Interview with Mandy Benoualid from TalkDeath and Keeper Memorial

Death Is Hilarious

Today my guest is Mandy Benoualid, the co-founder and editor of the death positive media site and resource TalkDeath, and co-host of the #TalkDeath video series. She is also the founder and President of the online memorial platform and virtual funeral service provider, Keeper, and works with the US Department of Veterans Affairs on the Veterans Legacy Memorial project, memorializing nearly 4 Million American Veterans. Mandy’s work has appeared in national and international publications, she has been a featured presenter at professional funeral and cemetery conferences and was recently featured as an industry innovator by American Funeral Director Magazine.
We talked about:
- Visiting grandma’s grave, it occurred to her how every person has a story in a cemetery that can’t be communicated on a headstone.
- How modern deathcare is changing the discussion around death (death positive)
- TalkDeath is a lot of 20-45 year olds who are gawky nerd girls who want to talk about death
- Green burial and how the demand for it has been skyrocketing
- Why sex and death are both taboo topics in western countries
- A funny story about sitting shiva when Mandy’s grandpa died
- Impromptu dancing and roasting grandpa (not literally) during the shiva
- The phrase “celebration of life” and why not everyone appreciates the phrase
- Using humor to shine a light as opposed to deflect
- How grieving becomes a part of your identity when you’ve experienced a traumatic loss
For more information about Death Is Hilarious, visit deathishilarious.com To get in touch, email [e-mail]. You can support the podcast by subscribing, becoming a patron at patreon.com/deathishilarious, or by simply sharing the show with your friends and on social media.