Grief and Light™

What does grief teach us about how to live, lead, and love? What happens when the work we do in the world meets what we’re carrying inside?

In this episode, host Nina Rodriguez sits down with development practitioner, global thought leader, and poet Carl Manlan, author of i can breathe, for a moving conversation on grief, legacy, resilience, and meaning.

Carl reflects on how loss reshaped his understanding of resilience, leadership, and what it means to honor those who came before us, and the grief that arises from life changes, transitions, and the unexpected losses that quietly reshape our lives. His poetry became a necessary language for grief, a way to express what policy, strategy, and everyday conversation often cannot.

Nina and Carl explore grief as an experience rooted in love, memory, and connection. They discuss how creativity and poetry can support healing, how personal loss deepens our capacity for service and leadership, and how parental and intergenerational influence continues to shape the way we show up for ourselves and our children.

This episode is a gentle reminder that grief is not just sorrow. It's also about legacy, memory, and the courage to keep breathing. Carl’s poems chart the path between losing and learning to live with loss, offering honesty, tenderness, and the wisdom of someone who has walked this path.

This conversation explores:

• Why “you only grieve what you love”
• Poetry and creativity as vessels for grief
• The connection between loss and leadership
• How upbringing and parental influence shape resilience and service
• Finding joy, gratitude, and meaning alongside grief
• Parenting and legacy: what we pass on to our children emotionally
• Creativity as a survival tool
• The symbolism behind Carl’s poetry and imagery
• Creating space for future generations to express emotion

Key Takeaways:

• Grief is the echo of love; we grieve because we have loved deeply
• Grief is sensory and embodied, living in memory, feeling, and the body
• Poetry and creative expression can hold what logic and language cannot
• Loss can clarify purpose and inspire deeper service
• Honoring loved ones keeps their presence alive; legacy is lived, not just remembered
• Children learn how to carry grief by observing how we do it
• Beauty and sorrow can coexist
• Grief deepens our appreciation for life and what truly matters

Connect with guest, Carl Manlan:

• carlmanlan.com
• Book: i can breathe
• Inside the Blueprint Podcast

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Grief and Light™ is an award-winning, independent podcast exploring the honest, messy, deeply human experience of loss and grief.

Grief-fluency is a life-affirming skill we were never taught. We're here to change that.

Hosted by grief-informed guide and sibling loss survivor Nina Rodriguez, the show fosters a more grief-informed, hopeful world, one conversation at a time. At its heart is one belief: to grieve fully is to live fully. 

Now in Season 5, with 130+ episodes, the show features changemakers, researchers, creatives, and leaders exploring loss, identity, uncertainty, and what it means to keep living when life changes.

Connect with Nina: Website · Instagram · Substack

Subscribe to the newsletter

🏆 Ear Worthy Best Life Lessons 2026 · Signal Awards Silver Winner 2026 · TalkDeath Readers’ Choice Best Podcast 2025 · 2× Women Who Podcast Awards Winner · Podground Editor’s Pick 2026

DISCLAIMER: Grief and Light™ is hosted by a grief-informed guide, not a licensed therapist, doctor, or attorney. Nothing shared here is intended as therapy, medical advice, or legal counsel. Seek qualified support.

Full Disclaimer

In this solo episode of Grief and Light, Nina Rodriguez reflects on the ambient grief many of us are carrying in response to global, political, and collective uncertainty.

After taking a pause to tend to her own nervous system and grief, Nina shares a reflection rooted in presence rather than answers, exploring what it means to keep creating, caring, and staying human when the world feels overwhelming and dissonant.

Drawing on grief literacy, nervous system awareness, and the story behind Claude Monet’s Water Lilies, this episode gently reframes hope not as a feeling, but as an action, something we practice in small, everyday ways, even when clarity feels out of reach.

This is an episode for anyone feeling frozen, disconnected, or unsure how to move forward without turning away from reality.

