She sat across from Oprah and spoke her truth. She stood on the TEDx stage and moved a room to tears. She waited twenty years to write her book. And when the world called her a survivor, she decided that word was not big enough, so she created her own and trademarked it: sur-THRIVER.
In Episode 2 of the LIVIN LIVE PODCAST, Rena Romano sits down with host W.E. Osley III at FuturEdge Strategies Studios in beautiful downtown Tampa, Florida. She talks about the silence she lived in for decades, the night she came closest to giving up, the stranger on the phone she still calls her hero, and the exact steps she took to get her life back. She holds nothing back.
Her whole message fits in six words, and she says the order matters. Get help. Get healed. Get happy.
Watch the video episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/5oFySD8s_nk
Chapters
00:00 Cold Open
00:18 Welcome To LIVIN LIVE
00:48 Who Is Rena Romano
01:57 Finding Her Voice
02:58 Why So Many Never Come Forward
04:11 It Started When She Was Four
06:43 What Gets Missed About Children
07:50 It Did Not Stop
09:10 The Secret Nobody Knew
10:12 The Oprah Episode That Opened Her Eyes
13:23 "Ashamed Of A Crime I Did Not Commit"
14:48 The Darkest Night
17:01 The Phone Call That Saved Her Life
18:02 Taking Herself Back
19:06 The Little Girl Who Is Still In There
19:56 sur-THRIVER, The Word She Trademarked
21:32 "His Puppet No More!"
22:17 Therapy At 34
24:24 How To Talk And Listen To A Survivor
25:29 What Healing Really Looks Like
27:41 Becoming A Coach
29:03 When It Happens To Men
30:11 The Call From Oprah
33:34 Sitting Across From Oprah
35:01 The TEDx Talk That Reached The World
36:43 Acting, Modeling, And Living Her Dream
38:32 Her Message To Anyone Carrying This
39:55 Get Help. Get Healed. Get Happy.
42:06 A Legacy Worth Leaving
43:48 One Sentence For Everybody Listening
44:49 Closing
About Our Guest
Rena Romano is a speaker, author, certified empowerment coach, actress and model based in Tampa, Florida. She is the author of "His Puppet No More!" Her TEDx talk is titled "Healing From Sexual Abuse Can Start With One Word," and she hosts the sur-THRIVER Unleashed podcast.
If You Need Support
This conversation covers difficult ground. If any of it touches something in you, please know you do not have to carry it alone.
National Sexual Assault Hotline: 1-800-656-4673, free and confidential, 24/7
988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988
Guest: Rena Romano
Executive Producers: Shebastian Burley, W.E. Osley III, Andrea Bussiere
Host and Creative Director: W.E. Osley III
Technical Director and Editor: Shebastian Burley
Marketing and Distribution: Shebastian Burley
Recorded at FuturEdge Strategies Studios, downtown Tampa, Florida
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