Press Kit
Logos, Press Release, Images, and Bios
Press Release
For Immediate Release
May 24, 2023
TGBeyond Introduces “The Grieving Bitch: From Newlywed to Newlydead”
The World’s First Death-Positive, Instagram Reality Series begins on June 5th @tgbeyond
10 Weeks, 9 Passionate Death Workers, a 5 Step Journey, 2 Guys from TGBeyond, 1 @Grieving_Bitch and Vivi in Brazil.
Series Description
Claire and Matt were young, in love and living the life in New York City. Jobs on Wall Street, friends, family, hockey games, weekends at the beach. The future was bright and filled with great expectations. And then Matt got sick. And he got sicker. And he died. And the promise of a long life together was betrayed, as Claire went from fiancé to caregiver, wife and widow in two years, during Covid. Now Claire is the Grieving Bitch, and she is sharing her 5 Step Journey* with Matt, and her own thoughts about end-of-life planning, in the Instagram reality series, “The Grieving Bitch: From Newlywed to Newlydead.”
The series launches on June 5th @tgbeyond on IG, and is the first death-positive reality series to air on Instagram. Content consists of multiple daily posts, including: Claire’s personal confessionals about her end-of-life thoughts and experience with Matt; relevant daily insights and thoughts from 9 death workers including a funeral director, chaplain, grief and self-care expert, advance directives professional, after-loss organizer, hospice director; solo ager and memorial planner; weekly Instagram Live encounters between Claire, the death workers and the guys from TGBeyond.
The goal for the series is to dead-ucate, dead-utain and create an open, intimate and interactive conversation around end-of-life issues that affect us all.
About Claire Luckey, aka the Grieving Bitch
Since her husband’s death in June 2021, Claire has been grieving out loud. She has become passionate about educating millennials and Gen Zs about end-of-life issues. Claire feels social media’s availability and scheduling flexibility has contributed to keeping her head above water while her husband was dying and thereafter. It’s important to her to pay this forward.
As the @grieving_bitch on Instagram, a contributor to the “Every1Dies” podcast and now with “The Grieving Bitch: From Newlywed to Newlydead,” Claire is using her voice and experience to advocate for advance care planning and awareness of end–life-issues that we all face
“When Matt got sick, at best I was figuring it out as I went along and at worst, I was totally unprepared. Something that keeps me up at night is the question “could I have done more,” especially since he had stage 3 brain cancer in 2017, three years before it reoccurred as stage 4 and terminal. The reason I want to share my journey is to normalize the fact that everyone dies and to not ignore this reality until you are in the front row at a funeral. Even though we can’t control death or serious illness entirely, we have more choice and resources than we are taught to believe. Through everything I've learned in the last several years the hard way, I'd like to help people learn the easy way, before there is a crisis.
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About TGBeyond
TGBeyond was co-founded by Jason Zamer and Barry Koch in 2018, and is committed to helping individuals and families navigate the physical, emotional and unavoidable administrative aspects of a death. Dying is hard on the living and TGBeyond wants to help make it a little easier.
For the last several years, TGBeyond has been producing Virtual Memorials that help families and friends gather and celebrate a life, wherever they are. They are now introducing “The Grieving Bitch” From Newlywed to Newlydead” and the 5 Step Journey to help people better conceptualize and organize their approach to the end-of-life needs and activities they face.
*5 Step Journey - Acknowledge, Arrange, Honor, Rearrange, Live
Consciously or not, we take a 5 Step Journey when dealing with the dying, death and after loss of a close loved one. This journey consists of acknowledging the death and dying; making advance arrangements where possible; honoring the life and loss in meaningful and appropriate ways: rearranging our lives and the affairs of the deceased; and then living in our new reality, whatever that looks like.
TGBeyond’s 5 Step Journey is designed as a simplified, conscious approach to end-of-life issues. Sometimes the journey takes weeks, sometimes months and sometimes years. It all depends on individual circumstances. By being intentional about your 5 Step Journey, we believe you can benefit from: increased choice and control; greater meaning and self-expression; less stress and family conflict; saved time and money.
