5 People Changing the Death Business in L.A.

by Rebecca Roberts Galloway | Dec 29, 2020

Los Angeles is the home to innovation in entertainment, aerospace and fashion, but probably not as well-known is L.A.’s dynamic influence on the rapidly changing funeral industry. It is, after all, the birthplace of the “death positive” movement.

There are dozens of companies sprouting up to address the needs of families for grief, hospice, end-of-life and death care. Here are just a few folks who, like the team at Solace Cremation, are working to change the landscape.

Alua Arthur is the author of Briefly Perfectly Human: Making an Authentic Life by Getting Real About the End. Arthur is the most visible death doula in America today. A recovering attorney and the founder of Going with Grace, a death doula training and end-of-life planning organization, Arthur’s TED Talk titled, “Why Thinking About Death Helps You Live a Better Life,” has received more than 1.5 million views. A frequent guest on podcasts, TV and radio, Arthur has been featured on CBS’s The Doctors and in Disney’s Limitless. Arthur travels the country and world as a keynote speaker, addressing audiences at medical and end-of-life conferences, universities, seminaries, senior citizens’ communities, and more, and is perpetually in the quest for donuts.

Olivia Bareham is a public speaker and advocate for conscious dying education and facilitates death doula and death midwifery certificate training programs.

Stefanie Elkins founded Be Present Care to help families navigate end-of-life and caregiving conversations. She creates plans and programs for individuals, family caregivers, healthcare professionals and organizations. As an Aging Life Care Manager® and founder Death Over Drafts Happy Hours, an ongoing feature of the Let’s Reimagine Festival, she supports individuals, families and fellow colleagues when they need it most.

Amy Pickard operates an unconventional advance planning business called “Good to Go!” which targets young and healthy people, urging them to plan for dying with her “Departure File.” Amy has held both in-person and virtual Good to Go planning parties. She was featured in Oprah magazine and has written on end-of-life planning for Real Simple.

Jill Schock is the owner of Death Doula LA and is a Los Angeles native. She is a trained and certified clinical chaplain or spiritual counselor and has worked over the past ten years in end-of-life care with a belief in empowering her clients to “embrace personal choice and style” at life’s end. She’s been featured in Goop, Pure Wow and Wired magazine, among others.

Photo by Izayah Ramos