Ronelle has always had a love of story-telling and writing, and as a student teacher, wrote for Teachers' College Newspapers, followed later in her career by articles for the Department of Education and New South Wales Teachers' Federation.

After graduating as a Secondary School Science and Geography teacher, she taught at a variety of State High Schools in Sydney and country areas of New South Wales, Australia. Ronelle rose to Head Teacher and in turn, Deputy Principal of a co-educational High School, where she concerned herself with the welfare and encouragement of all students. As Girls' Supervisor and later Head Teacher in charge of girls, she developed programs to enhance self-confidence and self-worth, and invited parents to join in and be actively involved in the development of their children.

As Camp Director of Camp Quality on the Illawarra south coast, she had a deep understanding of the fears and challenges experienced by children coping with life threatening illnesses. She also witnessed the bravery demonstrated by many of these young people in the face of adversity. This reinforced her belief in the presence of a 'benevolent spiritual force'.

Over her 40 years of teaching, Ronelle developed an understanding and appreciation of the way teenagers and young adults think, talk and act. In her counselling roles she was able to respond to teenagers as they revealed their concerns and anxieties. As well as the joys of relating to young people from happy functioning families, she empathised with children from dysfunctional ones. Her experience with young people has given her a solid base to address some of their fears in her writing, and answer, to some extent, the questions she has been asked in the past.

Since retirement, as well as completing her first novel, she has written and illustrated a number of personalised storybooks for her two grandchildren. 

Her first novel, Encounter, a thriller, deals with the adventures and challenges of 13 year-old Jonathon Newman-Smith as he battles with family relationships, his spirituality and the frightening adult world of espionage and terrorism.