Hello, fellow grievers! This week I have a special BONUS episode for you, while we work HARD to continue to bring you quality content for our new season coming this fall.

My sweet friend Jennifer Pastiloff joins us just before the release of her new book, "Proof of Life" (available NOW at your favorite bookseller!). According to her own website, "Jen Pastiloff travels the world with her unique workshop “On Being Human,” a hybrid of yoga related movement, writing, sharing out loud, letting the snot fly, and the occasional dance party. Jen has been featured on Good Morning America, New York Magazine, Health Magazine, CBS News and more for her unique style of teaching, which she has taught to thousands of women in sold-out workshops all over the world. Jen leads annual retreats to Italy and France and she is the guest speaker at Canyon Ranch and Miraval Resorts a few times each year. Jen also offers scholarships for her retreats to a woman who has lost a child. She is currently running one which she mentions at the end of our conversation. If you order 10 copies of her new book from your favorite bookstore (yes, even Amazon!) you'll be helping to fund a ticket for a woman in need who has lost a child.

THANK YOU for listening, and for donating if you can. If nothing else, we hope you just sit back and enjoy the pure sunshine that is Jen Pastiloff!

Learn more about Jen:

Website:https://jenniferpastiloff.com/proofoflife Inatgram: https://www.instagram.com/jenpastiloff/

It's the season finale already- and I know how to leave a lasting impression! John Onwuchekwa, (a.k.a. "John O.") is a preacher, a writer, a husband, father, and brother. According to his own website, "Everything in John Onwuchekwa’s life hinges on the power of words, both spoken and written...in one way or another everything John does intersects with the beauty and power of words—both how he has been shaped by them and how he uses them to shape the world around him."

I couldn't agree more. John is a gifted orator and dear friend, and I could engage with him endlessly. This week, please listen in as we discuss the loss of his brother, grief education and fluency, the role spirituality plays in grief (and our lives) and much more!

John is the author of multiple books, including "We Go On: Finding Purpose in All of Life’s Sorrows and Joys."

I hope you'll enjoy this time with John as much as I did- he's definitely someone you need to hear from!

Thank you so much for your support of "Grief is My Side Hustle" this season, and always. Please rate and review us wherever you get your shows. We'll back in the fall with more griefy goodness.

Find out more about John:

Visit: johno.co Instagram: @jawn_o

Dr. Jessica Zucker, author of "Normalize It: Upending the Silence, Stigma, and Shame That Shape Women's Lives" is my guest this week...and man, is she someone who tells the truth. About everything.

Jessica is a L.A.-based psychologist who specializes in reproductive and maternal mental health. She has written extensively about how the landscape of her marriage changed in the face of profound loss, as well as eventual parenthood. Jessica is incredibly powerful in how she relates the experience of a devastating miscarriage (suffered while she was home alone). She is also a fierce advocate for women's well-being and safety, especially during pregnancy.

I don't have accurate words to describe how eloquent and sincerely incredible Dr. Jessica Zucker is. I implore you to listen to this episode with an open mind and heart. She is absolutely someone who's journey you will want to follow along with.

Please check out more about Jessica's work at drjessicazucker.com and buy "Normalize It" at your favorite bookseller!

Thank you for being with us this week, and always!

My guest this week is the incomparable Nichole Sachs. Nichole was diagnosed with a degenrative spinal condition at age 19. Doctors warned her that her entire life would affected; her comfort, growth, ability to have biological children. The news was devastating, of course. According to her own website, "It brought me to the doorstep of Dr. John Sarno, then an attending physician at The Rusk Center for Rehabilitation/NYU Langone Medical Center. Armed with his teachings on the brain science behind MindBody medicine and an eagerness to regulate my nervous system, I became chronic pain free and gave birth to my three beautiful children without complication. I went from a patient to a colleague, lecturing with him at NYU and supporting his patients in my private psychotherapy practice." Nichole is also the author of "Mind Your Body: A Revolutionary Program to Release Chronic Pain and Anxiety," available now at all major retailers! Tune in to our conversation to learn more about how Nichole's determination to find a different way to heal- and end her suffering- lead her to help countless others. You don't want to miss this one- thanks for listening!

