About
Hi, I'm Tara. I'm an End of Life Designer & Educator who helps life-loving, curious people explore and plan their end of life wishes.
Trained at the New York Open Center's Art of Dying Institute, the School of American Thanatology and David Kessler's Grief Educator Certification Program, I work 1:1 to guide and support you through the process of exploring your end of life planning. I focus on the options, steps, and details, while you get to approach the preparations with the heart and creativity necessary to bring your dying wishes to life.
Now, I wasn't always the kind of person to openly talk about death. But when my mother was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer, I suddenly had no choice. Getting through that period of my life wasn't easy (understatement of the YEAR). But it made me see that there's actually a lot of room for positivity to be brought into end of life preparations. So, I decided to learn more about thanatology (the study of death). It sounds fun, right?! ????
The thing is, as I learned more and got clearer about my own end-of-life plans, an interesting thing happened…
Now, I wasn't always the kind of person to openly talk about death. But when my mother was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer, I suddenly had no choice. Getting through that period of my life wasn't easy (understatement of the YEAR). But it made me see that there's actually a lot of room for positivity to be brought into end of life preparations. So, I decided to learn more about thanatology (the study of death). It sounds fun, right?! ????
The thing is, as I learned more and got clearer about my own end-of-life plans, an interesting thing happened…
I began to feel more meaning, connection and fulfillment than ever before.
Instead of it feeling heavy and morbid, talking about death and how I wanted my life to be celebrated turned out to feel... liberating. I felt more present in my day to day, and my favorite activities, like travelling to new places or seeing a musical on broadway, were more enjoyable than ever. All of this lead me to the big realization:
Bringing some light into the dark topic of death helps bring meaning and purpose to your life.
Bringing some light into the dark topic of death helps bring meaning and purpose to your life.
That's why it lights me up to support life-loving, creative people like you to design your own end of life plan.
(A quick note: I'm not an estate planner or funeral director. I'm your wise guide on the side. I focus on the options, steps and details, while you get to approach your end-of-life wishes with the heart and creativity to bring your dying wishes to life.)
(A quick note: I'm not an estate planner or funeral director. I'm your wise guide on the side. I focus on the options, steps and details, while you get to approach your end-of-life wishes with the heart and creativity to bring your dying wishes to life.)
5 Things You Might Like to Know About Me...
- My first job in high school was selling hats, socks and scrunchies at the Tennis US Open which got me featured quickly on CNN for the oddest concession booth at the event.
- I'm a digital scrapbooker & memory preservationist who has been published in Digital Scrapbooker & Somerset Digital Studio magazines and you can see some of my work here. I love to document my experiences as my very own living legacy project.
- By trade I'm a graphic design and have also been a project manager so of course I love to create & plan—those are my jam! Which are perfect for our work together.
- Although my brand colors for Bringing Death Into Life are yellow and black, my favorite color is actually green.
- I'm a big fan of Broadway musicals and have seen Beetlejuice The Musical on Broadway 3 times and would have gladly gone again if possible. They really got the "whole being dead thing" down!
