now booking 2026 speaking dates

The Story I Learned Wasn't the Whole Story

So, I'm exploring what was missing.

Educator, Facilitator, Cultural Guide

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JANE AWESOME, ACME CO.

Why I Created This Project

Over the past year, I've been going through what I can only describe as a civic deconstruction.

I grew up with the "heroes and holidays" version of American history, the kind most of us got in school. As an adult, I knew there was more to the story. But in the last year, I started realizing how much more. Not just details I'd missed, but entire perspectives I was never taught to consider. I began to see that what I learned wasn't just incomplete, it was shaped by ideology, taught as if it were settled fact, and presented in ways that are completely different from how history is understood and taught today.

And then I looked around at the chaos of our current moment (the political polarization, the media noise, the constant outrage) and I realized how fragile our democracy actually is. It's not a spectator sport. You can't just show up every four years and vote.

I wanted a way to make sense of it all. And I thought: if I'm feeling this, other people probably are too.

I CreateD what I needed but couldn't find.

What Is IDWA?

It's a structured, thoughtful way to explore the American story through novels, history books, and art. I'm not telling you what to think. I'm creating a space and the tools to help you explore topics worth thinking more deeply about.

The point is not to win arguments, but to understand the narratives that shape our public life and how we got to this moment.

I'm not a historian or a policy expert. I'm a facilitator who designs experiences that help people slow down, reflect, and make meaning. I create the structure; you bring the curiosity.

MEET THE FOUNDER

Hi, I'm Michelle Rene

I live near Nashville, Tennessee, where I've been a small business owner for decades.

I serve on the board of an arts-based nonprofit, and I've made a decision: the rest of my career will be about helping our culture understand creativity not as a luxury or a talent, but as a fundamental way of being human.

I'm currently a graduate student in Arts in Medicine at the University of Florida, studying how creative practices support wellbeing and connection. That work directly informs how In Dialogue with America is designed: it's not just reading and discussing—it's a full learning experience that includes reflection, creative response, and space to process ideas in ways that feel natural to you.

I design spaces where people can think out loud, hold complexity without shutting down, and explore perspectives they might not encounter otherwise. This project is an extension of that work—applied to the American story at a moment when we desperately need better ways to understand it.

Join me for 2026

An Invitation

If you're realizing the story you were taught doesn't add up, if you're exhausted by the noise but still care deeply about understanding, if you want to participate in democracy with more clarity and less overwhelm—this project is for you.

I don't have all the answers. But I've built a structure that I believe can help us all think more clearly, engage more wisely, and show up with more intention.