Suze Orman

Orman was born on the South Side of Chicago on June 5, 1951, to Jewish parents of Russian and Romanian origin, Ann and Morry Orman. Her mother worked as a secretary for a local rabbi, while her father, an immigrant from Kiev, worked in a chicken factory and managed Morry's Deli in Hyde Park.

She attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she earned a B.A. in social work in 1976. In 2009, Orman received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. The following year, in 2010, she was presented with an honorary doctorate of Commercial Science from Bentley University.

After finishing school, Orman moved to Berkeley, California, where she worked as a waitress. In 1980, she borrowed $52,000 from friends to open a restaurant.

In 1987, Orman resigned from Prudential and founded the Suze Orman Financial Group, in Emeryville, California. While there, she published a booklet, The Facts on Single Premium Whole Life, which compared single-premium whole life, universal life, and single-premium deferred annuities; she distributed copies of the booklet for free to anyone who requested one. She was director of the firm until 1997.

The Suze Orman Show began airing on CNBC in 2002. In February 2008, Orman gave away copies of her book Women and Money for free following an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, generating almost two million downloads. 2008–2010, she was portrayed on Saturday Night Live by Kristen Wiig. Orman has been featured on the Food Network's Paula's Party. In January 2011, Orman appeared on Oprah's Allstars. In January 2012, Orman's six-episode TV series America's Money Class with Suze Orman premiered on OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network.

In February 2007, Orman stated that she is a lesbian. Orman has been married to Kathy Travis (nicknamed KT) since 2010. Travis is also her business partner. According to Orman, "KT’s career has been building brands, and I’m a brand."

In 2008, Orman donated money to the Democratic Party. In an interview with Larry King, she said that she favors the policies of the Democratic Party and Barack Obama, especially regarding people in same-sex relationships.

In 2012, Orman introduced the Approved prepaid debit card, which was backed by Bancorp Bank. The card generated a great deal of controversy for its hidden fees and unclear promise of contributing to a FICO score. Cardholders were charged a $3 monthly fee, as well as check writing and customer service calls. The Approved card's features included credit reports and credit scores from TransUnion, as well as credit monitoring and identity theft protection. TransUnion also agreed to "examine data from Approved cards", which was unusual for prepaid debit cards, but did not factor the card's usage into the cardholders' FICO scores. In July 2014, the Approved card was discontinued.

Orman's final episode of The Suze Orman Show aired on March 28, 2015, reportedly so that Orman could develop a new series, Suze Orman's Money Wars, for Warner Bros. Telepictures Productions. Orman hoped the show would premiere in 2016 but it was not produced.

In 2016, Orman was appointed as a personal finance educator for the United States Army and Army Reserve.

In 2018, Suze began serving as a Special Advocate for the National Domestic Violence Hotline, to help spread awareness regarding financial abuse.