Renee grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan and graduated from MIT in 2018 with a degree in Chemistry and Biology. During her time there, she worked in Steve Lippard's lab designing novel anticancer drugs and Stephen Buchwald's group optimizing palladium catalysts. At MIT, Renee was also heavily involved with MIT Sport Taekwondo, where she served as captain and president. Renee also conducts epidemiological sports injury research for taekwondo.