Meet Dr. Julie Shaw | Certified Grief Educator & Grief Wellness Community Builder

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dr. Julie Shaw and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dr. Julie, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I simply want to help others who are grieving. We will all experience loss of some kind in our lives and we will all experience death of someone close to us. I do know we can grieve other losses such as a friendship, our identity, career, relationship, etc. After the death of my sister I found community spaces to be very healing where I could spend time and talk freely without judgement to other people who understood grief. I create events where people can be an active participant in witnessing as well as experiencing how we can integrate grief in our lives. We can carry both the grief and the joy, and dare I say fun! I would encourage people to be curious about grief, whether it is their own or others. I know in my journey trying different things I never thought I would try helped and brought so many new experiences that added to my life. So I invite others to come to the events I host and simply give it a try.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
What sets me a part from others is that I am willing to talk about a topic that most people feel uncomfortable talking about or they simply dont know how to talk about. Also what makes me different is that I want to create event that are fun and thought provoking, connecting, and engaging where people walk away feeling happy them came. I got where I am today with the support of programs like PAUSE Starlight Residency and with other grief advocates welcoming me into their world so that I can learn more about how I can support people. There are still many challenges to overcome like finding folks to collaborate with to host events and open up their spaces or contribute resources. So I am always open to partnerships! As a former professional athlete I think I have taken this mindset and looked at ways I can learn and “practice” to get better. Or to ask for help and above all. keep going! I believe in the impact that Hello I’m Grieving can make on peoples lives and owning the fact that it may not be an easy road prepares me for the twists and turns along the way. With it being an uncommon and sometimes taboo topic to talk about sometimes that can be a challenge when you are trying to sell an event or feeling like you have to justify the why. I want the world to know that grief is a human experience that can also be our biggest most genuine connector. I want them to know my brand invited people to “say hello to grief” and most importantly, we need to start saying hello to each other.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I need to shout out my sisters kids, Danielle and Anthony. She gave me the gift an honor of being their aunt and they inspire me to do what I do. Seeing the strength it took to raise them as a single mother and how she fought for them ever single day gives me strength. I also want to shout out my wife who is my biggest cheerleader and support to conitnue to build out Hello I’m Grieving. My PAUSE Starlight cohort for BIPOC leaders and business in the grief and end of life space are also there to give me encouragement and help me reach my goals to continue to create events and educational resources for grievers that can help them on their healing journey. Additional shout out goes to my grief group at Our House LA, who taught me just how important grieving in a community is. They were the first people I spoke to about my sisters death and we all had the commonality that we each understood the grief of losing a sibling. To all the people in the Hello I’m Grieving community, they deserve a immensely grateful shoutout as the encourage me daily to keep creating and keep sharing my story as they often share the impact I have had on them and have given them a space to share their stories. There are so many people to thank and to shout out from my teammates from college to the person who I dont even know is watching or listening to me. So I hope everyone know how grateful I am for your support no matter how big or small.

Website: https://helloimgrieving.com/

Instagram: @helloimgrieving

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drjulieshaw/

Twitter: @helloimgrieving