About Renee.
Speaker. Communication strategist. Stubborn believer that how people feel in an interaction matters as much as the outcome.
Bio
Renee Funk helps leaders and sales pros communicate with clarity, curiosity, and presence. Most often hired by leadership teams, sales organizations, and conference hosts who want communication strategy grounded in real-world experience, not theory.
She co-founded The Funk Collection, a relationship-driven real estate organization rooted in community, service, and earning trust. Building and sustaining a legacy business required far more than sales skill, it demanded the ability to navigate high-stakes conversations during life's biggest transitions.
Long before real estate, she learned that presence, curiosity, empathy, and respect for the human experience aren't optional , they're the standard. Those principles became the defining differentiator, and they remain central to every keynote and training delivered today.
As an Exactly What to Say® Licensed Trainer since 2023, the EWTS methodology, focused on earning trust, strengthening relationships, and moving beyond robotic scripting, is woven into the fabric of her teachings.
Renee's leadership is recognized by SUCCESS Magazine, naming her one of the SUCCESS 125 Leaders to Know. Today, she speaks and trains nationally for organizations, leadership teams, conferences, and sales people who seek to elevate how they communicate, lead with intention, and create clarity in conversations that matter most.
If you get the chance to work with Renee, grab it. You'll learn from her, and you'll find she'll look to learn from you too. That's what great leaders do.
Rick Miller
Former Pres. AT&T Global Services
Based in
Windermere, FL
Family
Wife of 25 years · Mom of two boys
Loves
Disney enthusiast
Gives back
Edgewood Children's Ranch, Orlando
Who has Renee worked with?
Previous Events
T3 Sixty Leadership Summit
NAREE
UNITE! Charleston
FUBCON
INMAN Connect
LEVEL Up Atlanta
California Assoc of REALTORS
Houston Assoc of REALTORS
SUCCESS Live
Dippidi Deep Dive
Leadership Lessons
When Disney shapes business.
Renee's love of Disney runs deep. Family time at the parks is sacred, a tradition built on shared wonder, impeccable storytelling, and the kind of guest experience that turns strangers into lifelong fans.
It was inside those gates that she first felt the power of language done right, every cast member's word choice, every scripted moment of delight, every carefully engineered emotion adding up to something unforgettable.
Be a fan
In her post "When You Did Not Expect a Theme Park to Change the Way You Lead," Renee unpacks how Disney's obsession with experience design maps directly to real-world business leadership.
The same principles that create magic in Orlando create momentum in boardrooms, sales floors, and team meetings , every touchpoint intentional, every relationship treated like a guest experience worth remembering.
Credentials & Recognition
Certifications & awards.
National Speaker Association (NSA) Professional Speaker
Exactly What to Say Licensed Guide, Phil M Jones
SUCCESS Top 125 Leaders to Know
AMPLIFii Leadership Certification, Rene Rodriguez
SUCCESS Certified Coach Certification
eXp LUXURY Real Estate Certification
eXp Realty ICON Agent Award, 2018-2025
The day she rang the bell.
A "pinch me" moment, standing on the NASDAQ podium in Times Square, ringing the closing bell as an entrepreneur whose career was built one relationship, one conversation at a time.
- Industry
- Real Estate
- Role
- Team Co-Founder
- Business
- The Funk Collection
- The Moment
- She Almost Said "No" To
Before the keynote stages, Renee was, and still is, a co-founder of The Funk Collection, a relationship-driven real estate team she's co-led. Every transaction taught her what no classroom could: that trust is earned, and the way a conversation feels is the way a brand is remembered.
Being invited to ring the NASDAQ Closing Bell, with eXp World Holdings is a reflection of what's possible when you are open to what is possible as an entrepreneur, and when you take a leap before you think you might be ready.
Sponsoring an NBA team during a pandemic.
A life-large goal accomplished, then re-written overnight. In August 2019, Jeff and Renee signed a multi-year sponsorship with the Orlando Magic, the largest professional commitment of their career. Seven months later, the NBA went dark.
- Partner
- Orlando Magic
- Signed
- August 2019
- The Pivot
- March 2020
- The Lesson
- Agility & Grit
The contract was built on hospitality, events, and once-in-a-lifetime moments, the kind of access that money alone could not buy. On-court team photos before practice. Exclusive agent experiences. Client nights at the arena. The first activation delivered exactly that, and then the world stopped.
Quarantine arrived. Arenas closed. A multi-year financial commitment, the biggest of an entire career, had to be navigated through a global pandemic that was no one's fault. What followed were the consumer-hat moments, the late-night conversations, the wins and the losses, and a real-time education in leading through uncertainty.
This chapter is part of the foundation Renee draws from on stage today: setting goals worth chasing, and building the agility to honor them when the playbook changes overnight.
A look back at sponsoring the Orlando Magic.
Watch
Center court at Amway Center, the night the signage went live.
Activation
The Funk 25 jersey, day one.
Day one
Client night, in the stands.
The team, on the floor.
Above the floor.
Giving Back
Philanthropic focus.
For Renee and her family, success has always been measured by the lives they help shape. Their hearts belong to Edgewood Children's Ranch in Orlando, a home and a haven for kids who deserve safety, structure, and a future to believe in.
From hands-on visits to long-standing financial support, the Funks show up, not for recognition, but because every child deserves someone in their corner.
It's a commitment they share as a family, and one Renee carries onto every stage she steps on. The same principles that built her career, presence, contribution, showing up , are the principles she pours into these kids.
Learn more about Edgewood Children's Ranch.
A Podcast / Co-Founder
Leadership from the Heart.
March 2020. Two friends, Renee Funk and Elizabeth Riley, woke up like the rest of the world, staring down a pandemic and a quarantine with no playbook. As leaders of teams, the question was immediate and terrifying: "How the heck do we lead through this?"
Renee and Elizabeth gave themselves one day to feel all of the uncertainty. Then they pulled the bootstraps up, and got to work. Within a week Leadership from the Heart podcast launched. Live stream interviews, five days a week, having real conversations with respected influential thought leaders, about leading through adversity, change, and radical uncertainty.
Guests came from inside real estate and far beyond, including Lee Cockerell, Former VP of Walt Disney World, Stefan Swanepoel and many others.
By the numbers
- Launched
- 2020
- Format
- Live · 5x/wk
- Co-Founder
- Elizabeth Riley
- Theme
- Leadership through Change
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