For additional information, bios, photos, logos visit: “The Grieving Bitch: From Newlywed to Newlydead”
Press Contact:
Barry Koch
Barry@tgbeyond.com
@tgbeyond on IG
404 510-4389
About Claire
Claire Luckey is a crazy cat lady residing in the center of the universe, New York City. While she works in finance, she balances that side of her with multiple creative projects. Claire is perpetually curious and loves a new hobby.
In 2013, Claire met a good man named Matt. She embarked on a life with him until tragedy struck in February 2020 in the form of stage 4 brain cancer. Matt treated the disease until there was no longer an option to, in May of 2021. Claire was his caregiver but more importantly his proud wife. Since his death in June of 2021, she’s grieved out loud and made it a priority to share her story in the hopes it may help others. Claire has spent many quiet hours pouring over social media for various topics to help her navigate her husband’s illness and grief. She created the instagram handle Grieving_Bitch as a live look into her “gRiEf JoUrNeY.” Claire is a contributor to the “Every1Dies” podcast and a producer of the Instagram series “Grieving Bitch: Newlywed to Newlydead”.
The Passionate Death Workers
CHRISTINA ANDREOLA
Founder and Director of New Narrative Events
Christina Andreola is the owner and founder of New Narrative Events, an event planning company with specific expertise in planning Celebration of Life gatherings. Since 2017, the New Narrative team has worked with over 400 families planning virtual, in-person, and hybrid experiences and are working hard to change the narrative around how we gather to hono(u)r and remember the important people in our life.
Links:
Instagram: @newnarrativeevents
CASSIDY BASTIEN
Founder of MyEndofLifeNW
Cassidy Bastien is a Veteran Certified Nurses Aide turned End Of Life Doula. She has provided end of life care in one way or another her entire career of almost 20 years, which began in Montana. She has spent the last 6 years specifically working in outpatient hospice at Evergreen Hospice serving the greater Seattle area, and the last two as a Certified End Of Life Doula. Cassidy is a fierce advocate for those providing care to another human being. In 2016 she founded The Caregivers Hub Support Group on Facebook, which has become a thriving support system to seven thousand members world wide. She focuses on providing end of life preparedness services, community death education, and holding death positive events, such as a monthly Virtual Death Cafe with attendees all over the country.
Links:
IG: @MyEndOfLifeNW
FB: www.facebook.com/myendoflifenw
FB support groups:
MyEndOfLifeNW Death and Dying support group: www.facebook.com/groups/myeolnwdeathanddyingsupportgroup
Caregivers Hub Support Group: www.facebook.com/groups/caregivershubsupportgroup
Caregivers Hub Marketplace: www.facebook.com/groups/caregivershubmarketplace
Rachel Donnelly
Founder of AfterLight
Rachel is the founder of AfterLight, a consulting firm that offloads the administrative and logistical tasks of legacy planning and after-loss, so clients can focus on creating space to live worry-free and grieve peacefully. She is also the co-founder of Professionals of After Loss Services (PALS), a training and support network for industry professionals providing after-loss services.
Links:
Instagram: @myafterlight
Joanne Eason, MA
CEO and President of Five Wishes
Joanne is the President of Five Wishes, an advance care planning program of the national nonprofit Aging with Dignity. Since 2014, she has strategically focused the Five Wishes program on creating unique new tools and resources, and building scalable programs to meet unique and specific advance care planning needs within organizations and communities. With more than 30 years of experience in healthcare and insurance communications, marketing, and relationship development, Joanne leads the program with a special emphasis on partner relations and collaboration, as well as insight into organizational decision-making.