Referenced in This Episode:

• Essay: The Grief of Uncertainty in Unprecedented Times
• Podcast Episode

This Episode Explores

• Ambient and collective grief in times of global and political disruption
• Nervous system overwhelm, freeze responses, and grief fatigue
• The dissonance of daily life continuing during crisis
• Hope as a verb rather than something we wait for
• Art, creation, and meaning-making during times of war and uncertainty
• Claude Monet’s Water Lilies as a historical response to personal and collective trauma
• Staying engaged without becoming consumed
• Choosing presence, care, and humanity in small, ordinary ways

This Episode Is For

• Those feeling overwhelmed by world events and political realities
• Grievers navigating uncertainty without clear answers
• Creators questioning the role of art, work, or expression during crisis
• Anyone feeling disconnected, frozen, or unsure how to “show up” right now
• Listeners seeking grief-literate reflection rather than solutions
• Grieving hearts seeking messages of hope

Connect with Nina Rodriguez:

• griefandlight.com
• @griefandlight
• Resting Grief Face on Substack

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Grief and Light™ is an award-winning, independent podcast exploring the honest, messy, deeply human experience of loss and grief.

Grief-fluency is a life-affirming skill we were never taught. We're here to change that.

Hosted by grief-informed guide and sibling loss survivor Nina Rodriguez, the show fosters a more grief-informed, hopeful world, one conversation at a time. At its heart is one belief: to grieve fully is to live fully. 

Now in Season 5, with 130+ episodes, the show features changemakers, researchers, creatives, and leaders exploring loss, identity, uncertainty, and what it means to keep living when life changes.

Connect with Nina: Website · Instagram · Substack

Subscribe to the newsletter

🏆 Ear Worthy Best Life Lessons 2026 · Signal Awards Silver Winner 2026 · TalkDeath Readers’ Choice Best Podcast 2025 · 2× Women Who Podcast Awards Winner · Podground Editor’s Pick 2026

DISCLAIMER: Grief and Light™ is hosted by a grief-informed guide, not a licensed therapist, doctor, or attorney. Nothing shared here is intended as therapy, medical advice, or legal counsel. Seek qualified support.

Full Disclaimer

How do we decide what to keep after a loved one dies? 

In this insightful episode, Nina Rodriguez is joined by grief coach, curator of The Grief Gallery™, and author, Charlene Lam, for a deeply human conversation about curating grief: the tender, often overwhelming process of choosing what to keep after loss.

***

Video version available here.

***

After the sudden death of her mother in 2013, Charlene found herself alone with the responsibility of sorting through her mom’s belongings. That experience became the foundation for her work, including the 10 Object Method, a reflective practice that invites grievers to select a small number of meaningful items as a way of honoring relationships, reclaiming narrative, and maintaining continuing bonds.

Together, Nina and Charlene explore the emotional weight of everyday objects, the cultural and personal lenses that shape grief, and the evolving nature of our connection to those who have died. This conversation reminds us that grief is not something to complete or solve, it is something we live with, curate, and carry forward in ways that are deeply personal and uniquely our own.

Whether you’re facing a house full of belongings, grieving a loss beyond death, or simply wondering how memory and meaning intertwine, this episode offers language, permission, and companionship.

Key Takeaways

• Curating grief is about choosing what holds meaning, not following rules.
• The 10 Object Method offers a gentle framework for honoring relationships after loss.
• Belongings can feel emotionally overwhelming, especially when time and resources are limited.
• Objects often serve as anchors for memory, identity, and continuing bonds.
• Grief is not static; our relationship with those we’ve lost evolves over time.
• Everyday items can carry deep symbolic and emotional weight.
• Grief extends beyond death and includes many forms of loss.
• Curating memories helps us reclaim our personal narratives.
• Cultural perspectives shape how grief is experienced and expressed.
• Sharing stories keeps connection alive and helps reduce isolation.

Guest: Charlene Lam

• Author, Speaker, Grief Coach & Curator
• @curating_grief
• curatinggrief.com
• [BOOK] Curating Grief: A Creative Guide to Choosing What to Keep After a Loved One Dies

Hosted by: Nina Rodriguez

• griefandlight.com
• @griefandlight
• Resting Grief Face on Substack
• Grief Tending Toolkit

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Grief and Light™ is an award-winning, independent podcast exploring the honest, messy, deeply human experience of loss and grief.

Grief-fluency is a life-affirming skill we were never taught. We're here to change that.

