Real Living President Kaira Sturdivant Rouda Wins Stevie(R) Award’s Best Entrepreneur

Kaira Sturdivant Rouda, president of Real Living and author of Real You Incorporated: 8 Essentials for Women Entrepreneurs, was the winner of the 2008 Stevie Awards for Women in Business in the category of Best Entrepreneur.

The Stevie® Awards are the world’s leading business awards. Since 2004, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business has honored entrepreneurial and executive businesswomen worldwide. All entries are evaluated by a board of prominent business professionals. For a complete list of winners, visit www.stevieawards.com/women.

“It is such an honor to receive this prestigious award,” said Rouda. “Our great team at Real Living is the reason we’ve been able to grow this brand and take it across the country.”

Rouda, a small-business marketing expert, established the Real Living brand in 2001, and the company has grown more than 300 percent since its inception. She knew that women were the driving force in real estate transactions, making 91 percent of the home-purchasing decisions and 85 percent of all buying decisions. And single women are the second-largest group of homebuyers in America, after married couples. This became the basis for the creation of the first national women-focused brand in real estate.

Inspired by the entrepreneurial agents in the Real Living network, Rouda’s book, Real You Incorporated, is about empowering women to turn their personal brand into a unique competitive advantage. It recently received a National Best Book Award. www.RealYouIncorporated.com expands on the topics in the book and features a forum for women to share successes.

Real Living, based in Columbus, Ohio, is a real estate company with 2,200 agents and 100 offices nationwide. With a full suite of home and lifestyle services, Real Living also offers nationwide corporations industry leading relocation management services. For more, visit www.RealLiving.com.

KAIRA STURDIVANT ROUDA is a small-business marketing expert who teaches entrepreneurs how to turn personal brands into unstoppable competitive advantages. Author of Real You Incorporated: 8 Essentials for Women Entrepreneurs, Rouda’s Real You Method energizes women to live authentic lives, finding clarity, happiness and success. A dynamic national speaker, columnist and entrepreneur, Rouda empowers women to put their passions into action, without guilt or work/life balance issues. For more or to join a growing community of women entrepreneurs, visit: www.RealYouIncorporated.com.