Stephanie Land

Stephanie Land (born September 1978) is an American author and public speaker. She is best known for writing Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive (2019), which was adapted to television miniseries Maid (2021) for Netflix. Her second memoir, Class: A Memoir of Motherhood, Hunger, and Higher Education (2023) explores the challenges of single parenting and poverty while attending college. Land has also written several articles about maid service work, domestic abuse and poverty in the United States.

Early life and education

Land grew up between Washington and Anchorage, Alaska, in a middle class household. A car accident at age 16 led to her being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, a condition which was later exacerbated by her financial struggles.

In her late twenties, she lived in Port Townsend, Washington, where she had her first child and became a single mother who worked maid service jobs to support her family. Although she did not grow up in poverty, she spent the next several years living below the poverty line and relied on several welfare programs to cover necessary expenses; this later inspired her writing on issues of poverty and public policy. In January 2008, Land broke up with her partner and moved to a homeless shelter with her then nine-month-old daughter. Land and her eldest daughter occasionally lived in homeless shelters, transitional housing, and a camper in a driveway, before securing an apartment in low-income housing.