Her Story
About Ren
Ren Dillon is a strategic communications professional with more than 35 years of experience spanning film production, television development, arts leadership, and higher education. She currently serves as Director of Strategic Communications for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at the University of Vermont, overseeing a team that crafts compelling stories to foster connection, belonging, and pride across the university's communities, including its extension programs as a land-grant institution. Prior to this role, she worked in feature films and reality TV in Los Angeles and New York, developed programming as a content producer, taught media production and helped students create documentaries at Abu Dhabi Women's College (part of Higher Colleges of Technology) for three years, directed the Green Mountain Film Festival, and served as executive director of the Chandler Center for the Arts for three and a half years. Ren holds a four-year full-tuition scholarship to the School of Visual Arts for photography, a master's degree, and an MFA in filmmaking, writing, directing, and producing from Columbia University. She is a member of the American Marketing Association and attributes her success to determination, tenacity, creativity, and problem-solving.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Ren
01What do you attribute your success to?
I come from pioneer ancestors, and they didn't have a choice but to figure stuff out and survive. I see that trajectory in my own life in terms of determination, sheer tenacity. Creativity and problem solving is the other thing that has served me in my career. I like challenges, I like problems, I thrive on needing to find solutions, innovative, creative solutions to things.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
A mentor named Jerry Cass said don't thank people too much, you're always thanking people, you're too grateful. It made me consider what I am grateful for and why I am saying thank you, and then to say no, actually this is me, I am a grateful person. I'm delighted when people give me opportunities that allow me to grow and express who I am.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Take bigger risks. Don't think that everyone's watching and waiting for you to fail. In fact, no one's really paying attention. Trust your interests. Trust the things that excite you in the world and really pursue those interests. Chase your own tail, really pursue the thing whatever that thing is that's of interest to you. Don't worry too much about what other people are finding interesting or fashionable.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Everything's changing. We're at a moment of intense, dramatic change. Many careers will evolve, many industries will be born, everything is up in the air which is a great opportunity. Crisis and opportunity are the same. Communication and storytelling is a human endeavor. AI can emulate a story but will never be emotional, so it doesn't know how to move us emotionally. It's a great opportunity for storytellers to connect with that human emotional side and bring people together through story.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Authenticity. Connection. Having a sense of belonging for myself, and being able to create that sense of belonging for other people. Empathy is the reason I believe in story so much. Story is the way we develop our empathetic muscle, and empathy is something that's really important in the contemporary world because without it there's just so much discord, fracture, things that are broken.
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