Renee Smith loves children. And with nine of her own and 18 grandchildren, she knows a bit about them, too. So that is why this self-described silly grandmother set out to write her inaugural children's book with the help of one of her grandkids Lainie "Buggy" Joyner and her imagination.
"Buggy and the Blue Frog" tells the story of a young girl named Buggy who tries to help her friend, the Blue Frog, fit in and make new friends. However, along the way, the pair learns about dealing with bullies, self-esteem and staying true to yourself.
"I think that if you teach children from a young age how special and unique they are, and not to let people make fun of them, that when they are teenagers they will respect themselves more and speak out against bullies," Smith said.
Smith, whose first calling was theatre and dance, always wanted to write a book, but she originally set out to write something more on an adult level on the topic of abuse.
"I am a survivor of physical and verbal abuse, so that kind of put me in the same realm as the bullying," Smith said. "I didn't have that respect for myself, and didn't feel enough self-worth to stand up for myself. I was a victim from the start."
Her experiences while in a 28-year-long abusive relationship inspired the former dancer to advocate against childhood bullying.
"I want to help kids at a young age and to teach them not to be victims," Smith said.
While Smith ultimately decided to write a children's book this time around, she hopes to eventually turn her original idea into a book or screenplay.
"What I wanted to do with the adult book was eventually turn it into a movie," Smith said. "It would be more like a 'Lifetime' movie."
Smith started dancing at the age of two in Georgia before moving to Memphis at five with her father who was a pilot for Southern Airways.
"I was a cheerleader and several other things at school, but ballet was my life then," Smith said.
When she was young, she learned ballet under Nelle Fisher, who was a prominent Broadway dancer and choreographer in the 1940s and '50s. When she was a teenager, she first performed on television on a WKNO programed titled "Our End of the Attic" with Ray Edelstein.
She later went on to perform for Front Street Theater and Pink Palace Theatre, which is now Theatre Memphis, with her sister before moving on to the Memphis Civic Ballet. She toured around the country with the Memphis Civic Ballet.
Later in life, she performed professionally with the Memphis Opera Chorus and spent a decade as a member of the Memphis Symphony Chorus.
Eventually, she took a job as a choreographer for the Memphis Beethoven Club where she worked with Ethel Maxwell.
Smith remembers her time learning under Maxwell fondly. While Memphians may be more familiar with Maxwell's husband who is the namesake of Early Maxwell Boulevard, Ethel Maxwell was a local celebrity in her own right who performed on Broadway with Oscar Hammerstein before becoming a professor of voice at Memphis State University for 35 years.
Now at 62, in addition to her newfound role as an author, Smith is also the President of Reactor Services Inc., a corporation that does project management services for commercial nuclear power plants. Smith's current husband founded the company with a partner, while Smith monitors the administrative side of the company.
However, of all the things Renee Smith has done, whether it's dancing, singing, writing, running with grandkids or running a company, there is one thing that always stays the same her life.
"I'm used to action," Smith said. "There is never a dull day."
