Stephanie Kiser was living the high life in Manhattan’s Upper East Side, rubbing shoulders with Hollywood stars, riding in town cars, shopping in trendy boutiques. The only trouble was her frequent friends and party buddies all had sticky hands, some wore diapers and all were under age six. Read this article for free: Already have an account? To continue reading, please subscribe: * Stephanie Kiser was living the high life in Manhattan’s Upper East Side, rubbing shoulders with Hollywood stars, riding in town cars, shopping in trendy boutiques.
The only trouble was her frequent friends and party buddies all had sticky hands, some wore diapers and all were under age six. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? Stephanie Kiser was living the high life in Manhattan’s Upper East Side, rubbing shoulders with Hollywood stars, riding in town cars, shopping in trendy boutiques. The only trouble was her frequent friends and party buddies all had sticky hands, some wore diapers and all were under age six.
In her debut memoir, , Kiser writes about the seven years she spent working as a nanny for extremely wealthy families in New York City. While growing up, she didn’t dream of wiping runny noses and cajoling unruly youngsters, but she did imagine living in the Big Apple. Kiser writes honestly about her disfunctional family in Rhode Island.
Her parents married in their late teens after her mother, Hope, got pregnant. After Stephanie was born, her parents divorced when she was still a baby. Her father, Stew, spent his spare time at the local racetrack, where he raced cars that he’d spent most of his money to build.
Kiser describes being labelled in school as being poor white trash — and she realized her family’s lifestyle fit the bill. That’s one reason she yearned for a completely different way of life, and living with families in the top one per cent of American society allowed her to get a personal, up-close look at what most others could only dream about. Wanted: Toddler’s Personal Assistant Her parents couldn’t afford to send Kiser to college, and while she was a very mediocre student, she was a talented basketball player.
Because of her skill on the court, she got paid tuition to a private girls’ high school. It was at Lincoln School for Girls where Kiser had her first experiences with upper-class families. She became best friends with Lila, and the two were later roommates in New York City.
After eventually studying writing for film and television at college, Kiser was determined to break into the industry. Burdened with the financial millstone of student loan debt, the high costs of daily living in New York and with even low-paying entry-level jobs being scarce, however, she desperately ventured into nannyhood. Monday mornings The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week.
Lila was beginning her career at a law firm, and Kiser contrasted her friend’s future work success with her nanny position, which offered no chance for advancement. She was forced to confront her true desires and come up with a plan to turn her dreams into reality. Working for the rich as a nanny paid about US$100,000 a year, and some families offered health care benefits and annual bonuses.
Once Kiser started earning enough to cover her loan payments, buy groceries, split rent on a decent apartment with an old friend and have extra to buy clothes and go out to bars, her writing ambitions were put on hold. She had been lured in, then trapped, by the money she was making, and the hours were long and could be unpredictable. Kiser knew she was just a paid servant, not much different than a cook or housekeeper.
Fortunately, the first family she worked for proved to be more down-to-earth and grounded than most others she subsequently encountered. She was shocked to discover the racist attitudes of some employers and found they treated her — a white, educated young woman — with more respect than they did the nannies who were older and who had emigrated to the U.S.
from other countries. One man she worked for told Kiser that he saved the large steaks he grilled to give to his family and guests, while instructing the nannies to only take a smaller piece. Kiser includes a multitude of detail about the children she tends, some of which isn’t necessary, but overall offers a rare look at how nannies, and other employees, are treated by the ultra rich in America.
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