A Conversation With Carla Fernandez
About this Event

Online Conversation. Register to Access the Livestream and One Week of Ad-Free Replay Access
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So, you’ve lost someone. At first, there is an outpouring of support, phone calls, and care packages. But after the services are done and the phone stops ringing, there is a quiet in the air and an expectation to get on with your life as previously planned. The problem is that death has a way of making all plans go out the window.

Join author and facilitator Carla Fernandez for a conversation exploring support for the next stage of grief—when you feel isolated in your loss and are figuring out how to navigate it.
Shaped by her own experience with the death of her father and her time co-founding The Dinner Party, a leading peer-support organization for people who’ve experienced a major loss, Carla’s work pushes back on the death-denying culture we live in.
For too long, grief has been treated as something pitiable, simply sad, to be gotten over as soon as possible. But after 15 years of being in a community with fellow grievers, Carla has witnessed a different side of the story. Grieving a significant loss is hardcore, hardly something to be swept under the rug, but an experience to be held with respect, a creative spirit, and with friends. Drawing from her work and her latest book, Renegade Grief, Carla shares inspiring stories of real grievers, patterns from across history, and fresh science.
Carla offers candid and compassionate guidance for people at any stage of the grieving process. She encourages you to see that life after loss isn’t about the futile attempt of arriving at some other side. Rather, it’s about building your community, adjusting to change, and finding the way for your grief to become a pathway into your own version of a soulful life.

Carla Fernandez’s work focuses on how circles come together to foster collective care and change culture when the status quo needs an upgrade. As a creative strategist and facilitator, she collaborates with impact-driven clients through her eponymous community design studio. She is also the co-founder of The Dinner Party, a national network of peer-support circles for young adult grievers. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, NPR, Oprah Magazine, and cited in multiple books. Carla is a senior fellow with USC’s Annenberg School Innovation Lab and a Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation Scholar in Social Entrepreneurship at NYU. She divides her time between the Hudson Valley and Joshua Tree.

We are grateful to our Bookstore Partner

Marcus Books is the nation’s oldest Black-owned independent bookstore celebrating its 60th year. Marcus Books’ mission is to provide opportunities for Black folks and their allies to celebrate and learn about Black people everywhere. Learn more about Marcus Books.

Accessibility
If you need to request accessibility accommodations, please email [email protected] at least one week prior to the event. For more information, explore our Accessibility web page.

Important Event Information
Access to the livestream event is limited to registered guests. Registered ticket holders will receive the link to watch the livestream, will have access to chat and Q&A, and will have an ad-free watching experience.

Recording Policy
Ticket holders will have access to an ad-free replay of the event for one week after the live event. A replay with ads will be released on our YouTube channel one week after the livestream. Portions of the audio will also be released on our podcast. Only registered ticket holders who choose to watch live can participate in the chat and Q&A.

Refunding Policy
All tickets and donations for this event are nonrefundable.