Meet Anusia Gillespie, Author & Speaker
Tell us about your new book, Soul Toll. I wrote Soul Toll to fill a gap I saw in inspirational fiction. At Harvard Law School Executive Education, I witnessed firsthand the power of the case study method — how story can make nuanced, difficult topics more approachable. I wanted to bring that same impact into fiction through a page-turning novel that also invites deeper reflection. The book officially launches October 7, 2025. Already, the journey has been incredible: from delivering a pre-launch Lightning Talk in New York at a legal innovation conference, to collaborating with Kristan Marden for a book-inspired yoga workshop at the Yoga Loft in Marblehead. Those moments have sparked invitations to book clubs in Newton, gatherings of career women in New York, and beyond. One event leads to the next. It’s snowballing even before the launch. Alongside in-person events, I’m going on a podcast tour across wellness, career, legal innovation, and yoga spaces with five note-worthy spots already complete. (And if anyone has an “in” to the Soul Boom podcast with Rainn Wilson, that’s my dream stop).
What is Soul Toll about? I like to describe it as a leadership book in fantasy clothing. It follows Ember Brooke, an ambitious young attorney who discovers a hidden world called Resonance and must summon her light to confront the cost of chasing success at all costs. At its heart, it’s about the courage to pave your own path in a world that constantly tells you who to be. Early reviews have affirmed that blend of story and substance. Kirkus Reviews, one of the most influential voices in publishing, described it as: “Gillespie’s supernatural tale mixes motivational ideas with fantasy elements … an imaginative, genre-blurring novel. ”It’s thrilling entertainment, but also a mirror. Soul Toll asks: What do we lose when we follow the expected path, and how do we reclaim what matters most?
What are you most excited about with the launch of Soul Toll? Writing a book is a mostly solitary process; launching one creates dialogue. That’s what excites me most. Soul Toll is already acting as a bridge between my different roles — lawyer, innovator, yogi, and storyteller — and giving me a cohesive way to share one message: success without wholeness comes at too high a toll. What stands out most is how people are responding. I’ve given many keynotes and leadership workshops, but when I spoke about Soul Toll in New York last month, the reaction was different. People lined up afterward, not just to thank me, but to share how the themes resonated with them. I had three advance copies and they were gone in minutes, with people explaining why they needed one for their book club or DEI group.
The same was true at the Yoga Loft Marblehead workshop with Kristan Marden. We brought the book’s world of Resonance into an immersive yoga and reading experience. The room was over capacity, and participants described leaving “feeling empowered,” “different … I feel the change,” and urged us to take the workshop on the road. One person called the novel “a hug for your soul,” and that’s exactly what I want to bring to yoga festivals, wellness retreats, and corporate gatherings.
With these early experiences, what I’m most excited about is the chance to create more spaces — through the novel, workshops, and speaking — where people can pause, reconnect with themselves, and walk away with a clearer sense of what wholeness looks like in their own lives.
What is your favorite spot in Marblehead, and why? As a Marblehead native, it’s hard to pick just one spot. I have childhood memories that pull me in one direction and places I’ve grown to appreciate as an adult that pull me in another. The one that blends both is the lighthouse. As a kid, I loved balancing on its beams. Now, I enjoy the view and the activity with the harbor on one side and the open ocean on the other and the chance to sit back in a lawn chair and take it all in. And, when I’m there with my young son, I can’t resist showing him how to balance on the beams, too.
What is something people would be surprised to learn about you? This always feels like the place for a dramatic reveal, like I’ve secretly been to the moon or patented an emerging technology at twelve. I’ve done neither. I did, however, recently write a novel, which tends to surprise people who know me primarily as a lawyer and legal tech leader. For those meeting me first as an author, they might be surprised to learn that I was at Tulane during Hurricane Katrina and witnessed the aftermath—tanks in the streets, curfews with shoot-to-kill orders, black mold pneumonia crisis, and a city struggling through anarchy. That experience permanently shaped how I see the world, revealing just how fragile our systems are and how quickly they can unravel with a single pull.
For More Information:
Anusia Gillespie, Author & Speaker
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AnusiaGillespie.com
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