Samantha Renke
Actress, Presenter, Speaker, Writer and Disability Rights Campaigner
Community Action
Samantha Renke is an actress, presenter, speaker, writer and disability rights campaigner. Her credits include Morning Live (BBC One), Sunday Morning Live (BBC One), Rip Off Britain (BBC One), Loose Women (ITV), Good Morning Britain (ITV), Jeremy Vine on 5 (Channel 5), The Disability Paradox (BBC Four), Front Row (BBC Radio 4) and Word Of Mouth (Radio 4). She has also been interviewed on ITV News, Channel 4 News, Channel 5 News, Sky News and Radio 5 Live.
Samantha is a columnist for the Metro and has written for The Huffington Post and PosAbility magazine. She also featured in the highly successful series of adverts for Maltesers based on real-life experiences of disabled people and has collaborated with brands such as Amazon Prime Video.
She has spoken at events for organisations such as the National Education Union, Houses of Parliament, and the British Red Cross and is the disability lead for Paramount (formerly VIACOM).
Samantha is an ambassador for Scope and patron of Head2Head Theatre. She has been recognised in Shaw Trust’s Disability Power 100 since 2018, was nominated as Campaigner of the Year in the 2019 European Diversity Awards and Celebrity of the Year in the 2020 National Diversity Awards.
She is a guest speaker in this year’s Happy Place Festival and her debut book, You Are The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread, was published in July by Penguin Books under its Happy Place Books imprint, which is curated by Fearne Cotton.
“You are the best thing since sliced bread. I’ve always loved my uniqueness, an innate love for all of my identities and especially my disability identity. This sense of self with has taken a beating over the years with society trying to tell me I’m the problem. But I’m here to say that no matter who you are, simply remember that you are the best thing since sliced bread and if you need reminding that’s what I’m here to do!”