Hosted by grief-informed guide and sibling loss survivor Nina Rodriguez, the show fosters a more grief-informed, hopeful world, one conversation at a time. At its heart is one belief: to grieve fully is to live fully. 

Now in Season 5, with 130+ episodes, the show features changemakers, researchers, creatives, and leaders exploring loss, identity, uncertainty, and what it means to keep living when life changes.

Connect with Nina: Website · Instagram · Substack

Subscribe to the newsletter

🏆 Ear Worthy Best Life Lessons 2026 · Signal Awards Silver Winner 2026 · TalkDeath Readers’ Choice Best Podcast 2025 · 2× Women Who Podcast Awards Winner · Podground Editor’s Pick 2026

DISCLAIMER: Grief and Light™ is hosted by a grief-informed guide, not a licensed therapist, doctor, or attorney. Nothing shared here is intended as therapy, medical advice, or legal counsel. Seek qualified support.

Full Disclaimer

Episode 100 of Grief and Light marks a meaningful milestone shaped not only by consistency and care, but by the relationships formed along the way. Nina Rodriguez chose to honor this moment with a feed swap: a deeply personal episode originally recorded for The Life Shift Podcast, hosted by fellow podcaster and friend Matt Gilhooly.

***

Read: 

Grief and Light Podcast: Exploring Grief & Lighting the Way to Hope by Frank Racioppi, EAR WORTHY

***

This episode reflects one of the most unexpected and beautiful ripple effects of saying yes to grief work: the genuine connections that emerge when we choose to stay in honest conversation over time. In this role-reversed dialogue, Matt interviews Nina about the sudden loss of her brother and the life-altering moment that reshaped everything that followed.

Nina reflects on the spontaneous decision to visit her brother on his birthday, followed by the shock, surrealism, and disorientation of receiving the news of his unexpected death. She speaks openly about his long-term sobriety, the hope and plans they held for his future, and the complexity of grieving someone whose life carried both struggle and profound love.

Nina and Matt explore the unpredictable nature of life, the emotional disconnection that often accompanies sudden loss, and the quiet ways grief changes how we move through the world. What emerges is a story of learning how to live with grief.

Nina shares how creating Grief and Light became a way to stay in relationship with her grief, transforming pain into presence, isolation into connection, and making meaning.

This episode is a meditation on human connection, the power of curiosity in times of loss, and the possibility of honoring grief without needing to resolve it.

Key Takeaways:

• One of the beautiful ripple effects of this journey is the meaningful connections it has forged.
• About 5% of podcasts make it past the 100th episode.
• You don’t need answers or clarity to be present with grief.
• Meaning-making after loss is not linear or prescriptive; it unfolds in its own time.
• Grief can change how we relate to ourselves, our relationships, and our sense of the future.
• Curiosity can be a gentler companion than certainty when navigating loss.
• Honoring someone’s full story (including struggle, hope, and love) matters in grief.
• Human connection is one of the most sustaining forces during times of loss.
• Joy and sorrow are not opposites; they can coexist.
• Staying in relationship with grief can transform isolation into connection.

Connect with Matt Gilhooly:

• thelifeshiftpodcast.com
• @thelifeshiftpodcast

Connect with Nina Rodriguez:

• griefandlight.com
• @griefandlight
• Resting Grief Face on Substack

Tools:

• Grief Tending Toolkit
• Pause, Pivot, Podcast Workbook

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Grief and Light™ is an award-winning, independent podcast exploring the honest, messy, deeply human experience of loss and grief.

Grief-fluency is a life-affirming skill we were never taught. We're here to change that.

Hosted by grief-informed guide and sibling loss survivor Nina Rodriguez, the show fosters a more grief-informed, hopeful world, one conversation at a time. At its heart is one belief: to grieve fully is to live fully. 

Now in Season 5, with 130+ episodes, the show features changemakers, researchers, creatives, and leaders exploring loss, identity, uncertainty, and what it means to keep living when life changes.

