Mostly Death Stuff

My guest today is Jamie Sarche, the Director of Pre-Planning at Feldman Mortuary, one of Denver Colorado’s oldest funeral homes.

Jamie and I get into the role that rituals play in helping us process grief, and why paring down a funeral or having no funeral at all for your loved one, can do more harm than good.

Learn more about Feldman Mortuary here: https://feldmanmortuary.com/

Learn about Dr. Alan Wolfelt: https://www.centerforloss.com/

Today I have the most sparkly of sparkly guests, Brigitte Mars. Brigitte is a world-famous herbalist, author, professor, and nutritional consultant.

Brigitte and I talk about why you should eat your weeds--the safe ones as least. She opens our eyes to the abundance that’s all around us, right at our feet.

We also dig into the use of psychedelics to help people with their fear of dying. This is a very cool topic that we just scratched the surface on. She’s a death doula, healer, psychedelic sitter, herb walk-leader. If Brigitte comes to your house, ask her to bring a salad. You won’t regret it.

Enjoy, sparkly moonbeam, ray of light, Brigitte Mars.

You can learn more about Brigitte Mars by visiting: www.brigittemars.com

We hear a lot about how A.I. is going to impact our lives, but what about how it impacts us when we die? Niki Weiss is a Digital Thanatologist, an expert who studies the intersection of death, dying, and digital technology. She’s also the founder of ENDevo, a legacy planning company that looks at the totality of the person - the legal, the financial, the physical and the digital.

Death in the age of A.I. is no joke and we’re just starting to imagine where this can all go. As Niki says, "it’s kind of like being on an airplane– we don’t know exactly where we’re going and we’re not sure if we have landing gear."

This is such a thought-provoking episode that will make you rethink how your digital presence today could be used for better or for worse in the future.

You can learn more about Niki's company ENDevo: https://www.endevo.life

Take the ENDevo 2-min Peace of Mind Assessment: https://finalplaybook.com/quiz

My guest today is Joél Simone, also known as The Grave Woman. Joél is the founder of the Multicultural Death and Grief Care Academy, an organization that empowers professionals with the tools to create authentic, culturally inclusive experiences that honor diversity and inclusion at the end of life, after death and through grief support. Joél is a celebrity within the death and funeral space and tours the country, regularly speaking at all the major death and funeral-related industry events.

We talk about her time as an embalmer and the reverence and care she brought to that role. We also get into some of the courses that her academy provides, such as Locs and Twist- a class for death care professionals that offers essential techniques for properly cleansing and caring for the locs and twisted hairstyles of Black descendants.

Learn more:

www.thegravewoman.com

Badu Incense:

https://baduworldmarket.com/collections/incenses

What’s your favorite section of the newspaper? As someone who would receive a printed copy of The New York Times on Sundays, I would spend 10 minutes pulling out my priority sections: front page news of course (it’s kind of the whole point of subscribing), Real Estate, Food to know where I should eat next and what to cook next, Style to stay current, and always the obituaries.

My guest today is Clay Risen, a reporter for The New York Times on the obituaries desk. Clay gives us an insider perspective on the process of writing obituaries. He says, “our job isn’t to write about death. The death is an occasion for which we are writing about a life.” That’s a reframe that stopped me in my tracks.

What’s clear after speaking with Clay is that we are all connected. There’s more that connects us than divides us, and that reading the obituaries is a practice that can remind you that you’re still alive!

Whoa nelly. This one is hot. Today my guests are Stefanie Greenleaf and Julia Sweetland. We’re digging into the topic of Widow’s Fire. "Widow's Fire" is the intense, often overwhelming surge of sexual desire and need for physical intimacy that can occur in the weeks or months after a spouse's death. And this overwhelming desire coincides with…you guessed it, grief.

Stef and Julia hold nothing back in this honest, authentic and empowering discussion. Even if you’re not a widow, I bet this episode makes you think about your own sexuality and the role intimacy plays in your life.

Learn more about the community that Julia has built by visiting widowsfire.com

Enjoy Stef and Julia— they bring the fire.

Today my guest is Nancy Mello, animal communicator and medium. Nancy’s story is one that I think is going to really touch a lot of people. It certainly touched me. She shares how being an outcast and being seen as a weirdo throughout her life, is something she’s turned into her super power.

Nancy reminds us that your authentic self is always the answer, and that on the rollercoaster of life, you can either choose to grip the safety bar or put your hands up in the air and have fun. It’s the best analogy and one that’s stuck with me for weeks. Enjoy the gifted, quirky and wildly wonderful Nancy Mello.

Learn more about Nancy and book a session: https://nancymello.com/

In honor of October being Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness Month we have two very special guests today.

Sarah Herron is a mother, wife, outdoor adventure woman and former contestant on The Bachelor. Through social media, Sarah has taken us with her on some major adventures– from summiting Mt. Kilimanjaro to epic alpine lakes, Sarah has empowered women to achieve what they didn’t think was possible. And then the unimaginable happened. Sarah and her husband Dylan lost their son Oliver at 24 weeks.

In this episode we're also joined by Kelly McDyre, President and CEO of the Child Loss Foundation. Kelly and her team help families like Sarah’s navigate child loss offering up financial, emotional and community support. These two phenomenal women have helped people through some of their darkest times. It was a true honor to speak with them.

Learn more about Child Loss Foundation here: https://www.childlossfoundation.org/

Follow Sarah Herron on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/sarahherron/?hl=en

You’ve likely heard of BYOB, but have you heard of BYOC? The “C” in this case stands for casket. Did you know you can bring your own casket to the funeral home you choose? You can, and Titan is leading the way to make sure more people know it. Today my guest is Josh Siegel, Co-founder of Titan Casket, the coolest, most culturally relevant casket company in the funeral space.

Titan’s mission is to make caskets easily accessible, customizable and affordable for all. Their marketing efforts have earned them being named one of the marketers of the year last year by AdAge. Surprisingly, they’re the only casket company to make the list next to brands like Crocs and Ferrari.

They’re also the only casket company to have a celebrity talk show, Grave Conversations, hosted by David Dastmalchian that takes place in...Titan caskets. It’s not to be missed.

We chat about the role of humor in driving brand awareness and why Swifites were part of the secret sauce that helped catapult Titan into the space they are now.

You can learn more about Titan Casket here: https://titancasket.com/

You can order your very own Mort Plushie: https://titancasket.com/products/mort-plushie

Check out Grave Conversations on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@graveconversations

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