Eastgate native Renee Cusson completed 13 years of schooling in West Clermont Local Schools, where she received this Glen Este High School class ring in 1987. She always lived close to school, with her childhood home sharing a property line with her elementary school. In an era when learning disabilities were little understood, Renee struggled due to undiagnosed dyslexia, which went largely unnoticed in her elementary and high schooling. Renee continued to struggle in higher education, and never received a college degree. Despite this, she taught herself many of the tangible skills needed to become the successful entrepreneur, mother, and grandmother that she is today. Interviewed in her childhood home, in which she now resides and runs an in-home daycare, Renee shares her story of resilience and trying new things in the face of adversity.
Listen to Renee’s story in her own words.
This object is part of the “Unconventional Wisdom” section of the Artifacts of Experience exhibition designed by University of Cincinnati students in the “Introduction to Public History” course in 2023.
We encourage you to explore the other objects in our collection.
Transcript
Renee Cusson: My name is Renee Cusson. I was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. I was raised in [the] Eastgate area. I went to Clough Pike Elementary, and then after that I went to Glen Este Middle School, and then Glen Este High School. I graduated in 1987. I got the class ring, I believe it was the beginning of my sophomore year. You know, I love my school, so [the heart] represents my love for the school, and then the stone is purple for Glen Este. I did go to college shortly after high school. About six months after high school I went to Mount Saint Joe, and my major was undecided. I didn’t have any idea of what I wanted to do. All through elementary school, I was seeing words differently than what was actually there, but was never formally diagnosed with Dyslexia. Every year I kept, you know, being promoted to the next grade, to the next grade, to the next. It was just overwhelming. All the reading, the comprehension. I mean I was able to understand [what I was reading], but it probably took four to five times longer than a traditional student. I would have to re-read things over and over and over for things to make sense, for a sentence or paragraph to finally make sense to me. But I had no clue, I had no clue what my problem [or] my issue was, I didn’t have a name for it. I was a stay at home mom for 20 plus years, but I still had this entrepreneurial spirit within me of “I want to do something to earn some money”. So the very first thing I tried was a hair bow business. I lived in Indianapolis at the time. It didn’t go as well as I had hoped and planned, so that ended. I did have a photography business. I started in Chicago when I lived up there, and I ran that for about a year while up there. Once I moved home to Cincinnati I started it back up again and ran it for about two years. The photography, that was self taught, and this was back with film. I started with film in Chicago, and then once [my youngest] girls were born, that was my full time job. I opened up a coffee shop, I had that running for four years. That I loved. I did everything on my own, I developed the idea, [and] the name of the coffee shop. It was called “Over Coffee”. I had two locations, one in Terrace Park and the other on Clough [Pike] and 8 Mile in Anderson. It wasn’t until I was about 40 when I read a newspaper article, and it took a while for me to read it, but the title was “UC Student Graduates College Despite Having Dyslexia”. After reading this article, and this student describing her symptoms and things that she experienced, I totally related to everything that she was experiencing. So, I then finally had a name for what my problem was. I then went back to school. I was divorced and realized I needed to do something to support myself, so I went back to UC Clermont. [I] picked the major of Health Education, going the route of Community Health, of building and developing healthier communities. Now, I run an in-home daycare. That kind of fell in my lap. My granddaughter needed care when my daughter decided to go and pursue her degree in teaching Montessori, and she didn’t want her daughter to go into a daycare. So, she asked if I would please watch her. I then advertised for more families, and I’ve been doing this [full time] now for two years. I love it.
