Melanie Wilson

“And yet they, who passed away long ago, still exist in us, as predisposition, as burden upon our fate, as murmuring blood, and as gesture that rise up from the depths of time.” - Rainer Maria Rilke

Much like you, I’m missing my own “life and soul of the party” – my dad, Tony Wilson.

I come to this work having experienced several significant deaths over my lifetime. Including my dad, my guiding souls who inspired me to cultivate community in the grief and death spaces are my friend/colleague Aimee, my grandparents George, Anne, Eduard, and Margarethe, my Uncle Tommy, and a beloved stranger.

My goal is to serve those who are grieving someone significant in their life, whether ten minutes or ten years ago. Grief can be constant or anticipatory, perhaps not even yet begun. In planning for end-of-life, managing after loss, and creating community through ceremonies and events, I find joy in supporting grievers of all walks of life as they navigate their lives and their own mortality as human beings.

Besides my own personal experiences with loss, I bring to this work a unique and valuable skillset based on my professional training:

• Certified Life Cycle® Funeral & Memorial Celebrant with the Celebrant Foundation & Institute

• Grief Group Host and Host Trainer for
The Dinner Party

• Trained After Loss Professional by the The Professional After Loss Services (PALS) Training Program™

• Lifelong event planner

• Organizational project manager with five years of experience.

In addition to bonding over grief and delving into death education, I enjoy life by serving my local LGBTQIA+ community, thrifting, crafting, beekeeping, and traveling. Every once in a while you will find me filling my soul in my favorite place
in NYC, Governor's Island, where I dream of one day hosting my own living funeral.