10 Things You Didn't Know About Kaira Rouda

1.    

  I moved around a lot when I was young. My parents are both from Northern California, but I never lived there. I was born in Evanston, Illinois, where my dad got his PhD at Northwestern; my sister came along next, when my dad was a professor at University of Southern California. When my dad became a professor at University of Texas, Austin, my brother was born. We moved on from there to Boston when my dad became a professor at Harvard. The final stop was Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. That’s where I went to middle school and high school.  I raised my kids in the same suburb until the first one went off to college at Chapman University in Southern California. We all followed him.

2.      My first book, REAL YOU INCORPORATED: 8 Essentials for Women Entrepreneurs was one of the first business books for women. It was based on my experience working with my husband to build the first national residential real estate brand acknowledging that women are the key decision makers in all real estate purchases – influencing of making 91 percent of all home purchases. Until Real Living Real Estate was launched, all advertising was directed toward men. Not kidding. I’m proud of that accomplishment – and the fact we stayed married after working together closely for seven years!

3.      My husband and I went to the same high school in Upper Arlington, Ohio, but didn’t meet until I was a reporter for Business First , a business newspaper, and he was an attorney at a law firm in town. I have three boys and one girl, and she is number 2. Coffee: black. I love lavender and I make a killer Kale salad! I’m vegetarian and gluten free.

4.      I was the society columnist for Columbus, Ohio, for more than 10 years.

5.      When I laugh, I honk. Yes, like a goose at times. I laugh a lot with friends. Friends mean the world to me.

6.      I’m almost always smiling. I feel very blessed to be living the life of my dreams.

7.      I don’t like math, or budgets but I love painting, and photography.

8.      I’m only as happy as my saddest kid. I am 1/8 Cherokee, a member of Daughter’s of the America Revolution. My ancestor, John Sturdivant landed in Jamestown in 1623. I love doing ancestry research.

9.      My dream, since as long as I could remember, was to be a novelist. It took awhile, so I tell people to never give up! My first novel, Here, Home, Hope was published in my 40s! Things happen for a reason, when they’re supposed to, as long as you keep believing in yourself.

10.  I almost always wear the “e” key off of my computers. I am confident I can win a hula hoop contest. I love to paddleboard as long as the waves are tiny and the sun is shining. I am finally living at the beach – a place I’ve dreamed of living since I was little. 

I’m thrilled Lines in the Sand is out today! I am having so much fun writing romance and learning from Jane Porter and her team at Tule Publishing. I hope you enjoy your visit to Indigo Island, too. Please let me know! Sign up for my newsletter at http://www.kairarouda.com and find me on Facebook at http://www.Facebook.com/KairaRoudaBooks