Grief, Gratitude & The Gray in Between

Marissa Quintero was born in London to a Colombian father and an Indian mother. She was raised in Colombia and moved to the United States 10 years ago with the intention of giving her sons a better life.

Marissa is a domestic violence survivor, a mental health warrior, and an empowered woman. She discovered running about four years ago during a mental health crisis. She has since run two marathons, including the Boston Marathon most recently this year. Marissa is on a personal goal to complete 50 half marathons before she turns 50 and has already completed 13.

She is on a path of self-healing for herself, her sons, and anyone who might be in need.

Dr. George Ackerman (Sharon’s son) is from Brooklyn, N.Y. Now residing in Florida, he works in the fields of law, police, and education. George lost his mother, Sharon Riff Ackerman on 1/1/2020 due to Parkinson’s Disease.

George wanted to honor his mother and continue to help in the Parkinson’s awareness cause and did not know how to bring change. We started TogetherForSharon® as a family for the purpose of keeping my mother, Sharon Riff Ackerman’s, memory alive and to share the message of Parkinson’s Awareness and hope for a cure.

Today https://www.togetherforsharon.com/ reaches thousands of individuals across the country for PD Awareness. George currently interviews individuals throughout the Parkinson’s community including various foundations, caregivers, and Parkinson’s warriors to help share their stories and causes.

"I am on a mission, and nothing will ever stop me until there is a PD Cure.... nothing. Join me, share and we are a family in this mission toward a cure, always! " https://www.togetherforsharon.com/about-us/#mission

Author, A Son’s Journey from Parkinson’s Disease Caregiver to Advocate. To order your copy click  https://a.co/d/gqUwKJX

Website https://www.togetherforsharon.com/

Email [email protected]

Jana DeCristofaro, LCSW, is the Community Response Program Coordinator at Dougy Center. Since 2002, Jana has coordinated peer support groups for children, teens, young adults, and adults. She also provides consultation and training for grieving families, students, community members, and professionals locally and nationally. Jana is the host and producer of Grief Out Loud, Dougy Center’s podcast, which features interviews with other professionals in the grief world and those with lived experience of grief. She has also facilitated community responses for schools and community organizations after a death.

https://www.dougy.org/

Grief Out Loud Podcast

Get in touch with Kendra Rinaldi for coaching or to be a guest 

www.griefgratitudeandthegrayinbetween.com

Grant Garry is an award winning filmmaker, actor, and singer. He is the director of the documentary Meet Me Where I Am - now streaming on Amazon Prime Video and TUBI.

Grant recently starred as the “Beast” in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast at The San Luis Obispo Opera and as “Professor Callahan” in Legally Blonde: The Musical at the El Portal Theater in North Hollywood. Grant Graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s Degree in Theatre Arts from Loyola Marymount University. He currently hosts The Where I Am Podcast available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music.

MEET ME WHERE I AM is the winner of The Audience Award for Best Documentary at Dances with Films. The film is now available on Prime Video, Apple TV, and a few other platforms.

Meet Me Where I Am features individual stories of love, loss, and hope. I was honored to sit down with some of the world’s most renowned grief experts, as well as artists, cultural figures, and everyday individuals to tackle this complex subject. The film features actor Anthony Rapp (Tony Award Winning "Best Musical" RENT, Star Trek: Discovery, Without You - New World Stages Hell’s Kitchen), acclaimed author and grief expert, David Kessler (author, Finding Meaning, ABC’s Good Morning America contributor), Ron Marasco Ph.D. (author, About Grief: Insights, Setbacks, Grace Notes, Taboos), Donna Schurmaan Ph.D. (Sr. Director of Advocacy & Training at The Dougy Center) and actor, brother of the late great comedian Chris Farley, John Farley, among others, to comprise a diverse roster of professionals who inspire us, through personal stories as well as researched-based insights, to move forward with our grief.

Watch MEET ME WHERE I AM (2024)

MEET ME WHERE I AM (2024) - Official Trailer

Contact Kendra Rinaldi to be a guest on the podcast  https://www.griefgratitudeandthegrayinbetween.com/book-online

Camilo Russi es autor del libro "El duelo duele... y eso está bien". Camilo es un referente con respecto a la educación sobre la muerte y el duelo, fundador del Death Education Group, y acompañante de duelo.

Fundó eventos educativos como el Congreso Internacional de Educación sobre la Muerte, y como la Escuela de la Muerte, que han apoyado a más de 45,000 personas alrededor del mundo.

Camilo se entrenó como ingeniero, y hace más de una década es conferencista y tallerista internacional para decenas de organizaciones multinacionales.

