“Cleaning companies often pay their employees less than a living wage and offer no sick days or health insurance. My years of working for them still made me grimace every time I saw a little yellow car with 'Merry Maids' written on the side.”

American author and public speaker

Stephanie Land is an American author and public speaker. She is known for writing memoirs about poverty, motherhood, and the work of surviving on the margins, including Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive in 2019. That book was later adapted into the Netflix miniseries Maid in 2021. Her second memoir, Class: A Memoir of Motherhood, Hunger, and Higher Education, appeared in 2023 and continues her focus on single parenting, poverty, and the strain of pursuing college. She has also written articles on maid service work, domestic abuse, and poverty in the United States.