After a little summer downtime, some rest and relaxation, we’re kicking off season 2 of the podcast with Cindy Goodrich, Chief Marketing Officer at Empathy, a company that’s shifting the beliefs and behaviors around what support looks like after the loss of a loved one.

After raising $72 Million in their Series C back in May, Empathy has expanded their reach, announcing partnership after partnership with every big life insurer in the industry.

Empathy has even brought on David Kessler as their Chief Empathy Officer– a best-selling author and speaker and one of the most trusted voices on the topic of grief. Such an amazing move to bring David into the fold.

My chat with Cindy re-affirmed that most companies in the US are still operating in the dark ages when it comes to how they approach death and grief for their employees. Cindy and the team at Empathy are working to build a more resilient society through their offering. As Cindy said it’s not about moving on from grief, it’s about moving forward.

Learn more about Empathy and the work they’re doing by visiting empathy.com

Today my guest is Dr. Shea Cox, veterinarian and founder of Honor Pet, an end of life care center for our four legged friends. At the 10,000 sq .ft peaceful sanctuary based in L.A., people get to honor their pet in the most personal and meaningful ways before saying their last goodbye.

Shea and I talk about pet palliative care and pet hospice care, topics that were completely new to me. As a pet parent, this episode offered me a totally new perspective when it comes to how to approach illness, surgery and also death for my pets. Shea and her team bring empathy, care and dignity to the pet death space. Even if you’re not a pet owner, this episode is eye-opening and I bet you take away a few lessons that you can apply to your own end of life plan.

Enjoy Shea Cox, an entrepreneur who is reinventing the pet death space.

Links & Resources:

Learn more about Honor Pet: https://www.honor.pet/

Book a virtual end of life pre-planning session for your pet with Honor Pet: https://www.honor.pet/pre-planning

A directory for mobile vets, including those providing hospice and end-of-life care:

https://www.inhomepeteuthanasia.com/

Enroll in a quality of life Master Class developed by Shea: https://bit.ly/40WqRT7

Shop for Euthabag, the dignity pet body bag we discuss on this episode: https://a.co/d/8AMaM2h

Your cremated remains can help rebuild the ocean! Prepare to be inspired by this story of creativity, healing and determination. My guests are Louise Skajem and Aura Murillo, the founders of Resting Reef, a company that uses human or pet cremated remains mixed with oyster shells to create reef structures that not only help memorialize you or your loved ones, but help regenerate the ocean floor.

This dual purpose mission is breathing new life into the death care space by rebuilding reefs in Bali, and soon, other places throughout the world.

On this special episode we talk about creativity, and how the idea for Resting Reef was born from a place of grief and healing. We talk about how all great ideas are a little bit crazy, but how having the right people in your corner telling you to keep going, makes all the difference.

You can learn more about Resting Reef by visiting: https://restingreef.co.uk/

You can watch the official trailer for the movie Ocean with David Attenborough by visiting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5J7aP2FYH4

A theme that keeps coming up on the show is that managing the process of closing out someone’s life and estate is so time-intensive and detail-oriented, that it needs a dedicated project manager. Our lives are so complex these days and so much of it is online, which can make it really challenging for your family who’s left to make sense of it all. It can be like a scavenger hunt….but not a fun one.

My guest today has the solve. Maria Fraietta is the founder of The Nokbox. N-O- K as in, Next of Kin. (It took me a minute to put that together. ) Like an audit for your own life, The Nokbox is a tool that helps you get everything completely organized for yourself and your next of kin. It’s a folder system in one handy box, but it’s also a conversation starter that gets you talking about death stuff, so of course I love it.

You need a Nokbox, trust me. Maria and the Nokbox team were kind enough to offer you guys a discount code. Go to thenokbox.com and enter MDP15 for 15% off your purchase.

Turns out that the topic of death is a great ice breaker! My guest today is Lisa Pahl, the founder of The Death Deck– a card game about, you guessed it, death. With 112 cards, it encourages conversation and life-changing dialogue on a topic that most of us are still not totally comfy with.

