Rhonda Ronsman

Rhonda is in her 20th year of public speaking about sexual abuse, assault, and harassment. Her Keynotes and workshops are individualized, with the understanding that the message for survivors is different than the message for caregivers. Law enforcement, social workers, judges, workplace leaders, family members, and friends have all benefited from learning about how to identify and support those who are looking for the help that they so desperately need and deserve. 

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Rhonda is an abuse, assault, and harassment survivor. Her lifelong experience with symptoms she did not understand led her down a path of discovery and education about the why behind her behavior and how I manage it. She understands that no matter where she speaks, there is always at least one person who is, but most likely many more people who are in the room looking for a way to tell their story. Her goal is to tap into those fragile minds to give them the strength to speak, and then the tools to live.

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Rhonda quit drinking and smoking in August of 2004. Life has not been perfect since that time, but she has been awake during moments that called for action. She most certainly still makes mistakes, still questions behavior, still asks herself how to respond to triggers, still cries, and still wonders why she feels the way she does about certain situations and people, however, now, she knows full well there is another side to all of this where the answers lie, where peace can be found, where self-reliance is realized, where hope exists, and where the people who support her, even when she’s not in front of them, always stood; Where letting go at this point in life makes room for letting in things that survivors once thought they didn’t deserve; true friendship, joy, happiness, and love.

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Rhonda attended Berklee College of Music and also received Music Therapy training at Alverno College in Milwaukee, WI. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Bryant & Stratton College, receiving her AAS in Business Administration. Rhonda has also received extensive training in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Trauma Informed Care. She speaks at schools, places of work, churches, law enforcement agencies, prisons, conferences, and galas; anywhere where a survivor of abuse, assault, and harassment exists, and where people who care for them are looking to find more effective ways to do so. Rhonda has two published works, a poem called "Catching Free", published in a sexual abuse survivor's guide to freedom, and a recently published book called "Who Held the Door Open", a book where Rhonda wrote a chapter about how her mentors have helped guide her life toward realizing her value and contribution to society. 

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Rhonda is married to a wonderful husband, Mark Zolecki, and has three wonderful sons, Will, Nathan, and Keaton.