October Author Spotlight: Meet the Women Behind UNSTOPPABLE

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We’re excited to welcome Karen Wells, Kelly Copes-Anderson, Marla Lewis, and Stacia Gowens as our October Author Spotlight and to feature their powerful collaborative work, UNSTOPPABLE: Stories of Sisterhood, Strength, and Resilience for Women in Life and Leadership.

 

Born from a friendship that grew through shared experiences, faith, and sisterhood, UNSTOPPABLE brings together four powerful stories of leadership, loss, resilience, transformation, and rising again. Through their individual journeys, the authors remind readers that being unstoppable isn’t about never struggling—it’s about continuing to become, rebuild, and rise with the support of others.
 

In this special Q&A, the authors take us behind the story of UNSTOPPABLE, sharing how the book came to life, the lessons their journeys have taught them, and the message they hope every woman carries with her after reading it.

 

👇Scroll through our conversation below…

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Denola Burton: ​​Welcome, Stacia, Karen, Marla, and Kelly! We’re so excited to have you with us for our October Author Spotlight and to celebrate UNSTOPPABLE.

To begin, tell us about your friendship, your tradition of traveling together, and how a trip to Aruba ultimately became the beginning of this powerful book.

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Kelly Copes-Anderson: Thank you so much, Denola, for having us! We’re excited to be here and to share the story behind UNSTOPPABLE and the friendship that brought us together.
 

Our friendship has been such an important part of this journey, and it really goes back to how our lives first connected. We found each other through our children, Eastern Star Church, and the halls of Eli Lilly and over time those connections grew into something much deeper than friendship. We became godmothers to each other's children, the first call in a hard season, and a village for one another long before we ever named it that. After I retired from Lilly and Stacia was in a career transition, we took our first girls' trip to Aruba — just us, no spouses, no performance. For the first time in a long time we told each other how we were really doing. In the middle of that trip, Stacia presented a proposal to write a book together, and all four of us said yes without hesitation. We wanted every woman who read it to feel exactly what we felt on that island: seen, not alone, and deeply encouraged.
 

Denola Burton: At what point during or after that Aruba trip did the conversation shift from sharing your experiences with one another to realizing, “There may be a book here”?

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Stacia Gowens: Honestly? I showed up already knowing. I don't do vacation without an agenda — ask my husband — so when the four of us landed in Aruba, I packed sunscreen, swimsuits, and a one-page pitch deck. Purpose, vision, audience, tone, structure, even blank lines at the bottom for notes.

But the real shift — the moment it stopped being my idea and started being ours — happened after days of sitting in beach chairs and letting our guards down. We'd stripped away the performing-strength version of ourselves and gotten to the real one. So when I finally slid that page across the table, it landed differently than it would have on day one. Marla asked if I already had a title. Karen asked about the timeline, because Karen always asks about the timeline. And Kelly just looked at me the way she does and said, 'Of course we're doing this.'

That's the moment. Not when I had the idea — when the three of them trusted me enough to say yes to it.​​
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Denola Burton: Each of you has built a successful career as an executive. How did your experiences navigating Corporate America shape the stories and leadership lessons you chose to share in UNSTOPPABLE?
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Karen S. Wells: Navigating Corporate America as a first-generation college graduate, often the only Black woman in the room, taught me that excellence alone was never the whole story. For years, I believed we had to leave our stories and our past at the door, that who we were before the title had no place in how we led. I learned the opposite is true. The most powerful thing a leader can offer is not her résumé, but her truth. My chapters in UNSTOPPABLE share the lessons behind the titles, the breaking and the rebuilding, because owning your story is the first step to walking boldly and freely in life and leadership.

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Denola Burton: Of all the words you could have chosen to represent your collective journey, why UNSTOPPABLE? What does that word represent for the four of you?

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Marla Lewis: For me, UNSTOPPABLE represents sisterhood and resilience…the decision to keep becoming, even when life doesn't go according to plan. Being unstoppable isn't about never struggling; it's about having the courage to rise, begin again, and let others walk beside you.
 

Denola Burton: Sisterhood is an important thread throughout UNSTOPPABLE. What has sisterhood meant in your own journey, and how has having other strong women in your corner affected who you have become?

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Karen S. Wells: For much of my career, and even my life, I believed I had to be perfect, always prepared and in control. That leaning on others was a sign of weakness rather than wisdom. My faith was the one exception. Sisterhood taught me otherwise. The women in my corner have seen me at my highest and my lowest, and they never once let me shrink or pretend. They reminded me who I was when I forgot, celebrated me without envy, and told me the truth when I needed it most. That is what sisterhood has meant in my journey, and it is woven through every page of UNSTOPPABLE, because none of us became who we are on our own.
 

Denola Burton: Strength does not always look the way we expect it to. What experience in your life changed your understanding of what it truly means to be strong?

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Marla Lewis: For a long time, I thought strength meant handling everything, finding the answer, and simply getting it done. Then my body broke down…my hair was falling out, my hormones were in crisis, and no amount of pushing harder was going to fix it. That was the moment I learned real strength can also mean asking for help, setting a boundary, walking away, starting over, or allowing yourself to be supported.
 

I've learned that strength isn't about never breaking…it's knowing who I am and whose I am, and trusting that I can still rise and keep becoming, even when life changes me.

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Denola Burton: Resilience is often described as “bouncing back,” but sometimes we do not return to who we were. We become someone different. How has resilience shown up in your journey?

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Kelly Copes-Anderson: For me, resilience has never been about bouncing back,  it has been about becoming. My faith keeps me grounded in the belief that there is purpose in everything, even the seasons that break your heart. My hot yoga and Pilates practice keeps my body strong enough to carry what my life asks of it, because I have learned that your nervous system carries grief before your mind does. And Karen, Marla, and Stacia are a lifeline. They hold space for me, remind me of who I am, and love me with a consistency that gets me back up. I did not return to who I was. I came back clearer, more grounded, and more fully myself than the woman who left.

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Denola Burton: Who is the woman you hope picks up UNSTOPPABLE, and what do you hope she believes about herself by the time she finishes it?

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Stacia Gowens: I hope it's the woman at her own fork in the road — tired of performing strength alone. I want her to close this book knowing she's not behind, not broken, and not the only one.
 

Being 'the table' was never about a seat just for me. My own rebuilding happened in community — Kelly on a beach, a friend opening her home, my sister reminding me I'd been the table all along. So I hope this woman closes the book and calls someone. Because UNSTOPPABLE was never a solo sport. It's a sisterhood.

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Denola Burton: Thank you, Stacia, Karen, Marla, and Kelly, for sharing your stories, your friendship, and the heart behind UNSTOPPABLE. Your journey is a beautiful reminder that strength is not always found in standing alone, but also in the women who walk beside us. We’re honored to feature you and UNSTOPPABLE as our October Author Spotlight.