Lily Owens
Author Bio for Podcast Interview:
Michelle is the Director of Human Resources at Fast Lane North America, with over 23 years of experience in the HR industry. She holds an MBA from the University of Phoenix and a Bachelor’s degree in Spanish from SUNY Fredonia. Though she’s built a successful career in HR, Michelle has always dreamed of becoming a romance author—a dream that first took root when she began reading Harlequin novels at the age of 14.
Known throughout her life for telling the best stories, Michelle has a natural gift for weaving humor, emotion, and heart into everything she shares. Friends, family, and colleagues constantly look forward to hearing her next story, knowing they’ll laugh, feel deeply, and stay hooked until the very end. That storytelling talent, combined with her vivid, detailed dreams, inspired her to fill countless notebooks with ideas and outlines over the years—starting more than 13 books but never finishing one.
In 2019, determined to finally put herself first, she joined a book writing club to learn how to craft her novel. Though the pandemic interrupted her progress, after COVID, Michelle and her husband moved to Pennsylvania, and she found herself ready to stop putting her dreams on hold. She picked up the manuscript she started in class and poured herself into it non-stop, finishing what would become her debut novel. Watching her brother’s best friend, Corey, achieve his own dream of publishing a book provided the final push she needed.
Michelle published Chasing the Truth on November 25, 2024, followed by her second novel, Hearts in the Crossfire, on February 15, 2025. She currently has two additional novels in the works and one out for publishing, all while building a growing fanbase of readers who eagerly ask when her next story will arrive.
She writes under the pen name Lily Owens, a tribute to her deep love for her pups—Lily, her loyal Chihuahua, and Owen, her late Jack Russell Terrier. Their names grace her novels as a way to keep them close to her heart, honoring the special bond they’ve shared since they were babies.
In 2019, Michelle also began making jewelry, and once she proved to herself she could stick with that craft, she knew she could finally commit to her lifelong dream of writing romance. She often jokes that when she retires, she plans to be a full-time novelist and jewelry maker—pursuing her creative passions until she can no longer do them. “If only I could retire now,” she laughs. For Michelle, writing isn’t just a hobby—it’s the dream she thinks about all day, every day.