Keynote: Kaira Rouda

Back by popular demand, Lakeside’s Keynote Speaker Series takes center stage this summer with 10 new engaging guests.

On Thursday, June 13 at 7:30 p.m., we kick off the series with award-winning USA Today and Amazon Charts bestselling contemporary fiction author Kaira Rouda in Hoover Auditorium. She will be joined on stage with her husband, former California congressman Harley Rouda.

A former magazine editor and society columnist, Rouda, whose novel Best Day Ever is set in Lakeside, won the Stevie Award for Women in Business for creating the first female-focused residential real estate brand, Real Living, and growing the brand to more than 22 states before its sale to Berkshire Hathaway. Her latest novel, Under the Palms, was released May 21 and her sequel to Best Day Ever will be released in the fall. Plans are in the works to turn Beneath the Surface into a feature film.

Her first book, Real You Incorporated: 8 Essentials for Women Entrepreneurs, led to a national speaking tour. Her novel, The Next Wife, won two Silver Falchion Awards for Best Suspense Novel and was runner-up to Best Book of the Year. To date, her novels have been translated into a dozen languages. Her books are available at the Fine Print Lakeside.

Rouda is active in the areas of homelessness, food security and empowering women and girls. As a volunteer in her 20s, she created the first emergency walk-in shelter for homeless families in Central Ohio.

She has received numerous awards for her community service, including the National Kiwanis Service to Mankind Award. Rouda was also appointed by Governor Gavin Newsome to the California Volunteers Commission.