Explore the For Grief Speakers Bureau.

After losing her father, Denna Babul wrote the groundbreaking book, The Fatherless Daughter Project: Understanding Our Losses and Reclaiming Our Lives, and founded the Fatherless Daughter Movement, an online community that offers support and validation for thousands of women who are living through similar experiences. Denna is also a sought-after speaker and has appeared on the Today Show, CNN, Fox News, Sirius XM, and many other television shows, radio programs, and podcasts.

Hope Edelman is the author of eight nonfiction books, including the #1 New York Times bestseller Motherless Daughters as well as Motherless Mothers and her most recent book, The Aftergrief. Her work has been published in 17 countries and has sold more than 1 million copies. Motherless Daughters is now in its third edition and has been in print for nearly 30 years. Hope has spoken at venues and conferences all over the world, from the U.S. and Canada to Australia, the U.K., and Dubai. She has appeared frequently on television including Today, Good Morning America, CNN, KTLA, CBC, Good Morning Washington, and Good Morning Australia. She is a certified life coach with additional training in narrative therapy, and runs four-day retreats and weekly online support calls for motherless women throughout the year. She also teaches nonfiction workshops to help people develop, revisit, and revise their stories of loss using a proprietary method she developed. Hope lives in Los Angeles and spends every summer in Iowa City.

Alica Forneret is Founder and Executive Director of PAUSE, an organization focused on supporting Communities of Color through grief and end of life. Alica helps companies create inclusive bereavement responses and strategies for better addressing grief at work. To support these and other initiatives, Alica has written a stirring piece for HuffPost, “How People Of Color Can Experience Grief Differently Than White People,” and partnered with such organizations as Google, Nielsen, and The California Department of Education. Following the loss of her mother, Alica created Dead Mom Club lapel pins and launched an annual virtual event supporting grieving daughters called, "Motherless Mother's Day." Alica's writing and work about grief, work, and race have been featured in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Psychology Today, GQ, and more.

Allison Gilbert is co-author of Listen, World!, the first biography of American writer Elsie Robinson, a young mother who grappled with her son’s chronic illness and death at the turn of the 20th century and became the highest-paid woman writer in the William Randolph Hearst media empire. Through her groundbreaking work, Allison reveals that beyond self-help books and memoir, biography is a vital yet overlooked reservoir of support and healing after loss. Allison is author of numerous additional books, including Passed and Present: Keeping Memories of Loved Ones Alive and Always Too Soon: Voices of Support for Those Who Have Lost Both Parents. On Allison’s popular grief and resilience blog, she features Q & A’s with some of the most notable names in our culture today including, Arianna Huffington, Jon Stewart, and bestselling authors Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Dani Shapiro, and Susan Orlean. She is host of "Women Journalists of 9/11: Their Stories,” a 20-part documentary series produced in collaboration with the 9/11 Memorial & Museum. Featured journalists include Savannah Guthrie, Maggie Haberman, Linda Wertheimer, Dana Bash, and many others. Allison Gilbert, through her successful initiative Pub Day, also consults with emerging and established writers to best-position their grief stories for publication.

Barri Leiner Grant is founder of The Memory Circle, an initiative that offers individuals a safe and supportive environment to gather, remember, and celebrate the people they’ve loved and lost. As a grief coach, she offers one-on-one sessions, courses that explore grief through writing, and intimate “support circles” that bring people together to share their grief stories. Barri’s mother died of a brain aneurysm and she brings this personal experience to her work, including helping organizations develop best practices and policies around bereavement leave and employee grief support. She’s also creator of the innovative “Remember and Reflect” deck, a collection of 50 cards that encourage the bereaved to honor their unique history – no matter where they are on their grief journey.

James Harris is founder of Men to Heal, a movement that focuses on the mental and  physical health of boys and men. He’s the author of Man, Just Express Yourself, an interactive guide to help men process their life experiences and explore their vulnerabilities.His passion for helping others began in childhood: when he was five, James lost his father; at age eight, when his mother became ill, he and his siblings were placed into the foster care system. As a ward of the State, James was required to attend weekly counseling sessions, typically run by older white male therapists, and James came to realize they couldn’t relate to the emotional and cultural issues he faced. These unfulfilling encounters inspired James to become a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) focusing on men’s emotional and mental health. This work has gained James international recognition – he speaks to universities, companies, and non-profits around the world. James Harris served in the United States Army for eight years, with deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Nathalie Himmelrich is the founder of Grieving Parents Support Network and the author of six books, including Grieving Parents: Surviving Loss as a Couple, Surviving the First Year of Child Loss: Personal Stories From Grieving Parents and Bridging the Grief Gap: Building a Bridge of Understanding Between the Bereaved and Their Support Network. A psychotherapist working in the grief space for more than 20 years, Nathalie is also host of a weekly podcast called “How to Deal With Grief and Trauma.” Nathalie’s mother died of suicide and her daughter, an identical twin, died days after birth. She raises her surviving daughter in Zurich, Switzerland. 