Connect with Nina: Website · Instagram · Substack

Subscribe to the newsletter

🏆 Ear Worthy Best Life Lessons 2026 · Signal Awards Silver Winner 2026 · TalkDeath Readers’ Choice Best Podcast 2025 · 2× Women Who Podcast Awards Winner · Podground Editor’s Pick 2026

DISCLAIMER: Grief and Light™ is hosted by a grief-informed guide, not a licensed therapist, doctor, or attorney. Nothing shared here is intended as therapy, medical advice, or legal counsel. Seek qualified support.

Full Disclaimer

An honest exploration of grief, creativity, and community with the visionary behind Women Who Podcast magazine—covering storytelling, anticipatory grief, and the movement to amplify women’s voices in podcasting.

In this conversation, Nina Rodriguez sits down with Kathy Barron, founder and Editor-in-Chief of Women Who Podcast Magazine, to explore the power of women’s voices, the complexity of grief, and the courage it takes to tell honest stories.

***

Video available here

***

Kathy shares the origin story behind the magazine: a space born from her desire to see women not just represented in podcasting, but truly celebrated. As the conversation unfolds, Kathy opens up about her own relationship to loss, including the quiet, complicated ache of anticipatory grief as she navigates her mother’s aging, as well as moments of soul-level connection she feels with farming communities and Mexican culture.

Nina and Kathy explore how grief shapes identity, creativity, and the way we move through the world. They talk about the tension between what we hold privately and what we offer publicly, the healing potential of artistic expression, and the moments of clarity that come from living inside “the dash”—the space between birth and death.

Kathy also reflects on the evolving landscape of podcasting, from the pressures of imposter syndrome to the new possibilities—and challenges—posed by AI. She offers grounded, generous advice for aspiring women podcasters seeking connection, mentorship, and confidence in a space that hasn’t always made room for them.

This episode is a reminder that storytelling is community-building, grief is deeply personal but never solitary, and women’s voices deserve to take up space—loudly, boldly, and without apology.

Key Takeaways

• Women Who Podcast magazine amplifies and uplifts women’s voices across the industry.
• Community is essential for creative collaboration, support, and sustainability.
• Grief manifests differently for everyone, shaped by personal and generational experiences.
• Artistic expression—writing, podcasting, humor—can deepen connection and understanding.
• Anticipatory grief involves mourning who someone once was while caring for who they are now.
• Hard conversations about mortality, aging, and loss are uncomfortable—but necessary.
• Sarcasm can be a tool for truth-telling and authenticity in storytelling.
• Aspiring podcasters benefit from mentorship, collaboration, and supportive networks.
• Critical thinking is more important than ever in a rapidly shifting tech landscape.
• Reclaiming creativity in the age of AI matters for podcasters, writers, and artists alike.

Guest: Kathy Barron

• Founder & Editor-in-Chief
• @womenwhopodcastmagazine
• womenwhopodcastmag.com

Hosted by: Nina Rodriguez

• griefandlight.com
• @griefandlight
• Resting Grief Face on Substack
• Grief Tending Toolkit

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Grief and Light™ is an award-winning, independent podcast exploring the honest, messy, deeply human experience of loss and grief.

Grief-fluency is a life-affirming skill we were never taught. We're here to change that.

Hosted by grief-informed guide and sibling loss survivor Nina Rodriguez, the show fosters a more grief-informed, hopeful world, one conversation at a time. At its heart is one belief: to grieve fully is to live fully. 

Now in Season 5, with 130+ episodes, the show features changemakers, researchers, creatives, and leaders exploring loss, identity, uncertainty, and what it means to keep living when life changes.

Connect with Nina: Website · Instagram · Substack

Subscribe to the newsletter

🏆 Ear Worthy Best Life Lessons 2026 · Signal Awards Silver Winner 2026 · TalkDeath Readers’ Choice Best Podcast 2025 · 2× Women Who Podcast Awards Winner · Podground Editor’s Pick 2026

DISCLAIMER: Grief and Light™ is hosted by a grief-informed guide, not a licensed therapist, doctor, or attorney. Nothing shared here is intended as therapy, medical advice, or legal counsel. Seek qualified support.

Full Disclaimer

Sometimes, healing begins in motion. In this episode, Nina Rodriguez sits down with Bianca Alba, founder of This Latina Travels, to explore how grief, identity, and travel intertwine. What starts as a conversation about exploring the world becomes a deeper story about returning to yourself.

