A Death Positive Conversation With Kacie Gikonyo & Rie Witherow

Join author Kacie Gikonyo in conversation with Rie Witherow, local death positive and Coffee over Casket group leader, on Sunday, October 11 from 11 AM to 3 PM.

Kacie will speak about her book "Laboring Out of Life: A Death Doula's Approach to Intentional End-of-Life Care" and share her experiences as a death doula while demystifying the act of dying. She will also be signing her books.

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In "Laboring Out of Life," Kacie thoughtfully shares her experiences as a death doula, while demystifying the act of dying and offering real-world examples of how to thrive in a career as a death doula. In doing so, she carefully covers the personal, professional and business elements of being a death doula. 

Topics include:

Strategies for walking families through hard conversations about funeral planning, living wills and last wishes

Advice for building a sustainable business practice that's financially successful

How to practice self-care and avoid emotional burnout as a death doula

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Kacie is a registered nurse, educator, and public speaker with nearly 20 years of experience supporting individuals and families through end-of-life care. Her work bridges clinical expertise with deep humanity, helping people navigate death with clarity, compassion, and dignity. She is the founder of Death Doula School, an internationally recognized education platform training death doulas and care professionals around the world.
Kacie is an active voice in the deathcare space, leading workshops, courses, and conversations globally that demystify dying and bring it back into the human experience. At her core, Kacie is also a mother to three boys, a role that deeply informs her work and her philosophy. She believes that the way we show up for the end of life should inspire us to live more fully right now: to love harder, speak truth sooner, and make choices that our dying selves would be proud of.
Kacie's work sits at the intersection of medicine, education, and meaning, inviting all of us to live with intention, and to meet death not with fear, but with presence, dignity, and care.

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Rie Witherow (They/them) is an inner disciplinary educator, artist, and death worker. They believe that our current death culture is inherently classist, racist, and built on colonization. So their work centers around the destigmatization and accessibility within death culture. They are the founder and facilitator of Coffee Over Caskets. A bimonthly public gathering based around open conversation and education on all things death. It is the only reoccurring death positive event within a 100+ mile radius. Witherow is also a proud witch, advocate, and host of Reel Rituals. A local program based around classic horror and education. They are also pursuing their certification as a death doula.