Ali Gilkeson

Ali Gilkeson is a performer, author and speaker with a sharp wit and an imaginative flair. She has traveled the world playing music and sharing stories with the band Rend Collective for the last 12 years, performing to thousands at every show. An onstage personality by night she is also a mother of 3 kids by day raising them all on the road since 6 weeks of age, whether on tour buses, airplanes or church parking lots. She has always been obsessed with writing stories and performing plays, especially ones with that classic Irish wit, the ones that make you laugh hard but then challenge you to reach for something more.

Gifted as a communicator, she started traveling around Ireland as a speaker in her early twenties taking any chance she could to encourage and embolden the young people she met.

In 2014 Rend Collective released a song called “My Lighthouse,” which much to the band's surprise soon became a platinum-selling and hugely popular not just with adults but also with kids.

Ali and the rest of the band started Rend Co Kids, (a kids ministry from Rend) writing songs for children under 13 to sing and find hope in. Rend Co Kids has seen millions of views on YouTube and outsold any other Christian kid's albums the year of release. Ali and Gareth wanted to make sure that whatever music or books they made, it would also bless the parents and give them a break… rather than hearing “Baby Shark” for the millionth time.

Ali recently signed a two-book children's book deal, with My Lighthouse releasing in 2024.