Meet the Voices Shaping the Conversation
On October 10, we’re bringing together researchers, educators, practitioners, culture bearers, and people with lived experience to share what they’ve learned about grief, remembrance, ritual, and continuing forward.
Featured Keynote -
The Grief Gap: Bridging What Grief Requires and What the World Expects
By: Cassidie Carmen Bates, MPP
Researcher, Speaker, Public Policy Practioner
Cassidie Carmen Bates, MPP, is a researcher specializing in grief and bereavement policy. Her work specifically explores how grief impacts the brain and the body, and how these insights can be best interpreted through a policy lens to create bereavement leave structures that are both pro-employer and pro-employee, especially for those with fiduciary responsibilities to their loved one's estate.
Meet the Moderator
Five people who have spent their lives studying, teaching, experiencing, and holding space for loss come together for one conversation, moderated by Verhanika Willhelm.
Verhanika Willhelm is the founder and CEO of Willhelm Consulting, a Seattle-based organizational development and coaching practice. For more than a decade, she has helped individuals and organizations navigate change, strengthen communication, and move through difficult conversations with clarity and care. As the moderator of Celebration of Life, Verhanika brings that same lens to conversations around death and grief, creating space for perspectives that are deeply personal, culturally informed, and often difficult to discuss.
Expert Panel:
Building a Life with Loss
Our panel brings perspectives from grief research, psychology, anthropology, Indigenous tradition, education, ritual, and lived experience. These conversations will widen the way we think about loss and give you permission to find the way that is yours.
Jennifer de Leon
JJennifer de Leon spent nearly twenty years building a demanding career in finance, private equity, and executive CFO leadership -- often working eighty-hour weeks with nonstop travel. Her old life was shaped by ambition, achievement, and a relentless pace until the birth and death of her son.
Read full bio.
Despite his short time on earth, Zavi, whose name means “Bringer of Light,” awakened her to an entirely different way of living. Without speaking a single word, he profoundly reshaped her understanding of what makes a life meaningful. She shares Zavi’s story so that his life is remembered and his light continues to be carried forward.
Patrick (Ed) Lowinger
Ed is a professional archaeologist (RPA) and adjunct professor of anthropology at Peninsula College located in Port Angeles, Washington where he lives with his wife and daughter. He's completed master's degrees in ancient history, archaeology, and psychology.
In addition to his professional fieldwork, Pat's academic research and publications focus on the reuse and reinterpretation of sacred spaces across chronological periods and cultures - including a variety of ritual practices associated with death and burial. This coming November, Pat will be presenting a paper discussing his on-going research in Western Cornwall (UK) at the annual meeting of the American Anthropology Association.
Dr. Pamela Steele
Dr. Pamela Katims Steele, PhD, is an educational psychologist, author, and consultant specializing in grief and post-traumatic growth. Following the sudden loss of her husband on their 39th anniversary, Pamela turned her raw experience into a catalyst for healing.
She facilitates transformative workshops, leads spousal loss support groups, and volunteers at her local crisis clinic. Author of Nights of Hunger: A Cocktail of Grief, Dreams, and Dating for Old-Ass Women, Dr. Katims Steele blends deep psychological insight with lived wisdom to help individuals reclaim their purpose and joy after tragedy.
Dr. Janet McCord
Dr. Janet McCord runs the master's program in thanatology, the study of death and dying, at Edgewood. She has spent nearly thirty years in this field and is a past president of the Association for Death Education and Counseling. She will tell you what the research actually says about grief, and how much of what you have been told is simply wrong.
Migizi Miigwan
Prof. Migizi Miigwan (Nicole Nesberg) is the inaugural Integrated Indigenous Studies Professor at Peninsula from 2023 to date. For over 20 years, I served as an American History Professor specializing in women, race in America, indigenous histories and cultures.
Academically, I hold a B.A. from the University of Michigan, M.S. Florida State University, and M.A. Eastern Michigan University. Personally, I am a proud, engaged member of the Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians, descendant of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, and happily married into an African American family and have two beautiful tri-racial sons. I follow the Red Road that my ancestors and tribe have laid before me integrating cultural practices into my daily life and world.
Carmen Watson-Charles
Carmen Watson-Charles is an educator and a culture bearer for her Lower Elwha Klallam people. She works with the local school district and every Sunday holds space at surf camp, gathering people in the healing waters of her homeland. She carries this work through place, through young people, and through community all at once.
PR & Media Relations
Celebration of Life Seattle is introducing a new conversation around grief, remembrance, and community. We welcome media outlets, journalists, podcast hosts, and content creators interested in covering the event, interviewing our founder, or learning more about our mission.
For all media and public relations inquiries, please contact: [email protected]
Stay connected. Grief doesn't move on a schedule, and neither do we. Subscribe for updates on Celebration of Life Seattle, vendor and speaker announcements, ticket releases, and the gatherings we are building next. Join a community that was made for exactly what you are carrying.
