WELCOME

Hi, I’m Abby.

I’m glad you’re here. I help ambitious people facing daunting decisions feel more empowered to pursue their dreams. How, you ask? Through research-based methods proven to be effective, such as those in the book I co-authored: Money and Love: An Intelligent Roadmap for Life's Biggest Decisions.

‍I'm currently focused on growing the Money and Love Institute and sharing insights through my newsletter, Practically Deliberate. I'd love for you to join me there, too!

Have you ever felt like it’s impossible to make all the decisions you need to make as a person and a professional, especially now? I get it. This is a topic that’s near and dear to my heart because I’ve studied it and lived it. I want to make your life easier by sharing the hard-earned wisdom gained from my research as well as from serving as half of the 'leadership team' of a dual-career household.

About Abby

‍Abby Davisson is a Fortune 200 leader-turned-entrepreneur; award-winning author and speaker; and expert on deliberate living. She's dedicated her career to helping others achieve their goals.

Abby is the co-author of Money & Love: An Intelligent Roadmap for Life's Biggest Decisions, which has been called “brilliant” by Annie Duke, bestselling author of Thinking in Bets, and “life-changing” by Nir Eyal, bestselling author of Indistractable. The Next Big Idea Club named Money and Love #4 of the top 50 business books of 2023.

Inspired by a popular Stanford Business School course taught by her co-author, labor economist Myra Strober, the book uses data, stories, and a flexible framework to help people navigate high-stakes choices when money and love are involved.

Abby and her work have been featured in outlets including the Financial Times, NPR, Fortune, BBC Women’s Hour, The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, and Fast Company. Abby also writes the popular Substack newsletter, Practically Deliberate.

‍Prior to launching the Money and Love Institute, Abby spent nearly a decade driving social impact at global retailer Gap Inc., where she served as president of the Gap Foundation and co-founded the company’s employee resource group for working parents.

Her expertise in career development comes from serving as an alumni career advisor and coach at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business as well as from forging her own non-traditional career path (across the public, private, and non-profit sectors). Her professional experience also includes strategy roles at Net Impact, Tipping Point Community, the NYC Department of Education, and The Bridgespan Group.
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Abby has a BA from Yale and an MBA and MA in Education from Stanford University. She lives with her husband Ross and two sons in San Francisco, where she remains in relentless pursuit of the best-tasting dark chocolate.

"After 20 years of watching and working with Abby on many projects, I can tell you there is no one like her. She is intentional, warm, purpose-driven, and hilarious! Anyone who has an opportunity to work with her should consider themselves lucky to have a partner they can rely on to follow through and deliver high-quality work."

Julie

Finn

Founder, The Working Mother's Mentor & Executive Coach

"First as a professor at Stanford, and now as a co-author, I have had the pleasure of working with Abby through many stages of her life. As a student, she was curious and ambitious. As a professional, she is strategic, thoughtful, and creative. Abby has a magic touch that helps push projects to the next level of greatness."

Myra

Strober

Professor Emerita, Stanford University

"I attended a forum Abby developed for Stanford about integrating work and life, and I was wowed by her knack for designing interactive sessions that cut through. Everyone there came away feeling energized, empowered, and connected because they experienced Abby’s vision. Abby doesn’t just talk to people — she engages them."

Kate

Price

HR Director, BlackRock

"Working with Abby on projects related to supporting working caregivers has been an absolute joy. I see Abby as a corporate pioneer who is turning her passion into real results at Gap Inc. It’s rare to find someone who is courageous enough to advocate for change. It’s rarer still to find someone who has the determination, grit, and influence to deliver on that change."

Kellie

McElhaney

Founding Director, Center for Equity, Gender and Leadership (EGAL) at Berkeley

"When Abby presented me with an opportunity to co-lead Gap Inc.’s Parents ERG, I was ecstatic about the opportunity to make an impact, but also for the opportunity to get to work with Abby. She has a reputation for being able to navigate the company and get things done, and it’s been an honor working alongside her to make a real difference in the lives of working parents."

Will

Riffelmacher

Senior Legal Counsel, Gap Inc. & Co-chair, Gap Parents

"I’ve turned to Abby for advice many times, both personal and professional, and have walked away each time feeling supported, heard, and clearer about what I need to do to achieve my goals. As a coach and mentor, Abby is skilled at asking probing questions that help you find the right answers without overstepping or telling you what to do or think. I look up to Abby and know that so many others do too."

Ali

Weiner

Responsible Investment Strategist

Book

Money and Love: An Intelligent Roadmap for Life’s Biggest Decisions

By Myra Strober and Abby Davisson

Should I marry this person? When is the “right time” to have another child? Should my aging parents move in with us? All these life-altering questions at the juncture of money and love can be overwhelming.

We're often told that love and money decisions need separate approaches; we should leave romantic decisions to our hearts and make financial choices with our heads.

However, labor economist and Stanford Professor Emerita Myra Strober and social innovation leader Abby Davisson know that money and love are interdependent; relationship decisions involve money and career as well as love, and career decisions affect family.

Whereas most decision-making guides focus only on one or the other, Money and Love shows us and our loved ones how to consider them jointly. The original, step-by-step 5Cs framework (Clarify, Communicate, Choices, Check-in, and Consequences) offers a simple approach to making the complex choices that determine the course of our lives.

Each chapter explores a highly charged money and love topic, arranged roughly in the order people tend to encounter them (see the full Table of Contents here). From "Finding Your Person: Dating and Mating" to "The Senior Years: Caring for Elders" and everything in between, the book covers the biggest decisions of our lives -- the choices no one tells us how to make.