Main Street Moxie
Main Street Moxie was born out of our love of the spoken word and constantly being inspired by people, businesses, and organizations that are mavericks in their own way. Our guests took a leap, all because they believed in themselves, and as a result, made something out of nothing. They had a vision and the necessary belief, and paved a new way – they had MOXIE! You can learn from these moxie stories. We're all capable of moxie in our lives and through our conversations with guests, you'll learn how to move your own moxie along the moxie meter.
Main Street Moxie
Episode 53: Kelly Finley
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Kelly Finley's moxie comes in hot. As "The Queen of Spice," she's built a readership on shameless love and heroines who refuse to be intimidated — and she wears that crown, black leather and all, with pride.
By day, Kelly is a Senior Lecturer and Undergraduate Advisor for the Women's & Gender Studies Program at UNC Charlotte, where she's taught for over two decades and guided one of the largest WGS programs in the country. Her research and courses dig into female adolescence, virginity, body image, and women and work — the same threads that run straight through her fiction.
In 2020, Kelly turned to writing fiction, using her knowledge and training in gender studies to underpin her romances featuring bad** women and grown-a** men. Nineteen books later, she's built a catalog of FMCs and MCs readers champion: complex, brave, whip-smart, and never, ever weak.
In her books, Kelly's flips the script. Not satisfied by heroines who need saving, she writes women who are strong, layered, and unintimidated, who embrace their autonomy and communicate their needs, and men who can be real partners in the relationship.
That same instinct to amplify girls' voices led her to found the Charlotte chapter of We Rock (formerly Girls Rock), a nonprofit that helps youth ages 10–16 find their voices through music, film, and community. It's the same mission wearing a different hat: give someone the tools, and get out of the way while they become who they already are and use their voices to make change happen for themselves and those around them.
Kelly's moxie is consistent — she's spent her whole career making room for women and girls to be loud, complicated, and completely unapologetic.
Resources
Women's and Gender Studies Program at UNC Charlotte
Social Links
Kelly Finley Books (@KellyFinleyBooks) • Facebook
Kelly Finley (@kellyfinleybooks) • Instagram photos and videos
Kelly Finley (Author of Holiday for Six)
