You ever finish a book and just… sit there? Like, the world is moving around you, but you need a solid five minutes to stare at a wall and process because your soul just got a little upgrade? That was me after finishing How Will I Know by Marc Renson. It was our February Book Club pick, and honestly, I wasn’t ready for how much I needed it. It felt less like reading a novel and more like getting a pep talk from the universe—specifically for anyone who’s ever felt a little lost, alone, or like they’re just winging it (so, all of us?).

I got the chance to chat with the man behind the magic, Marc Renson. He’s a chef, an entrepreneur, a creator, and apparently, a guy who listens when Whitney Houston shows up in his dreams (more on that later, promise). We talked about everything—from his breaking point in 2010 that changed everything, to how the Florida Keys became his church, to why he believes there’s no such thing as a coincidence.

So grab your coffee (fresh, obviously), maybe a boozy muffin if you’re feeling festive, and let’s dive into the mind of a man who turned a mid-life crisis into a literary masterpiece.

Below are Amazon Affiliate links – I earn a commission on qualified purchases – every little bit helps support the book club and keeps these fun conversations alive

Meet Marc: Chef, Dreamer, and Accidental Author

First things first—who is this guy? If you head upstate to Schenectady, New York, you’ll find a little spot called Ambition Coffee and Eatery. It’s been Marc’s baby for nearly 26 years. But Ambition isn’t just a place to grab a latte; it’s a whole vibe. Think vintage tin ceilings, Greek mosaic floors, and enough personality to rival a Broadway show. It’s the kind of place that screams “character,” which makes sense because Marc is full of it.

Marc didn’t set out to be a writer. He’s a chef by trade. But when you own a restaurant that attracts eclectic customers and bizarre situations, the universe tends to nudge you. For Marc, that nudge came in the form of notes he started collecting about the daily drama at his shop. “I would say, this is a movie or this is a book you would read,” he told me. Eventually, those notes became his first book, Is the Coffee Fresh?, a nonfiction deep dive into the dysfunction of running a downtown coffee house.

But Marc isn’t just about food. He’s about creation. “I love food, music, and Hollywood,” he says. And because the universe loves a guy with specific tastes, it started sending him exactly that. We’re talking Bradley Cooper, Alton Brown, Ryan Gosling, and the Cake Boss walking through his doors. It’s like the law of attraction on steroids.

The Ambition Behind the Ambition

Let’s talk about that name for a second—Ambition. It sounds serious, right? Like you need a five-year plan just to order a bagel. But Marc’s definition is a little more… Dolly Parton.

“You probably would not expect this title because it is taken from Dolly Parton’s song,” Marc laughed. “Pour myself a cup of ambition, yawn and stretch and try to come to life.” (If you didn’t just sing that line in your head, we can’t be friends).

Marc has loved Dolly his whole life—he even met her in 2004!—and that energy is baked into the walls of his restaurant. It’s kitschy, nostalgic, and fun. It’s a place where Marilyn Monroe and Molly Ringwald photos hang on the walls, and where Marc’s soul is basically on display for everyone to see.

And if you’ve read How Will I Know, you’ll notice a lot of similarities between Marc’s real-life eatery and the restaurant Michael Monroe (the main character) dreams of opening. “Michael is a chef because I’m a chef. Michael wants to own a restaurant because I wanna own a restaurant,” Marc explained. It’s art imitating life in the most delicious way possible.

The 2012 Premonition (and The Whitney Connection)

Okay, here’s where things get spooky—in the best way.

In 2012, the world lost Whitney Houston. Later that same year, Marc got a little voice in his head. It wasn’t telling him to change the lunch special; it was telling him to write a book. Specifically: “Write a book. Call it How Will I Know. And use Whitney Houston as a guardian angel.”

Now, most people might ignore a voice telling them to write a novel starring a deceased pop icon as a celestial guide. But Marc? He listened. “I love that idea ’cause it’s everything who I am—food, music, and Hollywood,” he said. The only problem? He had no clue how to write fiction.

He’d written nonfiction before, sure. But inventing a world? Creating characters? That was a whole new beast. And like most big creative projects, it didn’t happen overnight. He wrote 18 pages in 2016. Another 20 pages in 2018. It was a slow burn.

Then came 2020. The world shut down, and Marc suddenly had a lot of free time. He finished the rough draft in November of that year, and realized something wild: “I didn’t realize I was pulling from my life’s events and who I am as a person… everything that I believe in was getting thrown into Michael Monroe.”

The Breakdown That Started It All

The emotional core of How Will I Know comes from a very real, very raw moment in Marc’s life. In the book, the main character Michael hits a breaking point. Marc lived that breaking point in January 2010.

Picture this: It’s the middle of the banking recession. Marc’s restaurant is $80,000 in debt. Payroll is bouncing. He’s stressed, exhausted, and feeling completely defeated. He heads down to Key Largo for his annual vacation (mostly because the flight was cheap and he had a free place to stay at his aunt’s house), and he just… breaks.

“I cried my eyes out to the Florida Bay,” Marc recalled. “I said, ‘God, if this is what you want me to do, you have got to help me because I can’t do this anymore by myself.’”

And then? The wind picked up. And a voice in his head said, The wind. That’s me. I’m here.

Chills, right? But wait, it gets crazier.

