GRIEF AND LIGHT

Grief and Light is proud to participate in Podcasthon 2026, the world's largest podcast charity initiative, joining podcasters across the globe to amplify the organizations doing work that the world needs to hear about. Learn more: podcasthon.org *** What happens when men are never given permission to grieve? In this episode, we hear from  Daniel Ratchford , founder and president of Broreavem...

PODCASTHON SPECIAL EPISODE Part of the world's largest charity podcast event — raising awareness for causes that matter What does harm reduction actually look like, and how is it saving lives right now? In this impactful episode, we explore the realities of addiction, harm reduction, and the ongoing fight to save lives. Thomas Guerra of F-Fent.org shares personal insights, dispels common myth...

In this heartfelt episode, Nina Rodriguez interviews Amanda Nicol , a museum-quality jewelry designer and survivor of intimate partner violence (IPV), about transforming trauma into empowerment through her one-of-a-kind jewelry. Amanda shares her journey of resilience, community support, and the importance of storytelling and purpose in her work. Jewelry One of a KIND is a Miami-based jewelry hous...

What does it mean to carry a mother’s love forward after she’s gone? How do you parent a child with life-threatening food allergies? In this heartfelt conversation, Nina Rodriguez sits down with Chelsea Ohlemiller , author of Now That She’s Gone: A Daughter’s Reflections on Loss, Love & a Mother’s Legacy , to explore the enduring impact of mother loss. Chelsea shares how the sudden death of he...

What if the mess you've been avoiding is actually the doorway? In this episode, host Nina Rodriguez sits down with transformational creativity and grief coach Susie Stonefield to explore the powerful connection between grief and creative expression.  Susie believes creativity isn't a luxury or a talent reserved for the few. It's a birthright. And in times of loss and healing, it can...

February 17, 2026 marks a rare cosmic convergence that happens once every 60 years.   In this solo episode, we explore the intersection of grief and the Year of the Fire Horse, a powerful metaphor for riding the uncontrollable momentum of loss while finding your center in the chaos. We're standing at the threshold of three major energetic events: the Chinese Lunar New Year (Year of the Fire H...

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 un...

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 overwhe...

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, Char...

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 & Lighti...

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 gri...

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 someth...

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...

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....

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...

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 S...

How does life shift when you lose the only person who shared your beginnings — your earliest memories, your inside jokes, your sense of home? In this tender and illuminating conversation, host Nina Rodriguez sits down with Dr. Angela Dean , a licensed psychologist, thanatologist, and founder of The Broken Pack ™ —an organization and podcast created to validate and support adults grieving the loss...

When Ben Forman lost his brother Sam , his world shifted overnight, leaving him with survivor’s guilt, grief for what could have been, and a search for meaning.  In this episode of Grief and Light , Ben shares how a 10-day motorcycle therapy trip through the Himalayas became a transformative journey of healing, reflection, and connection. Along the way, he immersed himself in nature, friendship, a...

No man should have to carry it alone. Many men are hurting in silence, and Robb Pollard knows that silence well. In this deeply human conversation, Nina Rodriguez sits down with Robb Pollard, founder of Walk With Me Brother , a nonprofit devoted to men’s mental health and connection. *** VIDEO AVAILABLE HERE *** Robb shares his journey of living with bipolar disorder, navigating bullying and alcoh...

When Sara Rian ’s mother unexpectedly died in 2018, her world, and her words,  changed forever.  *** This episode is available in video here . *** What began as a private act of survival through poetry slowly became a bridge to others who were grieving too. Her poems, often found reaching grieving hearts through social media feeds, give voice to what so many can’t yet name: the ache, the confusion...

A mother’s story of love, advocacy, and finding joy while parenting a child in hospice. What happens when the life you imagined for your child suddenly changes forever? For Dr. Tasha Faruqui , that question became her reality when her daughter, Soraya, was born with a rare and little-known genetic condition. A doctor herself, Tasha thought she knew how to navigate the medical world. But nothing pr...

How do you grieve while parenting? How do you tend to your own heartbreak and hold space for your children’s? In this heartfelt conversation with Reshma Kearney, a Trauma-Informed Mindfulness and Healing Guide, shares her journey after losing her husband, Sean, to suicide. She opens up about navigating grief as a solo parent, communicating loss with honesty, and finding moments of presence through...

This week, I’m honored to share something special with you—a guided meditation created exclusively for Grief and Light listeners by Hannah Castillo, host of the Love Your Calm podcast. Hannah has been a Mental Health Counselor for over 20 years and is passionate about making meditation approachable and supportive, especially in tender seasons of life. After her own health challenges led her to dis...

What if you gave yourself permission to pause?  This episode explores why rest is essential, not optional, covering the seven types of rest, the cost of burnout, and practical ways to create your own “pause week.” Consider this your reminder that what doesn’t bend, breaks; and that even small pauses can refill your cup. Rather than a luxury, rest is a necessity for our mental, emotional, and physi...

You just lost your loved one. Now what? Welcome to Grief and Light , a podcast about the honest truth of life after loss. Hosted by Nina Rodriguez , whose world was forever changed after the sudden death of her only sibling, this show explores the reality of grief, not as something to fix, but as a lifelong companion we learn to live with. On Grief and Light, you’ll hear: Honest reflections on the...