Who We Become

If you have ever known grief, you're going to want to listen 🎧

This episode on the Who We Become podcast is so special because you get to hear me with my first guest!

🖤 KristySue: Founder of Death Priestess and a Death, Grief & Rebirth Doula

Featured on the cover of Detroit Metro Times for her role in the rise of modern grief work, KristySue is redefining how we approach death, loss, and transformation. As a widow-parent, she brings lived experience to her work, bridging the sacred and the practical to support individuals and communities through profound change.

Blending ritual, somatic practice, and grounded guidance, she creates spaces where grief is not rushed or silenced but integrated, honored, and lived alongside. Her work challenges outdated narratives around death care, offering a more human, soul-centered approach to rebuilding life after loss.

If you are being called to learn more or work with KristySue, you can contact her via www.DeathPriestess.org

⏰ Episode Time Stamps ⏰

00:00 KristySue's grief story

8:50 Who we become through losing someone

14:04 Shame and life conversations on death and grief

21:00 Being unprepared to lose someone and life after

38:57 Hosting the Death Cafe

43:23 The practice of holding space

51:04 Self care and grief

1:10:41 Becoming The Death Priestess

1:20:08 Appreciating duality and getting curious

1:27:08 Capacity for grief over time

1:30:00 Forget the "stages" of grief

1:34:06 After the funeral

1:38:57 Reality of healing in today's world

1:42:00 Who and where to go to when you want to talk about your grief

💜

As always, thank you for listening. I would love to hear what supported you in this episode! Leave me a comment or if you follow on Instagram, send me a message @whowebecomepodcast

I recorded this episode last weekend because I thought I would share what it's like for me personally to podcast and I forgot to publish it because my toddler had just got home with her dad and I was excited to see her. My bad!

Well, the very same week of recording this I began to get some questions from several of you and a few others on social media. I guess the timing was no coincidence! Now I am even more glad I decided to share this part of my becoming.

If you have been considering starting your own podcast but feel like you may be overthinking it, I hope this episode reassures you that it doesn't have to be complicated.

Is it nice to have state of the art equipment, a studio, badass ass video footage and great lighting? Probably! But I wouldn't know because I am not quite there yet.

In this episode of Who We Become, I share how I have become a podcaster with a "basic ass recording studio" and you can too.

This episode is more about the process of recording and publishing. If you would like me to record a part 2 about what to talk about on your podcast, let me know!

This podcast is slowly but surely growing and finding its way up the ranks, so thank you to each and every one of you, even those of you across oceans, who take the time to search, choose an episode, subscribe, and hit play! It really means the world.

💜 Andrea K

I struggled with my femininity over the years for several reasons but I am learning about becoming softer around my edges without forgetting the strength I have.

Can you relate?

I know I'm not the only woman who has had to step into her strongest versions and forgot to take care of herself, that it's okay to dress in whatever makes her feel her best, or that it's a balance between being able to handle whatever life brings and not lose herself in the process.

Despite wearing whatever we feel like wearing, we're still women.

In this episode of Who We Become, I share my experiences of embracing femininity and owning my girly side, as well as exploring why I thought for so long I "couldn't" be "girly."

Thank you for listening.

❤️

How often do we see someone reach a goal they talk about but didn't see everything that went into it?

Giving a keynote has been a goal of mine, but the way it all came together is something I could not have imagined.

Who you are today could be a totally different person than who you are in a few months.

This episode of Who We Become is a summary of my journey over a few months, beginning where I decided I wanted to speak, got invited to speak, prepared for it, and traveled to give a keynote to my first audience.

One of the details that blew me away is that I traveled out of state to do this and I thought starting out locally was the only way. Turns out that when your goals become real life, it will be so different than what we imagine, but the journey is so worth it!

Thank you for listening to this episode, it means a lot!

Shares, reviews, and comments are always appreciated. ❤️

A big reason I podcast at all is to practice speaking up.

