Vicki Robin first became interested in personal finance after inheriting a sizeable sum from her grandmother at age 23. She met Joe Dominguez, her partner and co-author for “Your Money or Your Life,” shortly afterward in 1969 while road tripping across the U.S. and into Mexico. They shared an interest in simple, joyful living.

Their book came along in 1992 after demand for their financial independence workshops grew to overwhelming levels. It became a bestseller thanks to publicity gained from going on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Robin has given talks and interviews for hundreds of shows and magazines since then.

Although she now lives on Whidbey Island just north of Seattle, Washington, she grew up in Long Island, New York. She graduated cum laude from Brown University and had a short acting career before realizing that she wanted to live more simply. Her recent experiments with local eating feature in her 2014 book, “Blessing the Hands That Feed Us.”