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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.

SheKnows •

Witness to Westroads Mall tragedy ... Recalls what was deadliest mall attack

The nation is reeling from the deadly rampage at a mall theater that left 12 dead and dozens more injured during a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises.

Before there was Colorado, there was Westroads Mall in Omaha, Nebraska. On the afternoon of Dec. 5, 2007, 19-year-old Robert Hawkins stepped off the elevator and on to the third floor of the Von Maur department store. Inexplicably, he opened fire. In 90 to 120 seconds, Hawkins struck a dozen people before turning the gun on himself, taking six lives immediately, with two more victims dying from their injuries on the way to hospitals.
Midlands Business Journal Publications •

Setting the Tone: Leading the charge for diversity and equity in the workplace Copy

In an ideal world, our differences would be celebrated, and we would all have an equal playing field to rise to our fullest potential. Midlands organizations are intentionally and strategically moving the dial on this front, taking direct aim at the large and growing body of research that further underlines and quantifies the inequities that so many experience on a day-to-day basis.

These groups are helping and partnering with others to lift their respective ...
Midlands Business Journal •

Costs, aging infrastructure barriers to safe structures

As if Nebraskans needed yet another reminder of the power of tornadoes, in late May the world watched an EF5 barrel down on the Oklahoma City-area of Moore, hitting three schools and claiming the lives of two dozen people, including 10 children. As fellow residents of Tornado Alley, these tragic events bring to the surface what some AEC professionals grapple with in their day-to-day work lives; what can be built into offices and homes to at least mitigate damage associated with a side of Mother Nature so fierce that it can't possibly be outwitted?
Midlands Business Journal Publications •

Revitalization efforts bring life to historic areas, outer edges of storied neighborhoods

Formerly, when one mentioned a notable destination for all things housing, shopping, working and entertainment, the "usual suspects" (the Old Market) came to mind. Today a multitude of new and emerging destinations have changed the narrative.

"We are a smaller development shop, but we had big dreams and aspirations to be able to buy this piece of land on the outskirts of Aksarben Village," said Ryan Spellman of J Development Co. "We saw the potential for future job growth."

Two and a half years later ...
Mi •

Women in Leadership: Balance improve the health of our communities

Midlands organizations are not standing still and waiting for others to pick up the torch that ultimately leads to lifting women within their respective businesses, industries and communities.

Thirty-three percent of Jet Linx's team, for one, is made up of women.

"Given that less than 10% of the pilot population is comprised of women, having 33% of our leadership team make-up be female is something we are quite proud of," said Vice President of HR Yvette Sumodi. "Jet Linx goes after ..."
Lincoln Business Journal •

The only certainty is change: Business leadership discuss planning in "new normal"

In early January, U.S. Small Business Administration Nebraska District Office leadership highlight how the SBA was addressing "disaster preparation." Off of crisis flooding, additional threats have since presented themselves in a big way. At the time of this writing. the President officially declared the coronavirus outbreak a "national emergency," and the SBA on March 12 announced low-interest federal disaster loans for working capital available to small businesses suffering "substantial economic injury" resulting from the new coronavirus responsible for COVID-19 disease.

"Regarding individual safety, the agency is referring individuals to the CDC, and state and local agencies ..."
Listosaur | Hungry for Knowledge •

5 Controversial Questions About Marijuana

The New Year marked the opening of the country’s first legal marijuana store in Colorado. Washington is slated to open the first of its 300-plus pot shops as early as summer 2014, while pro-legalization campaigns in Alaska, Arizona, California, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana and Nevada are poised to move marijuana from the shadows of the underground market to legitimate enterprise within the next two years. But for every study touting the plant’s medicinal qualities, there is another survey or ...
E-Commerce Times •

State of Online Auctions: Going? Going? Going?

For thousands of years, auctions remained largely unchanged -- until 1995, when a computer programmer posted a single item online. The result: A broken laser pointer found a home, and Pierre Omidyar founded eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY).

Unlike its slow-to-change offline predecessor, the online auction has gone through some rocky reincarnations in the past few years. Still, don't expect online auctions to go the way of the dinosaur -at least, not anytime soon.
SheKnows •

Did Dark Knight Rises inspire a rash of new threats?

A movie doesn’t pull the trigger, right? People kill people. But The Dark Knight Rises, the Batman blockbuster that grossed more than $160 million in its opening weekend, surfaced in at least four arrests made in recent days.

We hear a lot about “copycats” in the days following a tragedy the magnitude of the Colorado shooting, which claimed the lives of 12 people and injured dozens more during a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises.

And it seems there is reason to fear such “copycats” th...
SheKnows •

Portrayal of Prophet Muhammad to blame?

A California real estate developer-turned-filmmaker is in hiding after the two-hour movie he made, Innocence of Muslims, was linked to protests in Libya which resulted in the deaths of the U.S. ambassador and three staffers in the country’s second-largest city, Benghazi.


Tribesmen and militia belonging to an al Qaeda-style Islamist group were reportedly so upset over an amateur film, created by Californian real estate developer Sam Bacile, that they stormed a U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya...
SheKnows •

Mass shooting casts pall on Dark Knight Rises debut

A mass shooting in a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, is casting a pall over one of the most anticipated movies in recent memory — The Dark Knight Rises. CNN reported Friday that the Paris premiere of the blockbuster flick has already been canceled, with many speculating more cancellations to come.

We knew The Dark Knight Rises was going to make headlines for ticket sales Friday morning, but not for this tragic reason: A gas mask-wearing gunman burst into the Century 16 Theaters in a Denver...
SheKnows •

7 Cameroon athletes go missing at Olympics

The head of Team Cameroon is confirming the rumors that the Games have “lost” seven members of the African country’s Olympic team.

On Monday evening, Team Cameroon mission head David Ojong alerted the country’s sports ministry that five boxers, a swimmer and a soccer player have gone missing at the Summer Games in London. Apparently, Ojong’s statement was the first time the International Olympic Committee had heard of the seven missing Cameroonians as well.
“We are unaware of it,” IOC spokesma...
SheKnows •

Fashion designer spurs shootout at Empire State Building

The Empire State Building has been featured in some of the most iconic films, from King Kong to Sleepless in Seattle. But Friday morning it was the site of real-life terror, as a disgruntled fashion designer engaged in a deadly shootout with cops. While garnering more media coverage, that shooting paled in comparison to the 13 people gunned down in a half-hour 800 miles away in Chicago.


During a press conference Friday morning, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the shootout that clai...