Kimberla Lawson Roby

Kimberla Lawson Roby is a New York Times & USA Today bestselling author, founder of Successful Women of Faith – The Sisterhood (an online women’s community), writing & publishing mentor, and public speaker.

She has published 29 books which include her faith-based, nonfiction title, "The Woman God Created You to Be: Finding Success Through Faith—Spiritually, Personally, and Professionally", as well as her novels, such as "Sister Friends Forever", "Better Late Than Never", "Sin of a Woman", "A Sinful Calling", "Changing Faces", "Best Friends Forever", "The Ultimate Betrayal", "A Christmas Prayer", "The Prodigal Son", "The Perfect Marriage", "The Reverend's Wife", "Be Careful What You Pray For", "Sin No More", "Casting the First Stone", and her debut title, "Behind Closed Doors", which was originally self-published through her own company, Lenox Press. She has sold more than 3 million copies of her books, and they have frequented numerous bestseller lists, including The New York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post, Publishers Weekly, Essence, Upscale, Black Christian News, AALBC.com, Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com, Wal-Mart, The Dallas Morning News, The Austin Chronicle and many others. Roby is also the host of The Woman God Created You to Be Podcast.

Over the years, Roby has spoken to thousands of women at conferences, churches, expos, workshops, luncheons, libraries, colleges, universities and bookstores. She shares her own personal journey straight from her heart and has a strong passion toward helping women become all whom God created them to be.

Roby is the 2013 NAACP Image Award Winner for Outstanding Literary Work – Fiction, the recipient of the 2017 SOAR Radio Trailblazer of Honor award, the 2017 Southwest Florida Reading Festival Distinguished Author award, the 2017 AAMBC Christian Fiction Author of the Year award and the 2014 AAMBC Female Author of the Year award, the 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2013 African-American Literary Awards Show (New York, NY) Female Author of the Year award, the Blackboard Fiction Book of the Year Award in 2001 for CASTING THE FIRST STONE, and in 2001, Roby was inducted into the Rock Valley College Alumni Hall of Fame (Rockford, IL). Additionally, in 2020, she was named by USA Today as one of the 100 black novelists you should read, and in February 2021, her first nonfiction book, "The Woman God Created You to Be: Finding Success Through Faith—Spiritually, Personally, and Professionally," was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work – Instructional, giving her three NAACP Image Award nominations in total.

Roby’s books deal with very real issues, including women empowerment, racial and gender discrimination in the workplace, sexual harassment, marriage, infidelity, divorce, single motherhood, infertility, breast cancer, domestic violence, childhood sexual abuse, mental illness, drug and gambling addiction, sibling rivalry, problems within the church (and the consequences), Christian/family/moral values, and the care-giving of a parent, to name a few. In addition, Roby’s books offer a message of redemption, forgiveness, and the realities of everyday life.

Roby resides in Illinois with her husband, Will.