Ubuntu
I’d never heard the African word ‘ubuntu’ until reading Columbusite KairaSturdivant Rouda’s new book ‘Real You Incorporated’ The book is published by John Wiley & Son’s Inc.
Kaira’s personal history as a business woman and entrepreneur is the basis of the story, but it is not all about her. Partly inspiration, partly a work book for creating a business of your own, partly the history of the Real Living brand (a real estate company), Real You Incorporated is in book stores now…
I got an email asking if I wanted to read the book Real You Incorporated by Kaira Sturdivant-Rouda about five weeks ago. Kaira is the resident of Real Living, a real estate brokerage based out of Columbus Ohio. I am a real estate agent for Real Living HER, the Central Ohio division of Real Living. I responded via email saying “yes” I wanted to read the book and that I would review the book… on on of my Columbus blogs… duh! I’ve never reviewed a book and did not have a clue how to review a book.
Could I, would I say so if I did not like the book? Kaira is my bosses, bosses boss? Or something like that.
It was difficult for me to get into the book initially… Kaira is blonde, pretty, rich, smart, connected…she “has it all” and I am the kind of person who will think about that as I read. I admit as I read the book I would say to myself “Of course they hired her” as I read about Kaira’s early jobs in the advertising industry, in public relations, as a writer and as an executive with a national company. The Real Living website says:
“Rouda is a magna cum laude graduate of Vanderbilt University and a graduate of Leadership Columbus. She resides in Columbus with her husband and their four children.”
Luckily I could get beyond my mindset and learn something about creation, branding and business in reading the unedited manuscript of ‘Real You Incorporated.’
Partly inspirational Kaira wrote about sixteen women entrepreneurs including some women entrepreneurs I knew of…
Judi Sheppard Missett of Jazzercise
Jeni Britton Bauer of Jeni’s Ice Cream
Tripti Kasal broker owner of Real Living Infinity in Chicago
Sue Doody of Lindey’s who has also written a book about her business
Barbara Fergus of Mid West Auto Group (MAG)
Other names I did not recognize but their stories inspired me like Kelley McBride Quinn… a pilates and yoga instructor who developed a program for girls to deal with “female relational aggression”… that’s “girl bullying.”
“Is this woman someone from Central Ohio?” kept going through my brain as I read about the women entrepreneurs that Kaira featured in ‘Real You Incorporated.’ Some are from Central Ohio, some are from other parts of the country.
‘Real You Incorporated is about empowering women.
The subtitle is ‘8 Essential of Women Entrepreneurs.’ There are also twenty-four life lessons… and the definition of ubuntu…