But it didn't start with this podcast and after living through years of experiences that required me to use my voice, I can say that who you are and who you are becoming has a lot to do with whether you are using your voice or not.

I know that I won't die with regrets of staying quiet because I did it enough to learn the consequences.

This short episode on Who We Become is full of reasons to speak up and I will be back with more so stay tuned.

Thank you for listening!

Reviews, shares, and comments are very appreciated! I would love to know how this episode supported you. 💜

Holding space often gets confused with fixing what is or feels wrong.

Although I have genuinely held space for others and myself countless times, I have been guilty of offering solutions to someone who didn't need that in the moment. They wanted me to simply be there.

Who you are in that moment holding space for someone else can be the difference between someone coming back to you for confiding or not.

Who someone else is, while you are needing them to hold space for you in that moment determines if you will go back to them to be there for you.

Paying attention to how silence requires attention just as much as words do is part of holding space.

This episode of the Who We Become podcast will help you understand the difference between what holding space is and isn''t.

Thank you for being here! Leave me a review, comment, or share this episode after you've listened.

Connect on Instagram @whowebecomepodcast

Find this podcast on other platforms here: https://linktr.ee/the.andrea.k

Tired of all the goal setting content? This is your breath of fresh air.

These 26 wishes are what you can visualize and look forward to for yourself and your loved ones moving forward, with no pressure to be the next big name on the internet and more permission to live your life just for the sake of living.

If you don't want to worry about all the pressures of success vs. lessons, hit play.

On this episode of the Who We Become podcast, I am wishing you 26 things that we all deserve to experience.

After you listen, let me know what your favorite wish was! I would love to know ❤️ Leave me a comment or review, I love to read the feedback from each episode.

Don't forget to follow me on Instagram!

@whowebecomepodcast

@hey_andrea_k

As we close out 2025, so many emotions and memories are coming up. The lessons that this year brought are so vast!

If you're so ready for this year to be left behind, this episode is a reminder to give yourself credit and grace for what you endured and where you had wins. Remember that transitions from one season to the next can feel like they can't be here soon enough, instant gratification is not realistic and it's normal to soak in the "in between" because there are lessons and experiences worth your time in that space too.

And in case you haven't heard it lately, I am so proud of you!

If you feel led to, please share in the comments how this episode supported you.

THANK YOU for taking the time to listen! 💜

Connect with me here

No, I'm not offering coaching services yet. I'm sharing what I have learned after 8 years of having several mentors and coaches in various areas of my life and I have been in really good hands!

If you've ever been curious about hiring a coach to support you in your growth but not sure where to start, this is the episode for you my friend!

If I had to start from scratch and had no idea how to go about choosing a mentor or coach today, I'd take 5 steps that are simple and help narrow down who is a good fit for you specifically:

1 - Evaluate Your Present Circumstances

2 - Determine Your Desired Outcome

3 - Choose Your Values

4 - Practice and Live by Your Values

5 - Choose Your Mentor or Coach

There are thousands of coaches out there but it is possible to find someone for you, who wants you to win, who cares about you, and provides tools and resources for your growth!

Do you have more questions about this? Leave me a comment or contact me here: Https://linktr.ee/the.andrea.k

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Today is Dia De Los Muertos (The Day Of The Dead) and I honor my loved ones today and everyday.

In this episode, I get raw about some things I have noticed and learned through my own grief.

The truth is that death IS a part of life.

As a former childbirth coach, I have seen the miracle of life being birthed.

On the other side of that is death. Yes it is sad, sometimes tragic and brutal but so is birth.

If we can talk about having babies and starting families in society, we can talk about when it is someone's time to go, even when unexpected.

These are the conversations that foster deeper connections, help us face our most vulnerable moments, and give us the strength to carry on.

Do you honor your loved ones who have passed? I would love to hear how you celebrate and honor the life and memories they lived. 🧡

Connect with me here