Meghan Riordan Jarvis, MA, LCSW is a two-time Tedx speaker and psychotherapist specializing in trauma, grief, and loss. After the deaths of her parents within two years of each other, Meghan began speaking about the importance of supporting grievers. Founder of Tacking Point Partners, a company devoted to helping offices better manage grief in the workplace, Meghan consults regularly with businesses and corporate leadership teams, offers the popular “Grief Mates” writing workshop, and hosts the “Grief Is My Side Hustle” podcast. She is the author of two forthcoming books: the memoir, The End of The Hour (Zibby Books, 2023), and “Can Anyone Tell Me Why: 25 Essential Questions About Grief and Loss” (Sounds True Media, 2024).

Charlene Lam is the author of the forthcoming book, Curating Grief: A Creative Guide to Choosing What to Keep After a Loved One Dies. After her mother died suddenly, Charlene leaned into her creativity as an art curator and asked herself this one empowering question: “If I was to curate an exhibition about my mother, which 100 objects would I choose?” This question offered Charlene a path to healing and now, through her innovative platform, The Grief Gallery, she offers the bereaved similar heirloom-centric opportunities through private coaching and live events. Charlene’s exhibitions have been featured at numerous international festivals, including NYCxDESIGN, DesignTO in Toronto, and London Design Festival. Originally from New York City, Charlene lives in Lisbon, Portugal.

Rachel Lehmann-Haupt is an award-winning journalist and author. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Newsweek, Vogue, and Wired, among many other leading national publications. As founder of StoryMade Studio, Rachel helps individuals and families think through, write, and share their unique and powerful stories so they might endure in perpetuity.

Jon Lefrandt is Senior Vice President, Consumer Experience, for Homesteaders Life Company and CEO of Domanicare, an industry-transforming text messaging service used by funeral homes to better serve grieving families. Jon’s lifework is ensuring funeral homes build their capacity to provide meaningful grief support so the bereaved feel less alone and have the resources they need to move forward. Jon comes to this work after the death of his father. That loss left him reeling – the stress of planning his funeral, not finding the kind of emotional support he needed – all of this pushed him to realize there was an unmistakable opportunity for the funeral industry to better-serve families. Today, Jon Lefrandt is also founder of For Grief, a multi-platform initiative that offers unprecedented and direct access to the country’s most preeminent grief professionals and authors through its numerous on-demand courses, live events, and groundbreaking For Grief Speakers Bureau.

Judy Lipson is the author of Celebration of Sisters: It Is Never Too Late To Grieve, a memoir about losing both of her sisters – one in a car accident, and the other to chronic illness. Drawing on these experiences, Judy founded Celebration of Sisters, an annual event that benefits Massachusetts General Hospital and honors her sisters’ memories. Judy Lipson is a sought-after speaker, lending her unique warmth and voice to The Compassionate Friends National Conference, The Bereaved Parents USA Conference, and other organizations.

Jenny Lisk is the author of Future Widow, winner of the New York City Big Book Award, and a widowed mom who is dedicated to helping widowed parents increase their family's well-being. In her book, Jenny reflects on losing her husband, Dennis, to brain cancer and provides a practical guide for surviving and thriving while raising grieving children. Jenny is also host of The Widowed Parent Podcast, an active member of the National Alliance for Children’s Grief, and author of two forthcoming books, Widowed Parents Unite and Kids Like Me: Stories for Grieving Children. As a seasoned interviewer, Jenny has explored loss and parenthood with more than 100 experts and authors, many of whom are also widowed parents.

