Where are they now? Baby-Sitters Club edition.

This week marks the 40th birthday of the Baby-Sitters Club, that ragtag team of business-minded eighth graders, who first appeared on our doorsteps in Ann M. Martin’s Kristy’s Great Idea (1986).

Publisher Scholastic is launching three new books to celebrate. An anthology “spin-off novel” will feature outtakes from the sitters’ lost summer. And Martin has tapped a crew of authors—including the novelist Emma Straub—to give the squad fresh voice.

A baby-sitters club craft book will hit stores in April. And later this fall, Graphix will publish a graphic novel that follows club members “on a summer cruise to the Bahamas.” But in the meantime, fans are probably wondering: where are the sitters now? 

It took some tracking, but I reached out to your favorite Millennial entrepreneurs for life updates. Here’s where the gang ended up, 40 years after that fateful first meeting.

Kristy Thomas

Your favorite instigator has gone corporate. Kristy currently runs the Girl Scouts of America with an iron fist and an eye to equity. She’s rabidly competitive when it comes to cookie sale metrics, but her specialty is lobbying for outdoor expeditions.

Kristy dreams of seeing her cadets take down the boy scouts in the big national wilderness competition, and frequently clashes with other board members who’d prefer the group emphasize fun.

In her spare time, she likes skiing, speed baking, and coaching (read: stage parenting) her own daughter’s softball team.

Claudia Kishi

Once a vice president, always a vice president. Just kidding: Claudia left politics after the Baby-Sitters Club. The artist and intrepid snack hider now runs a gallery in Bushwick that’s known for in-yer-face esoterica. It’s unclear how they turn a profit, but scenesters appreciate the great decor and eclectic roster.

Ms. Kishi’s wardrobe is even better today, if you can believe it. And Claudia is a consummate society gal. She never turns down an opening, and her dinner parties are infamous among the downtown media set. She has finally learned Japanese, after a meaningful study abroad year in Kyoto. Things are going well, basically.

Her darkest secret is that she likes to shoplift Halloween candy.

Mary-Anne Spier

Rumor had it that Ann M. Martin based the shy, grieving Mary-Anne on herself. So we weren’t surprised to learn that Ms. Spier is a writer. She show-runs an Emmy winning medical drama known for its treacly needle drops and high staff body count.

She’s married to Logan, her high school sweetheart. But they didn’t exactly skip to the altar. It’s been on-again, off-again for twenty years and counting. Their five kids don’t always know the weather at home.

Having it all is hard, but at least Mary-Anne’s got Pasadena on lock. She’s dying to make a show about her own adolescence, but the golden handcuffs get in the way.

Stacey McGill

Did I mention Claudia and Stacey are still best friends? Ms. McGill actually spent a fun summer in Claudia’s loft recently, on the heels of her second divorce. Yes, our indomitable city blonde has held onto some of her historic bad luck. But she’s still got the knacks for accessorizing and math.

Stacey’s worked at a lot of start-ups, but the latest is most promising. ‘Solo’ is a budgeting software qua dating app, directed at recent divorcees learning to re-navigate independence. “Putting the personal in personal finance,” isn’t bad, as taglines go. So finger’s crossed.

Stacey also continues to advocate for diabetes visibility, and wishes to remind Kristy through this grapevine to re-up her generous annual contribution to support type 1 research.

Dawn Schafer

Could not be reached for comment on this piece. But her step-sister Stacey Mary Anne informed me that this is because she is currently hiking the Appalachian Trail.