Kaira Sturdivant Rouda is a nationally known and admired author, brand expert and businesswoman, and is the chief marketing strategist responsible for developing the real estate industry’s first consumer lifestyle brand, Real Living.  She and husband Harley E. Rouda, Jr. founded Real Living in 2002, and since that time the company has grown to become one of the nation’s leading residential real estate companies with annual sales of more than $20 billion.

In addition to creating and guiding one of America’s top real estate firms, Sturdivant Rouda is an acclaimed author, writer, award-winning marketing executive, sought-after speaker and business owner.  Throughout her unique career, she has served as a consultant and advisor to leading national brands, and has written extensively for a variety of publications on the topics of marketing to women, emotional branding and work-life balance.

Sturdivant Rouda created and continues to guide Real Living’s distinct, award-winning national brand.  In addition, she directs the company’s innovative use of technology and its unique culture, which resulted in Real Living being named “Most Promising New National Brand” by The Swanepoel TRENDS Report in 2008.   

As a result of Sturdivant Rouda’s cutting-edge, brand-building techniques and innovative uses of technology and social media, the Real Living brand has received many prestigious awards and honors.  Among them: “Most Innovative Brokerage” by Inman News; “Top 50 New Franchises” by Entrepreneur Magazine; “Official Honoree” in the Webby Awards; “Standard of Excellence Award” in the Real Estate Web Awards; “Award of Excellence” from the Public Relations Society of America; “Most Innovative Marketing Technique” for Real Living’s Web 2.0 application by Who’s Who in Luxury Real Estate; “Award for Excellence” for television advertising from American Marketing Association, and two “Telly Awards” for television campaigns.   

Additionally, Sturdivant Rouda is the best-selling author of Real You Incorporated: 8 Essentials for Women Entrepreneurs. Through her books, articles, speeches and stewardship of Real Living, Sturdivant Rouda demonstrates that she is passionate about entrepreneurialism, marketing and the power of women in the workforce and beyond.

A nationally recognized speaker on the topics of entrepreneurship, branding and marketing to women, Sturdivant Rouda is a weekly columnist for ReachingWomenDaily.com, the number one marketing-to-women blog, and writes a monthly column, MomStyle. She was recognized in Entrepreneur magazine’s Top 50 Fastest-Growing, Women-Led Companies’ list and won Best Entrepreneur from the Stevie Awards for Women in Business. She was listed in the Top 10 Real Estate Newsmakers of 2007and in 2008 was named to the list of Top 50 Most Influential Women in Real Estate by the Swanepoel TRENDS Report.

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 boards of various community organizations.  Sturdivant Rouda has received numerous awards for her civic service including the Ohio Sertoma Service to Mankind Award, Kiwanis Humanitarian Award, Northwest Rotary Woman of the Year and Columbus Board of Realtors Citizen of the Year. 

She is a member of the Women Presidents’ Organization, the Google Real Estate Advisory Board, and a WebAward Judge for the Web Marketing Association.

Sturdivant Rouda is a magna cum laude graduate of Vanderbilt University where she received her bachelor of arts degree.

She and Harley live in Columbus, Ohio, with their four children.