Rena's tenth-grade English teacher convinced her to enter an essay contest, which she won. The essay was printed, she saw her first byline and a career journalist was born. Along the way, she became an avid reader of romance and suspense novels, always thinking in the back of her head that she would write one someday. She carved an award-winning path through the journalism world, starting her career just out of college at a small, now-defunct weekly newspaper. A Pittsburgh native, Rena reported for The Beaver County (PA.) Times and The Pittsburgh (PA.) Post-Gazette before relocating to Cleveland where she worked as an editor for The Medina (OH.) Gazette, then joined The Cleveland (OH.) Plain Dealer as a general assignment reporter. A career change for her husband relocated the family Centraol Illinois and a freelance job with The Decatur Magazine. But it also spawned her debut novel, "Love's Secret Fire." She turned a real arson case from her journalism days into an exciting story about a fiesty heroine and a handsome hero, a cowboy no less. More novels followed, all loosely based on true crimes she covered as a newspaper reporter and real-life incidents. Rena now makes her home in sunny Florida - no more shoveling snow - and a new novel will soon be released. No matter how far she travels from home, she remains true to the black-and-gold, and tries to work city references as well as her beloved sports teams into her novels.

Rena won the 2016 Florida Authors and Publishers Association (FAPA) President's Book Awards Silver Medal e-book/adult for "Broken Justice, Blind Love."

She is a member of Romance Writers of America, the Kiss Of Death chapter, and the Cleveland chapter, Northeast Ohio RWA.

She has been published nationally and garnered state and regional news reporting awards in Ohio and Pennsylvania that include recognition of her talent by The Associated Press.