Author Talk with Irena Smith

What do we, as parents, really mean when we say we want the best for our children?  Irena Smith addresses this question from a unique vantage point: as a former Stanford admissions officer, a private college counselor in Palo Alto, and a mother of three children, each of whom struggle to find their place in the long shadow of Stanford University. Her honest, raw, and deeply insightful memoir opens a much-needed conversation about extreme parenting, the weight of generational expectations, and what happens when Gen-X dreams meet unexpected realities.