Wanted: Toddler's Personal Assistant: How Nannying for the 1% Taught Me about the Myths of Equality, Motherhood, and Upward Mobility in America

In this emotional and insightful memoir about nannying for New York City’s richest families, Stephanie Kiser chronicles her journey through the world of the Western elite – a world in stark contrast to her own impoverished childhood. *** What are the lives of America's richest families really like? Their nannies see it all… 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 university graduate drowning in student loan debt. To stay afloat, she surrenders her career-track PR job for a position as a babysitter to New York City’s toddler elite. The span of seven years takes Stephanie on a journey from working alongside a stay-at-home mum in her ten-million dollar Park Ave apartment, to a “no discipline” family, to the Kushners, 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 glamorous world of the 1% (in the unglamorous 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 in the modern Western world. With sharp insight, sensitivity and humour, Stephanie Kiser offers a glimpse into the lucrative but exhausting world of childminding for the elite – from emotional highs to crushing lows.