Jennifer Risher

Jennifer Risher was born in Seattle, Washington, grew up in Oregon, and graduated from Connecticut College. She joined Microsoft in 1991 where she worked as a recruiter and then as a product manager. She and her husband, David, have two daughters and live in San Francisco, where David is CEO of Worldreader, a nonprofit he cofounded with a mission to create a world where everyone is a reader. We Need to Talk is Jennifer’s first book.


All Books

We Need to Talk: A Memoir About Wealth

Jennifer Risher

Publication Date: September 15, 2020

$26.95 Tradepaper

ISBN: 978-1-93909-646-3

Description:

When Jennifer Risher joined Microsoft in 1991, she met her husband, and with him became an extra-lucky beneficiary of the dot-com boom. By their early thirties, they had tens of millions of dollars. Today, there are millions of people like her. Jennifer’s thought-provoking, personal story includes the voices of others in her demographic and explores the hidden impact of wealth on identity, relationships, and sense of place in the world. At a time when income inequality is a huge problem, our country’s economic system is broken, and money is still a taboo subject even among those closest to us, this engaging, introspective memoir is essential reading: a catalyst for conversation that demystifies wealth and inspires us to connect.

ADVANCE PRAISE

“An enlightening, deeply personal story written with introspection and grace, We Need to Talk explores how financial success impacts friendships, children, charity, and family. You need to read this book.” —Scott Cook, Co-founder of Intuit and member of the Giving Pledge

News

Jennifer Rishner interviewed for Robb Report!

Philanthropy is changing. Spurred by the Covid-19 crisis, America’s racial reckoning, increasingly frequent climate disasters and a profound sense that traditional ways of giving are insufficient to meet burgeoning needs, […]

Jennifer Rishner interviewed for Philanthropy!

The San Francisco philanthropists Jennifer and David Risher believe so strongly that rich donors should give more of the money in their donor-advised funds to charities, and more quickly, that […]

Jennifer Risher featured in Forbes Magazine!

Before Covid hit, my family often traveled to Germany. There, we found “Asian” restaurants in many small German towns. I had to chuckle at the generalization. Did these restaurants serve […]

The New York Times features Jennifer Risher

Jennifer Risher took a job in campus recruiting at Microsoft in 1991. She was 25 and given stock options worth several hundred thousand dollars. While working there, she met her […]

Talking About Wealth, Jennifer Risher on The Crazy Money Podcast

As early Microsoft employees, Jennifer and her future-husband, David Risher, made millions of dollars from their stock options in the quickly growing company. When David joined an online book-seller called Amazon, those “millions” became “tens […]

Books Coming Out in September

We Need to Talk by Jennifer Risher When Jennifer Risher joined Microsoft in 1991, she met her husband, and with him became an extra-lucky beneficiary of the dot-com boom. By […]

Reviews