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. Ala...

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 v...

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...

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 t...

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 Cl...

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...

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 c...

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 possibl...

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...

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 partnersh...

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 p...

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. Th...

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...

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...

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 gat...

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...

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...

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 lo...

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 th...

Andy Pearson is the VP of Creative at Liquid Death, the fearless beverage brand that has remained wonderfully weird since it started in 2019. On this episode we talk about the intersection of death, humor and creativity. Andy enlightens us with Obi-Wan Kenobi hallucinations, why having kids made him think about death more than ever, and what he's been put on this earth to do. Andy has his own podc...

Not your average podcast about death.