Links:
Natasha Fowlks, RN
Executive Director of Hospice Atlanta
Natasha Fowlks, RN is a proven healthcare leader with 12 years of hospice and palliative care experience. Being a visionary leader with a focus on reshaping and innovating the care delivery systems for people who are facing chronic and terminal illness, allowing for transformational care delivery at the bedside. Natasha’s unique ability to inspire, motivate, and shift culture, make her a sought-after industry leader and consultant. Natasha is involved with state and federal advocacy through member organizations such as Leading Age, NAHC, and GHPCO. Through years of leadership, Natasha has been instrumental in leading teams to successfully implement and execute the highest quality of care in the home. Natasha is a Hospice and Palliative Care certified nurse. She obtained her Bachelor of Nursing from Nazareth College.
Links:
Ig: @natasha_gaonmymind
JENNIFER O’BRIEN
Author of “The Hospice Doctor’s Widow: A Journal”
Jennifer O’Brien helps people talk about caregiving and end of life. She encourages compassionate, real conversation through her book, The Hospice Doctor’s Widow: A Journal, where she shares her story of caregiving through collages and writings.
After years of caring for people with serious illness as a physician, Jennifer’s husband, Bob Lehmberg, was diagnosed with a stage IV, metastatic cancer. But caregiving for the man who had made a 40-year career of caregiving as a physician was not easy. When Jennifer’s husband was diagnosed and later after he died, she turned to what had brought her comfort for years—art journaling. She documented and depicted the raw, honest, beautiful and exhausting reality of caregiving through collage, tableaus, notes and observations. She included much of the wisdom and perspective she learned from her husband in his years as a physician.
When the book was just a stack of pages, she took it to a friend who had just been diagnosed with a rare, advanced bladder cancer. After reading the book and knowing his own prognosis, he said, “You need to give this to my wife. She needs to understand what is ahead and feel supported as my caregiver.” After seeing how much that stack of pages helped them in his final months, Jennifer knew that what she had created might help others.
Having been a practice management consultant and educator to physicians for 30+ years, an executive administrator for two large medical practices, in administration at three major academic medical centers, the wife and now widow of a physician, Jennifer has a unique and thorough understanding of healthcare. Still, with all of this experience, caregiving for her dying husband was both the greatest honor and challenge of her life.
Now Jennifer works to help caregivers feel supported while caring for others and taking care of themselves.
Links:
Instagram: @hospicedoctorswidow
CHRISTA OVENELL
Founder of Death’s Apprentice Education & Planning
Christa Ovenell is the founder of '“Death’s Apprentice Education & Planning,” a company specializing in holistic advance care planning for individuals, groups, and forward-thinking organizations. She is a licensed funeral director, embalmer, end-of-life doula, and most recently a cold-plunger, too! If you don’t follow her on Instagram she’d appreciate it if you did.
Links:
Instagram: @deathsapprentice.ca
ZEENA REGIS
Faith Engagement Manager at Compassion & Choices
Zeena Regis currently serves as the Faith Engagement Manager at Compassion & Choices, the nation’s oldest, largest, and most active nonprofit working to improve care, expand options and empower everyone to chart their end-of-life journey. Prior to her role with Compassion & Choices, Zeena served as a hospice chaplain and grief care coordinator for almost a decade. Zeena was selected as a 2021-2022 fellow in Collegeville Institute’s Emerging Writers Mentorship Program. Her training includes a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Agnes Scott College and a Master of Divinity from Columbia Theological Seminary. Zeena is also a playwright and her latest work, “A Free Black Woman's Guide to Death & Dying,” was selected for the Synchronicity Theatre's arts incubator project and premiered in May 2022.
Links:
Instagram: @zeenajane; @compassionandchoices
LANISE SHORTELL, RN CHPPN CPLC
Global Traumatic Grief Educator
Lanise has served the pediatric hospice community in Atlanta, Georgia for nearly 2 decades. She is honored to train Emory and Wellstar Hospice and Palliative Care fellows in caring for pediatric families outside of hospital walls. Atlanta contains the most culturally diverse square mile in the United States, providing Lanise with the tender experiences of caring for families from a myriad of spiritual and cultural backgrounds.
Links:
Instagram: @laniseshortell
