Biography of Vicki Robin
P.O. Box 1501, Langley, WA 98260
206 769 3424
Vicki Robin is a prolific social innovator, writer and speaker. She is coauthor with Joe Dominguez of the international best-seller, Your Money or Your Life: Transforming Your Relationship With Money and Achieving Financial Independence (Viking Penguin, 1992, 1998, 2008, 2018). It was an instant NY Times best seller in 1992 and steadily appeared on the Business Week Best Seller list from 1992-1997. It is available now in eleven languages.
Blessing the Hands that Feed Us; Lessons from a 10-mile diet (Viking/Penguin 2013) recounts her adventures in hyper-local eating and what she learned about food and farming as well as belonging and hope.
Called by the New York Times as the “prophet of consumption downsizers,” Vicki has lectured widely and appeared on hundreds of radio and television shows, including “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” “Good Morning America” and National Public Radio’s “Weekend Edition” and “Morning Edition”; she has also been featured in hundreds of magazines including People Magazine, AARP, The Wall Street Journal, Woman’s Day, Newsweek, Utne Magazine, and the New York Times.
The President of the Atlanta Women’s Business Network said of Vicki’s 2009 presentation: Vicki, your talk last night was brilliant; we have not had so much fun in years and any speaker who can teach “money lessons” in the midst of the current economic woes AND have her audience laughing deserves praise – and attention!
Vicki has helped launch many sustainability initiatives including: The New Road Map Foundation, The Simplicity Forum, The Turning Tide Coalition, Sustainable Seattle, The Center for a New American Dream, Transition Whidbey, Local Food Challenge, Conversation Cafe and more. In the 1990’s she served on the President’s Council on Sustainable Development’s Task Force on Population and Consumption.
In addition to her sustainable consumption work, Vicki has been a leader in the field of dialogue. She co-created the Conversation Cafés method and initiative, promoting it first in Seattle and then throughout the world. Conversation Cafés are hosted conversations among diverse people in public places on subjects that matter (www.conversationcafe.org). Vicki has spoken at workshops, conferences and to the media (Readers Digest, National Public Radio, Utne Magazine, The New York Times, The Seattle Times and many local media) about the Conversation Café method and its possibilities for revitalizing our public life.
Vicki is active in her Whidbey Island. WA community on a range of social and environmental issues: affordable housing, local food, community investing and more. For fun, she is a comedy improv actress, sings in a choir, gardens and nurtures a diverse circle of friends.
Born in Oklahoma in 1945, Vicki grew up on Long Island and graduated cum laude from Brown University in 1967. She received awards from Co-op America and Sustainable Northwest for her pioneering work on sustainable living. Vicki’s one of 61 visionaries featured in Utne Magazine’s book, Visionaries: People and Ideas to Change Your Life. A&E Entertainment’s show “Biography” honored Vicki as one of ten exceptional Seattle citizens.