Carey Renee’s childhood steeped in music, beginning with formal violin training at the age of three, Carey turned down a scholarship to study violin and vocal performance to instead pursue her desire to care for sick children. Born with a serious congenital heart defect herself, Carey spent over a decade working as a nurse and nurse practitioner in the neonatal and pediatric ICU. After the birth of her second child, becoming extremely busy restoring and opening a historic theater venue in her hometown, and experiencing significant health care burnout, Carey left the hospital and spent the next two years floundering a bit. She opened a non-traditional elementary school and started a doctoral program at Vanderbilt, but felt she was lacking the passion she had once felt in her career in critical care.