scored another major “fail” as it inexplicably aired Kardashian family matriarch Kris Jenner talking about her breast implants at the moment the first plane hit the World Trade Center 11 years ago.

At 8:46 a.m. on Sept. 11, all the cable and major networks (with one notable exception) did what they were “supposed” to do — honor the nearly 3,000 lives lost 11 years before during the al-Qaeda-orchestrated terrorist attacks.

The peacock network ruffled many feathers on Twitte...
SheKnows •

Charles Manson's album financed by online users like you

Chances are, when someone mentions “Charles Manson,” you think of a wild-eyed, swastika-tattooed killer with a cult-like following who took the lives of actress Sharon Tate and her friends. But, apparently, a record store owner and his fellow fundraisers want you to know Manson the musician.

Charles Manson’s music is being showcased, thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign to produce Manson’s tunes on vinyl, spearheaded by a 20-something Hollywood record store owner.

Manuel Vasquez, whose...
SheKnows •

Paul Ryan's Ayn Rand problem

Not since Sarah Palin stumbled when asked by Katie Couric, “What newspapers do you read?” has there been so much interest in what’s on a politician’s bookshelf (or Kindle).

On Tuesday morning, a Russian-American novelist who’s been dead for more than three decades was trending. Why? We need only look to Mitt Romney‘s VP pick: Paul Ryan.
The already-contentious pick is — or at least used to be — a fierce “Randian.”

Ayn Rand, who wrote Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead, has long been a contr...
SheKnows •

The Campaign spars with GOP darlings, the Koch brothers

Moviegoers are in for an outrageous portrayal of politicians who will do anything for a vote, as The Campaign hits theaters Friday. But a real-life war of words is occurring between one of the flick’s stars, Zach Galifianakis, and Republican financiers, David and Charles Koch.


Zach Galifianakis better watch his back, as powerful businessmen David and Charles Koch have been none-too-pleased about comments the funnyman made regarding The Campaign’s inspiration for its fictional evil billionaire...
SheKnows •

Guns, Germs and Steel author: Romney misused my work

On the heels of Mitt Romney claiming that Israel’s cultural “superiority” accounted for the “significant disparity between Israeli and Palestinian living standards,” the author of the best-selling book Guns, Germs and Steel is slamming the presidential hopeful for “misrepresenting” his work to advance that inflammatory theory.

Scientist and author Jared Diamond’s name is abuzz on Twitter after he slammed Mitt Romney in a New York Times op-ed Wednesday for mischaracterizing his best-selling wor...
SheKnows •

True story behind franchise spawning Ghostbusters 3

Ghostbusters fans are rejoicing that Sony Pictures has finally hired Etan Cohen (Men in Black 3, Idiocracy, Tropic Thunder) to write the third installment in the franchise — and the first Ghostbusters flick in 23 years. Turns out, Dan Aykroyd drew from more than just his vivid imagination when he first spawned the blockbusters.


Now that it looks like Ghostbusters 3 may actually happen, consider another “blockbuster” in its own right to seize upon the paranormal craze: The book Dan Aykroyd’s f...
Listosaur | Hungry for Knowledge •

Top 10 Extreme Endurance Races in the U.S.

You know the definition of "hardcore" in the endurance racing world has changed when No. 10 on the list is a comparatively "easy" marathon run, completed by some of the slower contenders, in five and a half hours -- this following a 112-mile bike ride and 2.4-mile swim in choppy ocean waters. But consider the extreme competition on this list. In one race, you may find yourself hauling 32 pounds of pennies through a cold, rainy Vermont backwoods at 4 a.m. while memorizing Greek text. In another ...