The Founder and Chief Heart Hacker of Renew Breakup Bootcamp
Amy Chan doesn’t just write about love. She rewrites the way we approach it. It started in 2007 with a WordPress blog, where Amy wrote candidly about heartbreak, dating, and what she was learning along the way. When strangers began telling her that her posts had helped them through their own breakups, the writing took on a bigger purpose. Those early posts eventually led to a dating column in Vancouver’s 24 Hours newspaper and, later, a book deal with HarperCollins.
Nearly two decades later, Amy is one of today’s leading voices in dating psychology, emotional healing, and healthy partnership. Dubbed the “scientific Carrie Bradshaw” by The Observer, she blends psychology, neuroscience, and real-world insight to help people create healthier love. In 2016, she founded Renew Breakup Bootcamp, the world’s first heartbreak retreat. As her work evolved, her focus expanded beyond healing heartbreak to helping people date smarter and build healthy partnerships. Today, she also leads Dating Bootcamp and teaches at the Esalen Institute and the Omega Institute.
Amy is the author of Unsingle: How to Date Smarter and Create Love that Lasts, a fun, science-backed guide to breaking the patterns that keep love just out of reach and building the skills for lasting relationships.
Her debut book, Breakup Bootcamp: The Science of Rewiring Your Heart, was named by The New York Times as one of eight books for people navigating divorce and was optioned by a major streaming network. Her work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Good Morning America, The Today Show, The New Yorker, The Guardian, and USA Today.
Before founding Renew, Amy was the Chief Marketing Officer of SPiN. She built her career in marketing and public relations, leading communication strategies for private and publicly traded companies. She now facilitates leadership and communication workshops for companies including Google and YouTube and has guest lectured at Columbia University.
WhyIstartedtheworld'sfirstBreakupBootcamp.
Ten years ago, I was in a relationship with a man whom I thought I'd be spending the rest of my life with. He was my first love, and without realizing it, I had put much of my sense of identity into that relationship. When everything suddenly fell apart, I broke into pieces. Not only did I lose my partner and best friend, but I lost my identity. I spiraled into depression, experienced panic attacks, and had thoughts of suicide.
During that time, I searched everywhere for a retreat or safe space where I could get the healing I needed. There was nothing specifically designed for the kind of excruciating pain that comes with separation. It took me nearly two years to recover from that breakup, during which I learned critical tools for self-soothing, emotional regulation, and rebuilding a sense of self.
The idea for Renew Breakup Bootcamp came a few years later. Most of the emails I received from readers were from people going through breakups and feeling completely overwhelmed by the pain. It was an AHA moment, I knew I had to create a safe, structured space for people to heal heartbreak in a healthy, science-based way.
As Renew grew, something unexpected began to happen. People would come to me after doing the healing work and say, "Okay, I'm over my ex… now what? How do I actually date?" I saw people who were healed but still stuck, perpetually single, caught in situationships, repeating the same dynamics, or swearing off love altogether out of fear of getting hurt again.
It became clear that healing heartbreak was only part of the journey. To truly change relationship outcomes, people also needed tools for dating, how to choose partners differently, communicate needs, regulate emotions in real time, and build secure, healthy partnerships. That realization led to the expansion of my work into Dating Bootcamp.
If you are going through heartbreak, I promise you there is light at the end of the tunnel. The breakup may feel like the worst thing that's ever happened to you, but it's often a bridge, an opportunity to learn about yourself, heal old patterns, and ultimately change the direction of your love life.
"Breakup Bootcamp is now a thing."
, Vogue
"A relationship expert whose work is like that of a scientific Carrie Bradshaw."
, The Observer
"A gateway for those who just can't get over it."
, Fortune