Marc went back to New York. Within 15 days—fifteen!—every cent of that $80,000 debt was either resolved or put on a manageable payment plan. He got the contract for his first book. And then, the universe decided to drop a literal key in his path.

He was in Memphis in June 2011. He saw a key on the ground. The voice said, Pick it up. He did. Two weeks later, Bradley Cooper walked into his life and asked Marc to feed him a paleo diet while filming The Place Beyond the Pines. That gig changed everything—Marc’s reputation, his finances, his confidence.

“Two weeks later after I found this key that God said to pick it up… it opens the doors to your future,” Marc said.

Why Whitney? (And Why Prince, and Donna Summer…)

So why is Whitney Houston the guardian angel? Marc believes she picked him.

Marc isn’t just a chef; he’s also a psychic medium (casual, right?). He spent years taking holistic classes to understand his intuition. “I believe she picked me,” he says. She even visited him in dreams to help him write the book.

In one dream, Whitney handed him a concert ticket. Marc, being logical even in his sleep, told her, “Whitney, you are dead. There are no more concerts.” Three years later? The Whitney Houston hologram tour was announced.

When he got stuck writing, he’d ask her what to do. Her advice? “You know what to do.” (Which is basically the universe’s way of saying “Do the scary thing you’re avoiding”). For Marc, that meant calling Bradley Cooper for advice on copyright lawyers. He was terrified, but he did it. And it worked.

And it’s not just Whitney. The book is a celestial VIP room. Prince, Donna Summer, Olivia Newton-John—they all make appearances. “My first editor asked, ‘Why are only dead people black?’” Marc laughed. “I don’t know! These are just the people I believe Whitney wanted me to write about.”

Honestly? I’m here for it. If I’m getting life advice from the great beyond, I want it delivered by the cast of the greatest concert never played.

The Magic of Key Largo

A huge chunk of Marc’s heart (and his book) lives in the Florida Keys. Specifically, Key Largo.

“The Florida Keys is my church,” Marc told me. “When you’re that quiet, your vibration rises… you start hearing different things.”

For Marc, Key Largo is about solace. It’s sitting on a dock watching a pelican fly by. It’s the silence that lets you hear the answers you’ve been screaming for. It’s where he met God in the wind, and it’s where he goes to reset.

And let’s be real—it’s also about the food. His go-to meal? Steak Mexicana at Keys Bite. (He asks his husband Greg to buy it for him before they even leave New York).

If you’ve read the book, you’ll recognize the drive down the Overseas Highway, the hum of the Jeep tires, the smell of the salt air. It’s not just a setting; it’s a character. And for anyone who’s ever needed to run away to find themselves, it hits home hard.

Listening to the Signs (Because Coincidences Are BS)

If there’s one takeaway from chatting with Marc, it’s this: Stop calling them coincidences.

“When something is trying to get your attention, it will appear over and over and over again until you realize it is not just a coincidence,” Marc said.

He has a trick for this. When he has a big question, he tells the universe exactly what sign he wants to see as an answer. And usually? He gets it within a day.

Like the time he was nervous about a book signing. He was driving to Walmart, and Whitney’s So Emotional came on the radio. Now, for a specific song to play during an 11-mile drive in the Florida Keys? That’s not an accident. That’s a wink from the universe.

“I don’t believe in coincidences,” Marc says. “If you’re meant to hear Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now by Starship, you were meant to hear that.”

It’s Okay to Fail (and Eat Muffins)

One of my favorite things about Marc—and his character Michael—is the permission to be messy. Michael fails. A lot. He self-sabotages. He doubts himself. He’s insecure.

But the beauty of the book is that it’s not a tragedy; it’s a fairy tale. It’s a reminder that even when you’re failing, you’re being guided. And sometimes, that guidance tells you to do something weird—like putting Baileys Irish Cream into a muffin mix.

True story: Just before the COVID lockdowns, a voice told Marc to put Baileys in his bread pudding muffins. He thought it was stupid. He did it anyway. They went viral. He ended up shipping “Boozy Muffins” all over the country, and those muffins helped save his restaurant during the pandemic.

So, yeah. Listen to the voice. Eat the muffin. Trust the process.

What’s Next for Marc?

Marc isn’t slowing down. He’s gearing up for restaurant week in Schenectady, running a 5K at Disney World (dressed as Prince, naturally), and continuing to embrace the artist’s life.

“I mostly consider myself an artist because I love to create,” he says. “Whether it’s a menu item, a name for an entree, or a book.”

Will there be a sequel to How Will I Know? Maybe. The book ends with Michael’s restaurant about to open, and Whitney promising she’ll always be with him. “She could very well come back and cause havoc in his New York City restaurant,” Marc teased. “You never know.”

Final Thoughts: Just Pick Up the Key

Talking to Marc felt like a reminder that life is magical if you let it be. We get so caught up in the grind that we forget to look for the keys on the ground, or listen for the songs on the radio, or feel the wind on our face and think, Okay, I’m not alone.

How Will I Know might be fiction, but the heart of it is truth. It’s about hitting rock bottom and realizing that’s exactly where the foundation gets built. It’s about trusting that you know what to do, even when you’re scared to death to do it.

So, do yourself a favor. Read the book. Listen to some Whitney. And the next time you see something sparkle? Don’t brush it off. It might just be your sign to keep going.

(And seriously, if you’re ever in upstate New York, go get a boozy muffin. Tell Marc I sent you).