We jump right in and get to know each other through the game, which was a lot of fun. In addition to creating the Death Deck, Lisa is a Hospice and Emergency Medicine Social Worker. We have an informative discussion on MAID (Medical Assistance In Dying.) We discuss why medicine is often a form of self care, and why death talk could be one of the cures for the loneliness epidemic that’s facing society.

Learn more and order your very own set of cards at www.thedeathdeck.com

Learn more about Compassion & Choices and access the dementia values tool:

https://compassionandchoices.org/dementia-values-tool/

There's so much innovation happening in the death care space right now. It's such a fun time to have a podcast focused on death you guys!

Speaking about innovation, my guest today is Brock Sheets, the Founder of Willowise, a tech company that helps families and friends celebrate and honor their loved ones with, as Brock puts it, “a curated tapestry” of their life. This is not your average zoom gathering.

One of the most inspiring parts of our chat is the discussion around thinking about your life like a diamond. Each facet represents a different aspect of who you are and the influence you can have on others. It was a framework that gave me the feels and I hope you have them too.

Learn more about Willowise and bookmark it for the future: www.willowise.com

Watch the very special choir tribute that was created for Brock’s father: https://youtu.be/BYiSR-KSLKw

Over 70,000 pets are buried at Hartsdale Pet Cemetery, but not a single one is named Rover. Go figure.

If you drive 25 miles north of New York City, you’ll find yourself in the charming town of Hartsdale, NY. With a population of only about twenty five hundred people, Hartsdale is home to one of the oldest and most famous pet cemeteries in the United States. Founded in 1896, today the cemetery is the final resting place for more than 70,000 pets, as well as some of their moms and dads.

My guest today is Ed Martin III—the Vice President of the Hartsdale Pet Cemetery. He shares the rich history of this historical gem, famous pets buried there and the overarching lessons of inclusivity, unity and ever-lasting love that us humans can take away from the burial grounds.

You can learn more about Hartsdale Pet Cemetery by visiting: www.petcem.com

I bet you know your company’s vacation policy, travel policy and parental leave policy. But what about your bereavement policy? In the U.S., the standard is just three to five days of paid leave. In this episode we talk about why your company most likely needs to reimagine their approach to bereavement, and how Bereave can serve as the guide.

Justin Clifford is the CEO of Bereave, a company that’s on a mission to leverage technology to connect the world to the compassionate and transparent end-of-life experiences we all deserve. Bereave is rewriting the rule book on bereavement and all I can say is, it’s about damn time.

You can learn more about Bereave and check out all the free resources Justin references in this episode by visiting:

https://www.bereave.io

No, animals will not eat you if you're buried at Colorado Burial Preserve. I asked.

Emily Miller is the founder of Colorado Burial Preserve, an 80-acre piece of land in Florence, CO that is the state’s first dedicated green cemetery. In addition to serving as a cemetery, the land is also a habitat for flowers, blue birds and indigenous plants. Soon visitors will be able to walk the nature trail loop, learn about the land and maybe even take a yoga class. Cemetery yoga— you heard it here first.

You can learn more about the meaningful work Emily and her team are doing at Colorado Burial Preserve by visiting:

https://www.coloradoburialpreserve.com/

You make an effort to recycle. You’ve got a compost bin under your sink. You pick products at the grocery store that are good for your family and the environment. Many of us spend our lives trying to do right by Mother Earth, but then make decisions for our funerals that do anything but.

When you get to the end of this episode you’ll have a fresh perspective on how to plan your funeral in a way that honors your values and the earth.

Mike Reagan is the CEO of The Natural Funeral, a leader in eco-conscious end-of-life care in Colorado. Mike shares profound experiences he’s had as a hospice volunteer. From telepathic communication to terramation, we discuss the major shifts happening within the funeral industry and how The Natural Funeral is leading the way.

You can learn more about The Natural Funeral here: https://www.thenaturalfuneral.com