You may recall a certain Netflix mini series called “Maid,” which aired in 2021 and quickly became wildly successful. The series follows a young mother who fled a bad relationship and finds a job cleaning houses to provide for her daughter. Her dream, though, is Missoula—pursuing an education here and building a better future. While the series strays from the accuracy of real life events, the story itself is based off of Stephanie Land’s memoir, “Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and Mother’s Will to Survive.” Her subsequent memoir is titled, “Class: A Memoir of Motherhood, Hunger, and Higher Education.”
Stephanie, her husband, and two daughters—Story and Cora—continue to live in Missoula, sharing an active household with a small menagerie of pets. She is currently working on her third book, “The Privilege to Feel: A Memoir in Essays,” and writing a newsletter of the same name for Substack. Stephanie talks about her books, her current projects, and balancing life as a mother, bestselling author, and prolific public speaker while continuing to be an advocate for women and mothers struggling through poverty.
The Netflix series “Maid” was a such a wonderful show. Watching it after I had read the book, I noticed some similarities but also many differences. How did the series come about and what was your involvement?
I have a dramatic rights agent through Creative Arts Agency and the series was offered as part of signing on with the agent. I didn’t have much involvement in the series itself. The agent did all the work pitching it to several studios. I’m an executive producer, but that was just part of the deal. I did give them a lot pictures, answered a lot of questions, and met briefly with the writers. I didn’t even know the storyline or what they were fictionalizing before I watched the screening. The series is Alex’s (the main character’s) story. I knew they were going to fictionalize it and use different names, and I really appreciated that because it gave me and my daughter some distance since it’s a retelling of a pretty dramatic time in my life. I thought they did a great job, and I enjoyed watching it.
I assume it’s safe to say your life is pretty different now compared to the times you wrote about in your books in terms of financial status and recognition. Are there other more subtle changes, especially in relation to being a mom, and are there parts of your pre-book life that you miss?
Yeah, a lot of parents are nostalgic for the times before screens. I miss that simplicity and not having an expectation to have their minds and eyes busy 24 hours a day. I also miss going to the park or to the river being enough. I was at the grocery store a couple weeks ago with Story and remembered we used to go to that same grocery store for a lunch date. I would buy the food that we could purchase with food stamps and we would sit in the deli area and that was like going out to eat for us. The way we spend our time together is different, but as far as who I am as a mother and how I mother is the same.
Based on your books, you seem like an animal person. Tell me about your family pets.
(Laughs) I’m actually cleaning up after my very large dog right now. We have two dogs. One is a St. Bernard mix and the other is husky. We recently got a cat. Cora has a bearded dragon. Story has a couple of rats. We have fish, and a horse, who does not live with us, but I do pay his rent. It’s a lot of mental energy, but worth it.
“Maid” stemmed from your essay, “Confessions of the Housekeeper.” Can you talk about how that essay became a book?
I always wanted to write a memoir. I’ve been a daily journal writer since I was 10 years old, so it’s been the only format of writing that I really enjoy and felt like I was good at. I had no idea how people actually wrote a book. Debra Magpie Earling and I met at the Break (Espresso) and she told me “This is going to be book! This is going to be a movie!” and I was like what? I had no idea how to get a book deal or agent, so after I graduated college I started freelance writing and trying to figure out how to make a living. I submitted my essay to Vox Media and they emailed back wanting to publish it. It went viral, and from that I got an agent. The book that I proposed focused more on surviving domestic violence and graduating from college, and the agent said “I think you’re going to need to write a book about cleaning houses.” So that’s what I did. It was never a decision on my part, it was more people telling me what I was going to write about.
People mainly know you for your books. What other projects keep you busy?
My main job is as a public speaker. That pays the bills. I make appearances and give key note addresses for organizations having fund raising events or I’ll speak at a college.
Is public speaking something that comes easy to you or is that something you’ve had to get used to.
I’m a very shy, introverted person in real life so no, I really struggled with it for a time. Once “Maid” was on the bestseller list, people started asking me about public speaking. I’ve been doing it as my primary job since then. It took a long time getting used to being away from my children and traveling. It felt like I had multiple identities and the series kind of exasperated that because everyone took me to be the character in the Netflix series. It’s taken a long time and a lot of deep thinking and therapy to have those two different sides of me coincide and feel like the same person. I still really struggle with being out in public. Missoula folks seem to feel like it’s okay to approach me when I’m out with my family. There’s times when I feel like I can’t just be out without someone touching me or talking to me, so that’s been hard.
It’s obvious that you have a strong passion for advocating for women, housecleaners, and other workers in the home care and childcare industries, including acting as an Arts & Entertainment Ambassador for National Domestic Workers Alliance. What does that position involve and what are some other ways in which you work to be an advocate for these essential workers?
Ideally, I would be more involved, but for the most part I share information on my social media about that organization and make appearances with them. I’ve been involved with them for several years and I love what they do. Other things I do are very natural. I’m very active in talking about the issues people in poverty face, especially now with what’s going on in the capital with programs being threatened. I do consider myself an advocate, but I think everyone can consider themselves an advocate for something. Anybody can bring attention to an issue if they feel strongly about it. You have a lot of power to decide what you talk about on social media. You don’t have to be recognized as an ambassador for something to be an advocate for an issue. It can be a small effort, and you have to be prepared to defend yourself and other people, and be prepared to talk if someone brings up a point of view you feel is wrong.
To follow Stephanie Land on Substack visit Stephanieland.Substack.com.