Biography & Autobiography / Memoirs / Social Science / Social Classes & Economic Disparity
Saddled with crushing student debt, Steph Kiser jumps head-first into the lucrative but unglamorous and exhausting world of nannying for New York City's richest families, immersing herself in a world in stark contrast to her own impoverished childhood, in this emotional and insightful new memoir
After a dysfunctional childhood as one of four kids born to teenage parents and raised "white trash" in poor Rhode Island, Stephanie Kiser finds herself a 22-year-old first-generation college grad drowning in student loan debt. To stay afloat, she surrenders her career-track PR job for a position as nanny to New York City’s toddler elite.
The span of seven years takes Stephanie on a journey from working alongside a stay-at-home mom in her ten-million dollar Park Ave apartment, to a “no discipline” family, to the Kushner's, world-class doctors and finally, to a position with a young couple, both high-powered lawyers, with three small kids.
Interwoven with Stephanie’s time in the glamourous world of the 1% (in the unglamourous role of domestic help) is the narrative of her own upbringing, the contrasts illuminating both the effects of privilege and the grit of self-sufficiency.