GRIEF AND LIGHT

Nina Rodriguez
  • 5.0 (30)
  • Relationships

This space was created for you by someone who gets it – your grief, your foundation-shattering reality, and the question of what the heck do we do with the shattered pieces of life and loss around us.It’s also for the listener who wants to better understand their grieving person, and perhaps wants to learn how to help.Now in its fourth season, the Grief and Light podcast features both solo episodes and interviews with first-hand experiencers, authors, and professionals, who shine a light on the spectrum of experiences, feelings, secondary losses, and takeaways.As a bereaved sister, I share my personal story of the sudden loss of my younger brother, only sibling, one day after we celebrated his 32nd birthday. I also delve into how that loss, trauma, and grief catapulted me into a truth-seeking journey, which ultimately led me to answer "the calling" of creating this space I now call Grief and Light.Since launching the first episode on March 30, 2023, the Grief and Light podcast and social platforms have evolved into a powerful resource for grief-informed support, including one-on-one grief guidance, monthly grief circles, community, and much more.With each episode, you can expect open and authentic conversations sharing our truth, and explorations of how to transmute the grief experience into meaning, and even joy.My hope is to make you feel less alone, and to be a beacon of light and source of information for anyone embarking on this journey."We're all just walking each other HOME." - Ram DassThank you for being here.We're in this together.Nina, Yosef's Sister--For more information, visit: griefandlight.com

  1. Life Beyond Deep Grief: A roundtable on living fully after loss

    1d ago

    Life Beyond Deep Grief: A roundtable on living fully after loss

    What happens when grief isn’t as heavy as it once was?  This candid, multi-voice conversation explores what it means to live fully after loss. While much of the grief space centers on surviving, this roundtable makes space for what comes after the initial sorrow that follows loss and life-altering change, when life begins to expand again, often in unexpected ways.  Together, grief and resilience leaders, podcasters, and grief-informed creators explore meaning-making, post-traumatic growth, and the nuanced reality of carrying grief while also reclaiming joy, purpose, and possibility. This is the conversation for everyone who needed to know grief shifts, that joy and aliveness are possible, and for everyone who's arrived at lighter and isn't sure what to do with that. Rather than framing this as “moving on,” the conversation centers the complexity of living in the both/and, where grief remains, but no longer defines every moment.  Speakers will share personal and professional insights on post-traumatic growth, identity reconstruction, and the ways life can expand after loss without abandoning love for who or what was lost. The discussion challenges the idea that grief must remain all-consuming to be valid, while offering language, permission, and perspective for those who are beginning to feel moments of lightness again, or long to believe that’s possible. (Video is an event replay.) SPEAKERS: NINA RODRIGUEZ | Founder, Host, Grief-informed guide | GRIEF AND LIGHT @itsnrodriguez KERA SANCHEZ | Editor-in-Chief, Get Griefy Magazine @getgriefymagazine BLAIR KAPLAN VENABLES | Grief + Resilience Expert, Speaker & Author | The Global Resilience Project  @blairfromblairland TARA ACCARDO | Grief and Soul Purpose Coach and host of the ‪@lifewithgriefpodcast‬ x @lossesbecomegains IMOGEN CARN | author, speaker, breathwork facilitator and co-founder of ‪@goodmourningpodcast‬ x @healwithim A video version is available on Y0uTvbe. ;) Send us Fan Mail Support the show Grief and Light is an award-winning, independent podcast exploring the honest, messy, and deeply human experience of loss. We're on a mission to foster a more grief-informed, hopeful world, one conversation at a time.  🏆 Ear Worthy Best Life Lessons 2026 · TalkDeath Readers' Choice Best Podcast 2025 · Women Who Podcast Awards 2025 Winner · Podground Editor's Pick New episodes wherever you watch or listen. Connect with Nina Rodriguez: griefandlight.com@griefandlightResting Grief Face on SubstackThank you for listening!  If this conversation resonated with you: ✅ Share this episode with someone who needs it ✅ Follow Grief and Light so you never miss a conversation ✅ Leave a review! It helps this podcast reach more hearts Disclaimer: griefandlight.com/safetyanddisclaimers

    1h 15m
  2. Friend-Loss Grief Is Real: Disenfranchised grief with Hannah Rumsey of Friends Missing Friends

    Jun 17

    Friend-Loss Grief Is Real: Disenfranchised grief with Hannah Rumsey of Friends Missing Friends

