Kaira Sturdivant Rouda

Kaira Sturdivant Rouda, president of Real Living and creator of the Real Living brand, is passionate about entrepreneurism, marketing and the power of women in the workforce and beyond. A published author, journalist, marketing executive and business owner, she built her career by working in marketing for national brands and large regional advertising agencies. She is also a contributing writer and editor for national and regional publications.

While maintaining her own writing business, she became the vice president of marketing for an Inc. 100 national franchisor, where she found her passion for franchising as a means to entrepreneurial business ownership. In 1997, she entered another field filled with entrepreneurs—residential real estate. She launched the nationally award-winning Real Living brand in 2002, now among the fastest-growing franchise companies in the country and making a dramatic impact in an industry in flux. Kaira was recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine’s Top 50 Fastest-Growing Women-Led Companies list. Real Living was also recently named one of the 50 Fastest Growing Companies in central Ohio.

Active in her community, she founded central Ohio’s first homeless shelter for families, served two terms on the board of the Mid-Ohio FoodBank, and now serves on the board of the YWCA and is an underwriter of The Women’s Fund of Central Ohio. She has received numerous awards for her civic service, including the Ohio Sertoma Service to Mankind Award, Kiwanis Humanitarian Award and Northwest Rotary Woman of the Year.

A member of the Women Presidents’ Organization, the Google Real Estate Advisory Board and a WebAward Judge for the Web Marketing Association, she is a nationally recognized speaker and continues to write a newspaper column and fiction books.

    Building Your Career and Your Real You Brand

    Marketing to Women

    The Birth of a Real Brand: Real Living the Case Study

    Putting the Real You in Your Business