***

Video available here

***

Her story begins in a single-parent household where vacations felt like something other people did, faraway dreams that didn’t belong to families like hers. Today, Bianca has traveled to six continents and uses her platform to show women of color what’s possible when you give yourself permission to go. Her work reminds us that representation isn’t just inspiring, it’s necessary.

Nina and Bianca also reflect on the power of community, having recently shared virtual space as speakers at the Latinas in Podcasting Summit 2025. The conversation moves through grief, identity, purpose, and the courage it takes to keep expanding your life after loss.

Bianca opens up about the Lola Challenge, a three-day running event in Puerto Rico that connects her to her body, her resilience, and the island she now calls home. She recounts a deeply emotional moment on a beach in the Virgin Islands that reminded her how grief meets us wherever we are.

They also explore the complexities of traveling during political and social turbulence, including recent US disruptions affecting travelers. Bianca speaks honestly about the privilege and guilt of being a travel content creator during difficult times, and how she balances joy with responsibility, visibility, and awareness.

Her love for Puerto Rico weaves through the conversation—its beauty, its challenges, and the hope she carries for change. Bianca shares her vision for future retreats on the island: spaces rooted in culture, learning, healing, and community. Places where women can breathe, honor their grief, and rediscover parts of themselves that got lost along the way.

This episode is an invitation to rethink how movement, land, and connection can hold us through grief. A reminder that healing isn’t linear; it’s lived, mile by mile, moment by moment.

Key Takeaways:

• Travel can be a companion to grief, offering new ways to process loss.
• Representation matters—It can be life-changing for women of color to see themselves in spaces historically closed to them.
• Grief and joy often coexist, and choosing adventure after loss isn’t forgetting—it's honoring the fullness of being alive.
• Community heals—from podcast summits to shared stories, connection lights the way forward.
• Travel during turbulent times is complex, and it’s okay to hold both gratitude and discomfort as you navigate privilege and responsibility.
• Puerto Rico holds deep lessons about resilience, culture, and what it means to belong to land and community.

Guest: Bianca Alba

• Blogger & Podcaster
• @thislatinatravels
• thislatinatravels.com

Hosted by: Nina Rodriguez

• griefandlight.com
• @griefandlight
• Resting Grief Face on Substack
• Grief Tending Toolkit

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Grief and Light™ is an award-winning, independent podcast exploring the honest, messy, deeply human experience of loss and grief.

Grief-fluency is a life-affirming skill we were never taught. We're here to change that.

Hosted by grief-informed guide and sibling loss survivor Nina Rodriguez, the show fosters a more grief-informed, hopeful world, one conversation at a time. At its heart is one belief: to grieve fully is to live fully. 

Now in Season 5, with 130+ episodes, the show features changemakers, researchers, creatives, and leaders exploring loss, identity, uncertainty, and what it means to keep living when life changes.

Connect with Nina: Website · Instagram · Substack

Subscribe to the newsletter

🏆 Ear Worthy Best Life Lessons 2026 · Signal Awards Silver Winner 2026 · TalkDeath Readers’ Choice Best Podcast 2025 · 2× Women Who Podcast Awards Winner · Podground Editor’s Pick 2026

DISCLAIMER: Grief and Light™ is hosted by a grief-informed guide, not a licensed therapist, doctor, or attorney. Nothing shared here is intended as therapy, medical advice, or legal counsel. Seek qualified support.

Full Disclaimer

What happens when you gather a circle of grievers, creators, and grief-literacy leaders around one table and ask them to tell the truth about how loss has reshaped their families, and their lives?

In this special Grief Week episode of Grief and Light, we find out.

*** Watch the video here. ***

This episode is an offering for anyone navigating family changes after loss, for anyone bracing for the holidays, and for anyone who needs to hear that their grief makes sense, that their story matters, and that connection is still possible even in the midst of heartbreak.

Each year, the first week of December marks Grief Week—a global invitation to slow down, raise awareness, open conversations, and build a more grief-informed world. In honor of this mission, Nina Rodriguez brings together members of the Get Griefy Small Business Collective for a roundtable conversation that feels equal parts honest, tender, and unexpectedly uplifting.

