When we grow from the inside out, everything around us changes.
Hi, I’m Dr. Renee Owen. I help leaders and organizations move from fragmentation and unclear communication to coherence, connection, and shared purpose beginning from the inside out.
Organizations I’ve Worked For:
The Inside-Out Approach to Transformative Education
Becoming a Transformative Leader from the Inside Out: A Guide for Educators is written for both emerging and veteran school leaders who want to transform our education system to one where everyone thrives.
The Inside Out Transformative Leadership Model is a journey of development, starting with self-transformation and expanding outward to transform our schools and positively influence society.
Helping You Lead with Wellbeing In Mind
I am a scholar-practitioner in adult education and leadership. I serve as Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Principal Administrator Licensure program at Southern Oregon University, where I help transform teachers into change-leaders who are prepared to reimagine K–12 education and develop schools into thriving communities.
Regionally in Oregon, I coach leaders with the Southern Oregon Regional Educators Network, promoting safety, significance, and belonging in our public schools.
Internationally, I consult and coach with multinational corporations to develop leaders, improve group communication, and transform culture. I also serve as Board Facilitator for the International Transformative Learning Association, and I am a dynamic governance consultant, helping organizations use sociocracy and other forms of self-organizing governance.
My path into leadership was anything but linear.
My lived experience, paired with formal research, has given me a deep understanding of how people and systems grow. Today, I bring all of that into my coaching and consulting work.
I entered leadership on an unconventional path. In my twenties, I founded a project-based charter school in a remote Colorado community, a school that soon became a nationally recognized high-poverty/high-performing model. That experience shaped how I understand learning, holistic systems, and what helps humans thrive.
For more than two decades since, I’ve led public and private schools using a holistic, living-systems approach to close opportunity gaps and uplift the human spirit. My work has taken me from founding Paradox Valley School to serving as Executive Director of Rainbow Community School in Asheville, NC, where I deepened my expertise in whole-child education, transformative leadership, and organizational culture. I’ve been honored as an Ashoka Change Leader, a fellow in the Collaborative for Spirituality in Education, and a fellow in Transformative Educational Leadership, and I later coauthored Changemakers: Educating with Purpose with Ashoka.
As a scholar, I earned my Doctor of Education degree at Columbia University Teachers College, New York, USA, where I studied adult learning and leadership through the lens of transformative learning theory. My scholarly research and writing are primarily in personal and organizational transformation and holistic practices such as social and emotional learning and mindfulness. I serve as Senior Editor for the Holistic Education Review, a journal at the Center for Holistic Education, located at SOU.
My lifelong work is for education to be a vehicle for helping people to thrive. My personal and professional lives intertwine, with relationships, play, and purpose highly valued.
I have learned to trust my natural intuitive abilities. While I love theory, I try not to let my knowledge of academic theory get in the way of allowing insight to shine through.
As your coach, I am your greatest advocate, a savvy strategist, and an honest critic. I will challenge you to dig deep and make the most of your natural talent, compassion, and resilience.
I will help you define your goals, and guide you toward meeting those goals through a combination of inquiry, embodied learning, and action steps.
My Approach
Leadership is not just a role. It’s a way of being. My coaching integrates three core elements:
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Inner Work
Self-Awareness & Regulation
You cannot lead others well if you’re disconnected from yourself. We strengthen clarity, emotional intelligence, and internal coherence.
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Relational Work
Communication & Trust
Great leadership is relational, not positional. We improve the flow of connection, collaboration, and communication.
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Systems Work
Culture & Structure
Individual change must be supported by organizational design. We apply living-systems principles to create sustainable, regenerative cultures.
Professional Background
Education
- Doctor of Education (Ed.D.), Columbia University Teachers College, Organizational Learning & Adult Development
Experience
- 20+ years leading public and private K–12 schools
- Professor, Educational Leadership and Adult Education, Southern Oregon University
- Coach and consultant for corporations, nonprofit organizations.
Certifications & Training
- Nonprofit Executive Management, Duke University
- Presence-based Coaching Certification
- Transformative Educational Leadership
What I Believe
I believe in humankind and in your capacity to become the kind of leader you were meant to be. You deserve to live, learn, and lead in a way that feels aligned, meaningful, and whole.