Vivian Nunez is a writer and content creator whose award-winning Instagram community has created new and innovative pathways for speaking about mental health and grief. She hosts the podcast, “Happy To Be Here,” and has been featured by Spotify, Instagram, Netflix, CBS This Morning, O, The Oprah Magazine, and more. Drawing on the personal experience of losing her mother at a very young age, Vivian speaks openly about grief and mental health; creativity, anxiety, and confidence in the face of adversity; and Latin issues. She is a regular contributor to Medium, Forbes, and Well + Good and has offered her expertise to such organizations as Option B, Logitech, and the United Nations.

In 2007, at 27 years old, and after seven years of being her Caregiver, Sundari Malcolm lost her mother to Breast Cancer. Four years later, her father died from the complications of Brain Cancer. Those experiences redirected her life, and she's made it her mission to equip people with the tools they need to manage life’s greatest transitions. Sundari is a Birth, Grief and Death Doula. She is a Yoga, Breathwork and Meditation teacher. A contributor to Help Texts and a Grief expert with the For Grief Speakers Bureau. She is the Author of the book Grief Gems and the founder of A Healing Doula Academy.

Reid Peterson is the creator of Grief Refuge, a mobile app that provides daily support for people grieving the loss of a loved one. After losing his father to suicide and his stepfather to cancer, Reid felt a calling to help the bereaved find peace and purpose after loss. Certified in Death and Grief Studies by the Center for Loss and Life Transition, Reid Peterson’s work extends to offering virtual support groups and in-person retreats for anyone seeking solace and companionship along their grief journey.

A pioneering voice on resilience in the face of adversity, Joe Primo is CEO of Grateful Living, a global nonprofit offering virtual and community-based educational programs to support the life-changing practice of gratitude. At Good Grief, the largest children and family bereavement organization in the Northeast, Joe designed, built, expanded the organization across four campuses and more than 250 school partners to help thousands of grieving children and families. Joe serves on the board of Option B and is the author of What Do We Tell the Children?: Talking to Kids About Death and Dying. He received his Master of Divinity degree from Yale University and served as a hospice chaplain at both The Connecticut Hospice and The Hospice of Southeastern Connecticut. Joe Primo’s groundbreaking TEDx Talk, “Grief is Good,” has been viewed more than 19 thousand times. 

Claire Bidwell Smith, LCPC is a therapist specializing in grief and the author of three books of nonfiction, published in 21 countries: The Rules of Inheritance, After This: When Life Is Over Where Do We Go? and Anxiety: The Missing Stage of Grief.Claire offers numerous online programs, meets with people one-on-one, and trains clinicians to work in the field of grief and loss. Led by her own experiences with grief, and fueled by her work in hospice and private practice, Claire provides support for all kinds of people experiencing all types of grief. In addition to giving dozens of talks on grief, Claire has written for and been featured in many publications, including The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Scientific American, The Los Angeles Times, CNN, MSNBC, Forbes, The “Today” Show, The Chicago Tribune, Goop, Oprah Magazine, and Psychology Today. She deeply loves her work and is devoted to expanding the conversation about grief and loss.

Leslie Gray Streeter is lifestyle columnist for the Baltimore Banner and the author of Black Widow, a poignant and seriocomic account of losing her husband, Scott, to a heart attack and raising their son, Brooks, without him. Looking at widowhood through the prism of race, mixed marriage, and aging, Leslie’s memoir explores her new and unexpected life with compassion, introspection, and humor. Kirkus raves that her “love-filled eulogy” resonates “with those who have dealt with similar circumstances.” Leslie is also co-host, along with her identical twin sister, Lynne Streeter Childress, of the pop culture podcast, “Fine Beats and Cheeses.” Leslie and her work have been featured in The Miami Herald, The Washington Post, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Atlantic, The Palm Beach Post, O, The Oprah Magazine, the “TODAY” show, and more. Leslie Gray Streeter and her son live in Baltimore, Maryland.

Dr. Jason Troyer is the author of Counseling Widowers, a much-needed guide for therapists who are helping men grieve the loss of a spouse or partner, and the forthcoming book, Rituals Reimagined, an exploration of why these types of specific customs are essential for healing after loss. A psychologist, Dr. Troyer has created numerous brochures that funeral professionals use to help the bereaved, including “Grieving Your Loved One,” “Grieving Your Child,” and “Grieving During the Holidays.” He is a frequent keynote speaker at funeral and cemetery conventions and offers community presentations, caregiver workshops, and holiday remembrance services. Dr. Jason Troyer is also host of GriefPlan, a comprehensive online grief support program that helps individuals heal, remember, and rebuild after the death of a loved one.