From the moment the mic turns on, the episode unfolds like a shared living room, where stories overlap, tears sit beside laughter, and the complexity of grief is met with curiosity instead of fear. Together, Nina and her guests explore how loss ripples through families: the shifting dynamics, the roles we grow into (or out of), the unspoken tensions, and the surprising places where connection begins to mend what grief has fractured.

What emerges is not just a conversation, but a reminder:
Grief may isolate, but community brings us home to ourselves.
Through creativity, storytelling, mutual witnessing, and the simple act of speaking honestly, this group shows what’s possible when we don’t grieve alone.

Connect with our guests & their offerings:

• AMANDA MCKOY FLANAGAN: amandamckoyflanagan.com
• ANGIE HANSON: butterfliesandhalos.com
• CHARLENE LAM: curatinggrief.com
• KERA SANCHEZ: getgriefymagazine.com
• LIZ QUINN: @lizquinnheals

Hosted by: Nina Rodriguez

• Creator of Grief and Light, Grief Guide
• griefandlight.com
• @griefandlight
• Resting Grief Face on Substack

Grief Support Resources for the Road:

• Grief Tending Toolkit
• Access our online community

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Grief and Light™ is an award-winning, independent podcast exploring the honest, messy, deeply human experience of loss and grief.

Grief-fluency is a life-affirming skill we were never taught. We're here to change that.

Hosted by grief-informed guide and sibling loss survivor Nina Rodriguez, the show fosters a more grief-informed, hopeful world, one conversation at a time. At its heart is one belief: to grieve fully is to live fully. 

Now in Season 5, with 130+ episodes, the show features changemakers, researchers, creatives, and leaders exploring loss, identity, uncertainty, and what it means to keep living when life changes.

Connect with Nina: Website · Instagram · Substack

Subscribe to the newsletter

🏆 Ear Worthy Best Life Lessons 2026 · Signal Awards Silver Winner 2026 · TalkDeath Readers’ Choice Best Podcast 2025 · 2× Women Who Podcast Awards Winner · Podground Editor’s Pick 2026

DISCLAIMER: Grief and Light™ is hosted by a grief-informed guide, not a licensed therapist, doctor, or attorney. Nothing shared here is intended as therapy, medical advice, or legal counsel. Seek qualified support.

Full Disclaimer

What happens when three grief podcasters sit down to talk about the happiest–saddest time of the year?

In this special Grief Awareness Week episode, three grief storytellers and space-holders — Nina Rodriguez (Grief and Light), Liz Quinn (Healing Hearts Podcast), and Tara Accardo (Life with Grief podcast) — come together for a conversation that’s equal parts honest, tender, and deeply human.

***

The video version is available here.

***

What unfolds is a spacious, story-rich dialogue about the many faces of grief: the way it evolves over time, the way it reshapes who we are, and the way the holidays often magnify both the ache and the sweetness. Together, the three share how their losses — Nina’s 32-year-old brother, Liz’s newborn daughter and both parents, and Tara’s parents and beloved 19-year-old dog — continue to ripple through their lives in ways that are both painful and illuminating.

They explore the early fog of grief, the physicality of sorrow, the rituals and traditions that tether us to our people, and the power of setting boundaries when the world expects more than we can give. They reflect on identity, envy, unexpected joy, and the healing that happens when we speak our stories out loud and are met with understanding instead of silence.

This episode feels like sitting with friends who get it. Three women navigating grief personally and professionally, carving out space for truth, connection, and the radical permission to feel it all.

It will air on all three podcasts.

Key Takeaways

• Grief evolves constantly, shifting shape over time but never disappearing.
• Storytelling creates connection, offering validation, healing, and community.
• The first year of loss is disorienting, full of numbness and overwhelm.
• Rituals and traditions can honor loved ones, especially during the holidays.
• Clear boundaries are essential — it’s okay to opt out, slow down, or protect your energy.
• Grief impacts the body, not just the heart and mind.
• Community support softens the edges, reminding us we’re not alone.
• Every grief journey is unique, and there’s no one “right” way to move through it.
• Joy can coexist with grief, even when it feels fragile or unexpected.
• All emotions are valid, especially during tender seasons like the holidays.