Escucha la primera entrevista que tuve con Camilo: https://www.griefgratitudeandthegrayinbetween.com/podcast/episode/904069d4/64claridad-sobre-la-muerte-es-libertad-para-la-vida-con-camilo-russi-espanol

Connectate con Camilo Rusi:

https://www.instagram.com/bycamilorussi/?igsh=MXVxZTVzdWczc2o3eg%3D%3D

https://www.deatheducationgroup.com/

Curso virtual de acceso libre para personas en duelo y profesionales involucrados con el duelo. Comienza el 19 de septiembre. Detalles y registro sin costo aquí: https://www.deatheducationgroup.com/4trampasduelo o en Instagram @bycamilorussi

Contacta a Kendra Rinaldi para ser un invitado en el podcast o para ascesoria de duelo:

https://www.griefgratitudeandthegrayinbetween.com/

Liza Peterson is a yoga teacher and reiki practitioner. She is the owner of Wings Of Resilience Healing where she supports her clients with yoga, reiki, and coaching support. She was inspired to open her business after the sudden loss of both of her parents. Liza is also a competitive ballroom dancer, and loves to perform on the stage. A proud mother of four amazing kids and a Puppy Mom to her cavapoo Penny Lane.

Previous episodes with Liza Peterson:

https://www.griefgratitudeandthegrayinbetween.com/podcast/episode/c0b82416/17-mourning-doves-with-liza-peterson

https://www.griefgratitudeandthegrayinbetween.com/podcast/episode/9170d94f/104-home-is-within-me-with-liza-peterson

Contact Liza:

Instagram @wingsofresiliencehealing

Website wingsofresiliencehealing.com

Contact Kendra Rinaldi to be a guest on the podcast or for coaching:

https://www.griefgratitudeandthegrayinbetween.com/

In this heartfelt episode, we chat with Ona Gritz , her new memoir, Everywhere I Look, won the Readers’ Choice Gold Award for Best Adult Book.  We talk about her profound grief journey following the tragic loss of her sister, Angie. Ona unravels the mystery and tragedy of Angie’s murder and shares her own awakening to loss, grief, guilt, and the truth.

Ona Gritz holds a Master of Arts in poetry from the creative writing program at New York University. She is the author of August Or Forever, a Reader’s Choice and Wishing Shelf finalist in middle grade fiction. Her nonfiction has appeared in Brevity, The Guardian, The New York Times, River Teeth, The Rumpus, The Utne Reader, and been named Notable in The Best American Essays and Best of the Year in Salon. Her earlier books include On the Whole: A Story of Mothering and Disability and Geode, a finalist for the Main Street Rag Poetry Book Award. She won the Poetry Archive Now Worldview 2020 Competition and has received many other honors for her poems, which have been widely anthologized. Ona lives with her husband, writer Daniel Simpson, near Philadelphia. For more information, please visit her website: https://www.onagritz.com/.

To connect on social media: https://www.instagram.com/onagritz/

Contact Kendra Rinaldi to be a guest on the podcast or to find out more about her offerings:

https://www.griefgratitudeandthegrayinbetween.com/

Sheri  Ramirez

is memoirist, social media vlogger, and certified life coach while working full time as a middle school teacher for the deaf. She lives in Saint Augustine, Florida with her husband, 10 year old twin boys, and energetic 8 year old daughter. She was once a young widow at age 22 after tragically and unexpectedly losing her husband to a brain aneurysm resulting from his chronic kidney disease. She is now married to her current deaf husband for over twelve years, he has brought Sign Language and deaf culture to their home. Through both marriages she has learned to heal her loss, suppressed grief, and the destruction of self-inflicted infidelity. Sheri's mission is to increase healing and advocating for self-love to all those she comes in contact with by sharing her vulnerable story of redemption and life coaching services.

Connect with Sheri: www.sheriramirez.com

Instagram: @saltyselflove

Contact Kendra Rinaldi for Grief Coaching services or to be a guest on the podcast.

Gabriela Georges is a multi-disciplinary artist, creative grief guide and founder of The Grief Cocoon. Her work is inspired by her beloved mother, Samira, who she lost to cancer at the age of twenty. She supports people to creatively process, befriend, and transform their grief through creative writing, movement, rituals, and community connection. Through The Grief Cocoon, Gabriela offers creative online workshops, a podcast, educational online content, a mobile community app, and 1:1 support.

thegriefcocoon.com

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thegriefcocoon/

- https://www.instagram.com/gab_georges/

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/thegriefcocoon

TikTok - https://tiktok.com/@thegriefcocoon

Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@thegriefcocoon

Contact Kendra Rinaldi for coaching or to be a guest on the podcast

https://www.griefgratitudeandthegrayinbetween.com/

Tyndale novelist Cheryl Grey Bostrom, M.A., writes surprising prose and poetry that reflect her keen interest in nature and human behavior. The author of four books, her most recent include her international best seller Sugar Birds—the winner of more than a dozen fiction awards, and Leaning on Air, endorsed as “a reader’s dream,” and a “cross-generational masterpiece." An avid photographer, she and her veterinarian husband live in the rural Pacific Northwest.

Connect with her at CherylBostrom.com

Contact Kenera Rinaldi  for Grief Coaching information or to be a guest 

https://www.griefgratitudeandthegrayinbetween.com/