Lisa Birnbach

Lisa Birnbach has been an influential social and cultural observer since the publication of her first book, The Official Preppy Handbook. In her twenty or so books, numerous magazine articles, and her career as a television and radio personality, she is called upon to comment on the zeitgeist of the moment. She is celebrated for her keen eye, sharp wit, and sense of humor.

From the unspoken lives of preppies, to what college students really care about, what it takes to be a successful employee at a Fortune 500 company, and personal manners in the digital age, Birnbach has interviewed thousands of people and digested and assessed the world in which we live.

Birnbach’s talk, “My Life As A Woman” begins with funny time capsule stories of growing up in Manhattan in the 1960s while wearing a uniform, tie shoes, and curtseying as the rest of the world was shedding its rules. And it quickly talks about how her generation benefited from the women’s movement which had come of age by the time she arrived at college. Discussing women in corporate America, marriage and motherhood, Lisa takes us to Sex in the City, Oprah, and the Kardashians to Lean-In and beyond.

All of this told with the warmth of someone who once described herself as looking like her “daughters’ older brother.” Lisa has survived terminal unpopularity, severe nearsightedness, divorce, and breast cancer. She’s like all of us but maybe a teensy bit funnier.