The Grief and Light podcast is hosted by: Nina Rodriguez

• Creator of Grief and Light, Grief Guide
• griefandlight.com
• @griefandlight
• Resting Grief Face on Substack

Grief Support Resources for the Road:

• Grief Tending Toolkit
• Access our online community

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Grief and Light™ is an award-winning, independent podcast exploring the honest, messy, deeply human experience of loss and grief.

Grief-fluency is a life-affirming skill we were never taught. We're here to change that.

Hosted by grief-informed guide and sibling loss survivor Nina Rodriguez, the show fosters a more grief-informed, hopeful world, one conversation at a time. At its heart is one belief: to grieve fully is to live fully. 

Now in Season 5, with 130+ episodes, the show features changemakers, researchers, creatives, and leaders exploring loss, identity, uncertainty, and what it means to keep living when life changes.

Connect with Nina: Website · Instagram · Substack

Subscribe to the newsletter

🏆 Ear Worthy Best Life Lessons 2026 · Signal Awards Silver Winner 2026 · TalkDeath Readers’ Choice Best Podcast 2025 · 2× Women Who Podcast Awards Winner · Podground Editor’s Pick 2026

DISCLAIMER: Grief and Light™ is hosted by a grief-informed guide, not a licensed therapist, doctor, or attorney. Nothing shared here is intended as therapy, medical advice, or legal counsel. Seek qualified support.

Full Disclaimer

Some stories are written in ink. Others are written in loss, love, and everything that comes after. 

Today’s guest is Tiriq Rashad, spoken word artist, whose life has been shaped by the grief of losing his daughter, brother, and mother, and by the courage to transform that pain into poetry, music, and meaning. Through his books Shine Through Our Shade and A Diamond in God’s Dirt, and now his new album Kiss My Art, Tiriq invites us into the alchemy of survival where art becomes a way home to ourselves.

***

Watch video version here

***

Together, Nina and Tiriq explore the unpolished, raw realities of grieving: the trauma that lingers, the relief of finally speaking your truth, the grounding power of therapy, and the courage it takes to show up vulnerable. Tiriq shares how grief propelled him toward expression, how strength can emerge through vulnerability, and how poetry, music, and storytelling became a space where love and pain coexist.

This conversation reminds us that grief doesn’t need to be fixed, it needs to be witnessed. Through Tiriq’s story, we’re invited to lean into connection, share what hurts, and trust that creative expression can guide us back to ourselves, one honest moment at a time.

Key Takeaways

• Art becomes a way to return to ourselves and rediscover meaning after loss.
• Vulnerability is essential in expressing and navigating grief.
• Every loss carries a distinct trauma and teaches us something different.
• Honoring loved ones through creativity can be deeply healing.
• Therapy provides tools, grounding, and perspective during the grieving process.
• Acceptance isn’t passive. It’s an active part of moving forward with grief.
• People “wear” grief differently; there is no right way to grieve.
• Connection and community are crucial in the healing journey.
• Sharing our stories can inspire courage and connection in others.
• Self-tending is necessary to sustain ourselves through grief.

Guest: Tiriq Rashad

• Gramy Considered Spoken Word Artist
• tiriqrashad.com
• Watch Tiriq's TEDx Talk
• @tiriq_rashad

Hosted by: Nina Rodriguez

• Creator of Grief and Light, Grief Guide
• griefandlight.com
• @griefandlight
• Resting Grief Face on Substack

Grief Support Resources for the Road:

• Grief Tending Toolkit
• Access our online community

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Grief and Light™ is an award-winning, independent podcast exploring the honest, messy, deeply human experience of loss and grief.

Grief-fluency is a life-affirming skill we were never taught. We're here to change that.

Hosted by grief-informed guide and sibling loss survivor Nina Rodriguez, the show fosters a more grief-informed, hopeful world, one conversation at a time. At its heart is one belief: to grieve fully is to live fully. 

Now in Season 5, with 130+ episodes, the show features changemakers, researchers, creatives, and leaders exploring loss, identity, uncertainty, and what it means to keep living when life changes.