Learn more about Nichole: https://www.yourbreakawake.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicolesachslcsw/

Book: https://www.yourbreakawake.com/book

If you've been following me for a while, you know how much I love hospice nurses. This season I am so grateful to sit down with "Hospice Nurse Penny," AKA Penny Smith.

Nurse Penny entered the world of grief with the death of her dad, who passed about five years into her career. She is a nationally certified hospice and palliative care nurse, and has a large social media presence due to her incredible insights and candor. Penny is also the author of "Influencing Death: Reframing Dying for Better Living."

When her own mother went through hospice care, she knew she also wanted to be of service. At the age of 40, Penny started nursing school and never looked back.

The education she shares, coupled with her honest opinions, make Nurse Penny a unique presence, and an incredible guest! I'm so excited to share this conversation with you all- I KNOW you'll take away so much from her expertise.

THANK YOU for listening, this week and always!

Learn more about Hospice Nurse Penny:

https://www.hospicenursepenny.com/about Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hospicenursepenny/ Book: Influencing Death

My guest this week is the incredibly soulful and inspiring Myra Sack.

Myra’s life changed when her first daughter, Havi Lev Goldstein, was diagnosed with Tay-Sachs, a terminal neurodegenerative disorder, on December 17, 2019. Havi passed away on January 20, 2021.

In 2021, Myra and her husband Matt began supporting Courageous Parents Network, a Boston-based nonprofit organization and educational platform that “Orients, empowers, and accompanies families and providers caring for children with serious illnesses.” Myra is also trained as a Certified Compassionate Bereavement Care facilitator and began writing a memoir to share the story of Havi’s illness, her passing- and the aftermath. Myra’s writing focuses on the beauty and pain that can be found in loss and the power of community to sustain and uplift those who are suffering. Her first article on her experience, “A Mother’s Letter on the Passing of Her Young Daughter,” was published on upworthy.com in January 2022, and quickly reached over 2.7 million viewers. Her memoir, "Fifty-Seven Fridays," just won a 2025 Nautilus Book Award!

Myra speaks in such a straightforward, passionate, and insightful way about grief as a whole, as well as her very specific personal experience. She shares how movement has helped her stay in the present as much as possible, and how she and her family work to move forward, while still carrying Havi's memory close to their hearts. Thank you for joining us this week for this very tender conversation.

Learn more about Myra:

Website: https://www.myrasack.com/ Book: Fifty-Seven Fridays Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/myrasack/

My guest this week is the INCREDIBLY witty writer and griever, Jason Roeder.

Jason is a former senior editor and senior writer at The Onion as well as a contributor to The New Yorker and McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. His books have landed on best-of humor lists twice and have been praised by the likes of Judd Apatow and Jack Handey.

This week, we are discussing his most recent book, which kept me hysterically laughing for days after I finished it. I really enjoy when someone can take elements of grief and work in some comic relief; Jason does it beautifully. Griefstrike! The Ultimate Guide To Mourning is a reflection on Jason as someone "who lived through this terrible experience and emerged intact enough to write a bunch of jokes about it." My kind of guy, for sure.

Humor and grief may not be everyone's cup of tea, but if you're into it, stick around. I believe we can all learn a lot from Jason's perspective.

Learn more about Jason: https://www.jasonroeder.net/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-roeder-9b36764/

He's not on Instagram so don't be fooled like I was! THAT Jason Roeder is a retired drummer, who will politely let you know you've tagged the wrong person. ;)

I'm so honored to host the remarkable Rachel Cargle this week, of all weeks. With Mother's Day approaching- you are absolutely going to want to hear what she has to say.

As a young girl, Rachel felt isolated in her grief experience after losing her father. Two years ago, in one calendar year, she lost her mother, grandmother, and older sister; catapulting her right back into the tsunami of untenable feelings.

Currently, Rachel is a writer, entrepreneur and philanthropist. Her work (and upcoming book with Penguin Random House) centers the reimagining of womanhood, solidarity and self and how we are in relationship with ourselves and one another. In 2018 she founded The Loveland Foundation, Inc., a non-profit offering free therapy to Black women and girls.

I hope you love this conversation as much as I do, and that you'll continue to follow Rachel's journey and learn from her (especially if you are on a grief journey of your own). Thank you for listening, this week and always.

More on Rachel:

Visit: https://rachelcargle.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachel.cargle/