Meet Renée Barnow, founder of Rightline

Picture a 6-year-old schoolgirl who sat in the front row corner of the classroom unaware that her teacher had strategically placed her there. The teacher knew this girl would lead her classmates calmly to safety in an emergency. Now picture a woman in her 20s whose boss identified her as the person the staff went to if they were troubled or upset. Sensing a pattern? Me, too. In work settings I was called on in staff disputes. Outside work I'd be called on by family and friends who were confused, in some sort of personal crisis, feeling overwhelmed, having trouble and disagreeing.

In the early 1980s, after more than 10 years of marriage, I left because I no longer recognized myself. One scene stands out from early on in the marriage—as we were crossing a busy street I fell in the middle. My husband crossed the street and yelled, “Get up there’s a bus coming.” I felt unprotected. Any time I would bring up how I was feeling he'd respond, “You should have married someone else.” I left with little other than my personal belongings and my integrity. I received no alimony.

I decided I could make it on my own. I was in my early-30s and had financial savvy, or so I thought. I put my money in syndicated partnerships such as oil wells and real estate. I lost it all.

In January 1986, my 68-year-old, healthy as a horse and fun-loving father died suddenly. His death was such a shock that I sought help from a psychotherapist who specialized in grief counseling. Choosing her was a big mistake. Best described as a cult leader, she played on my vulnerability and alienated me from my mother. AND she accepted my ex-husband as a client. There I was—someone who easily reads people, is a big picture person and gets the details; someone who can laser in on others' core essence and issues. I missed big time that this person was running over me, until almost 10 years later. I stood at the intersection of two busy streets in downtown DC, and staring at a stopped bus, thought how easily I could throw myself underneath it. I allowed her to steal my soul and almost my life.

What is it with me and buses? No ha ha here. Simply an Ah Ha! Must be that on my bulletin board is the motto from the former TV show “The Magic School Bus”: Get Messy. Make Mistakes. Take Chances.

The Ah Ha meant I left her practice. Almost immediately I announced, “Wow, I snapped back like a rubber band to the person I knew and liked.”

I was determined to create a way to help people in the way that she didn’t help me.

Six months after snapping back, the small, independent government agency for which I served as Director of Publications and Public Affairs (a job I loved and a place where people considered me an inspiration) shut its door. Sometime before the last day, I really got my second big Ah Ha: “I am my best security blanket.”

The combination of leaving the therapist and losing my job, though the latter was extremely difficult, created an opportunity. How could my professional experience in communication reach more people and make a difference?

I decided the only way to do everything I loved was to consult. Within two months, I began consulting at Howard University. My challenge—to turn a negative environment into a positive one—essentially coaching before it was more readily recognized. Doing what I loved meant that within 2 years of going solo, I was overwhelmed with clients and paying more in taxes than my last salary as an employee.

Now I am serving by using my natural mastery as the Agent of Calm (named so by former clients, who gave a title to the ability I’d had since I was a little girl) and as a Crisis Whisperer (the title a former President of a Board on which I serve gave me). By helping people discover the root cause of their overwhelm, master thriving in tough times and use language to create positive cultures and influence positive change, I am making a difference. I’m creating space in which people feel an immediate sense of safety. Where they are fully heard and accepted. Where they discover and reclaim their strength. Where they make difficult choices. Where they calm down. As one client shared about her experience of us working together, “I could feel my blood pressure drop instantly.”

Since full time Jan 1996 through ups and downs, tough times I continue to love being a solo biz owner; best professional development program.

Renée's Training and Professional Credentials...

In addition to her undergraduate work in communication and her executive MBA, Renée’s educational background includes extensive coursework with the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland and the Newfield Network. She has studied leadership through Dale Carnegie and positive psychology as offered by the University of Pennsylvania's Masters in Applied Positive Psychology Program. She encourages you to take the program’s Values in Action, 24 Signature Strengths Surveys at Authentic Happiness. Renée is an attorney-trained mediator.

Renée serves on the Board of Directors of the Metro DC Chapter of the International Coach Federation for which she founded and is managing editor of Learning, a quarterly publication. In June 2010, the chapter honored her with the President’s Award for service, creativity and spirit. In addition to the International Coach Federation, Renée is a member of the American Society for Training and Development, the International Speakers Network, and the Organization Development Network.

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