Connect with Nina: Website · Instagram · Substack

Subscribe to the newsletter

🏆 Ear Worthy Best Life Lessons 2026 · Signal Awards Silver Winner 2026 · TalkDeath Readers’ Choice Best Podcast 2025 · 2× Women Who Podcast Awards Winner · Podground Editor’s Pick 2026

DISCLAIMER: Grief and Light™ is hosted by a grief-informed guide, not a licensed therapist, doctor, or attorney. Nothing shared here is intended as therapy, medical advice, or legal counsel. Seek qualified support.

Full Disclaimer

Grief doesn’t just reshape us, it can redirect the entire course of our lives in ways we never saw coming. 

***

Video available here

***

For Kim Burditt Barlett, that redirection began the day her brother Jon, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, died by suicide in 2010. What followed was a profound transformation that eventually led her into suicide prevention work and, ultimately, to her role at Stop Soldier Suicide.

In this episode, Kim sits down with Nina to explore the layered reality of suicide loss—the silence, the stigma, the unanswered questions, and the way it can feel both isolating and overwhelming, even in a room full of support. Kim speaks to the particular complexities faced by military families, where grief is often compounded by systemic gaps, cultural expectations, and a lack of adequate support.

They also dive into the Black Box Project, a groundbreaking effort at Stop Soldier Suicide that analyzes digital behavior from voluntarily donated devices to better understand risk and, hopefully, save lives. Kim discusses the powerful act of families choosing to share their loved one's digital footprint, transforming loss into a legacy of prevention and protection for others.

Kim also introduces Sibling Strong Retreats, the adventure-based healing community she co-founded for sibling loss survivors.

Throughout the conversation, Kim reminds us that grief may break us open, but what grows from that fracture can be meaningful, connective, and deeply human. 

And with compassion, courage, and a willingness to stay present to our pain, post-traumatic growth is possible.

Key Takeaways

• Meaning-making is a natural and powerful response to grief.
• Life can redirect entirely after a significant loss, sometimes toward unexpected purpose.
• Peer support is crucial, especially for suicide loss survivors.
• Post-traumatic growth can coexist with grief.
• Being honest with children about loss builds trust and emotional resilience.
• Sibling loss carries unique secondary losses and identity shifts.
• Many mental health professionals lack adequate suicide prevention training.
• Military families often face systemic gaps in grief and mental health support.
• Sharing details of a loss is a personal choice; no one owes their story.
• Community-driven approaches are essential in addressing the suicide crisis.
• Choosing how to respond to grief can be empowering and transformative.

Guest: Kim Burditt-Barlett, MSW

• Sibling loss survivor of USMC veteran Jon D.S. Hoffman
• stopsoldiersuicide.org/BlackBoxProject
• @stopsoldiersuicide
• siblingstrongretreats.com

Hosted by: Nina Rodriguez

• Creator of Grief and Light, Grief Guide
• griefandlight.com
• @griefandlight
• Resting Grief Face on Substack

Grief Support Resources for the Road:

• Grief Tending Toolkit
• Access our online community

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Grief and Light™ is an award-winning, independent podcast exploring the honest, messy, deeply human experience of loss and grief.

Grief-fluency is a life-affirming skill we were never taught. We're here to change that.

Hosted by grief-informed guide and sibling loss survivor Nina Rodriguez, the show fosters a more grief-informed, hopeful world, one conversation at a time. At its heart is one belief: to grieve fully is to live fully. 

Now in Season 5, with 130+ episodes, the show features changemakers, researchers, creatives, and leaders exploring loss, identity, uncertainty, and what it means to keep living when life changes.

Connect with Nina: Website · Instagram · Substack

Subscribe to the newsletter

🏆 Ear Worthy Best Life Lessons 2026 · Signal Awards Silver Winner 2026 · TalkDeath Readers’ Choice Best Podcast 2025 · 2× Women Who Podcast Awards Winner · Podground Editor’s Pick 2026

DISCLAIMER: Grief and Light™ is hosted by a grief-informed guide, not a licensed therapist, doctor, or attorney. Nothing shared here is intended as therapy, medical advice, or legal counsel. Seek qualified support.

Full Disclaimer