For immediate release: Jan. 22, 2019

Contact: Marisol Bello, [email protected]

The highly anticipated memoir by Community Change fellow Stephanie Land debuts

MAID tells the story of a single mom working as a domestic worker to make ends meet

The highly anticipated memoir, MAID: Hard Work Low Pay and a Mother’s Will to Survive, by former Community Change communications fellow Stephanie Land debuts today.

Stephanie’s memoir focuses on the period in her life when as a single mom she worked as a domestic worker, struggling to make ends meet on $9 an hour with the help of government resources. She cleaned the houses of people who were better off, all the while shuffling from a homeless shelter with her daughter to living in a tiny studio.

Stephanie’s story is the story of resilience and determination. She takes the reader on a journey of what it means to live on the brink as a low-wage worker.

In 2015, Stephanie wrote a viral essay in Vox about her life a domestic worker, an industry made up largely of women – especially women of color – working as housecleaners, nannies, and in elder care. These jobs often deny the women who work them basic labor rights such as a living wage, overtime and sick and vacation pay. Her publisher Hatchette Book Group USA describes the book as “emotionally raw yet heartwarming. MAID gives voice to the working poor, and is fueled by Stephanie’s courage to expose the reality of pursuing the American dream from below the poverty line.”

Stephanie became a communications fellow for Community Change the same year her essay published in Vox. During her time as a fellow, Stephanie became a powerful voice for families struggling to make ends meet – particularly single moms. She wrote about finding child care as a college student, the tens of thousands of dollars in debt she was left with after she graduated, and the important role food stamps and other government resources played in helping her and her daughter to thrive. Her work as a Community Change fellow published in the New York Times, the Guardian, the Washington Post and Salon, among others.

Stephanie’s memoir is her story, but it is also the story of millions of Americans struggling to survive. Her voice highlights the experiences that often go untold of domestic and service workers who fight daily to improve their own lives and the lives of their children.

###

Community Change is a national social justice organization that builds the power of low-income people of color to fight for a society where everyone can thrive.