    In a world where grief is often tied to family ties and romantic relationships, the loss of a friend can feel isolating and unrecognized. Hannah Rumsey is a writer, certified Grief Educator, and the founder of Friends Missing Friends. After losing her best friend Lauren in 2015, Hannah went searching for support and found almost nothing. No grief groups. Not even a Google search result that addressed her experience directly. What she found instead was disenfranchised grief, a term that changed everything. In this episode, Hannah and Nina explore why friend-loss is one of the most overlooked and invalidated forms of grief, and what it costs us when we leave it out of the conversation. Hannah shares the story of how she found out about Lauren's death (through a birthday post on Facebook), what it took to sit five feet away from the man responsible for her friend's death during his trial in Spain, the stunning sign she received from Lauren through her phone, and why she believes Lauren has been pulling strings from the other side ever since. They also talk about the false hierarchy of grief, what it means to question whether your own loss "counts," and why being around people who simply believe you — without explanation or qualification — can be one of the most healing experiences a friend-loss griever can have. In this episode: What disenfranchised grief is and why friend-loss fits squarely inside itThe false hierarchy of love (and grief) our society has builtWhy finding out about a friend's death through social media is more common than we thinkThe Netflix documentary The Predator of Seville and Lauren's storyHow Hannah sat in the courtroom five feet from the man who killed her friendThe moment Lauren's photo appeared on Hannah's phone, updated by LaurenWhy friend-loss grievers feel pressure to qualify and explain their own lossHow grief rituals can be personal, messy, and entirely your ownThe Friends Missing Friends Collective, an online community for friend-loss grieversWhat Hannah would say (and not say) to herself on the day she lost LaurenConnect with Hannah Rumsey: Friends Missing Friends (website, online membership, and podcast): friendsmissingfriends.comIG @friendsmissingfriendsNetflix documentary: The Predator of SevilleIf you've ever lost a friend and felt like you had to explain why it mattered, this episode is for you. Send us Fan Mail Support the show Grief and Light is an award-winning, independent podcast exploring the honest, messy, and deeply human experience of loss. We're on a mission to foster a more grief-informed, hopeful world, one conversation at a time.  🏆 Ear Worthy Best Life Lessons 2026 · TalkDeath Readers' Choice Best Podcast 2025 · Women Who Podcast Awards 2025 Winner · Podground Editor's Pick New episodes wherever you watch or listen. Connect with Nina Rodriguez: griefandlight.com@griefandlightResting Grief Face on SubstackThank you for listening!  If this conversation resonated with you: ✅ Share this episode with someone who needs it ✅ Follow Grief and Light so you never miss a conversation ✅ Leave a review! It helps this podcast reach more hearts Disclaimer: griefandlight.com/safetyanddisclaimers

    52 min
  3. Staying Human in the Era of AI: Storytelling, Grief & Change with Patrice Poltzer

    Jun 2

    Staying Human in the Era of AI: Storytelling, Grief & Change with Patrice Poltzer

    What does it mean to stay human in a world increasingly run by AI?  In this episode, Nina sits down with Patrice Poltzer — Gracie Award–winning former TODAY Show producer and co-founder of My Story Pro — about the everyday griefs and shifts of our era: the loss of certainty, the erosion of critical thinking, and the disappearing line between who we are and the tools we rely on. Patrice shares how a cross-continental move from New York to Lisbon, a vanished family income, and a launch that flopped led her to "accidentally" build an AI storytelling company. But this isn't just a hustle story. It's a conversation about agency. Why our active participation in building the future is required, especially for women and people from historically excluded communities. In this episode, we explore: How loss and uncertainty can become the ground for reinventionWhy "being more human" is the most valuable skill in the AI eraThe trust crisis, and why storytelling is the only marketing that neurologically changes a stranger's mindWhether outsourcing our thinking to AI is dulling the very traits that make us humanHow grievers, living in liminality, can use their lived experience to define what's nextPractical, low-fear entry points for women curious about AIConnect with Patrice Poltzer: Instagram: @PatricePoltzerLinkedInMy Story Pro (free trial, workshops & community)This is a both/and conversation; the and of fear and agency, grief and possibility, technology and humanity. Send us Fan Mail Support the show Grief and Light is an award-winning, independent podcast exploring the honest, messy, and deeply human experience of loss. We're on a mission to foster a more grief-informed, hopeful world, one conversation at a time.  🏆 Ear Worthy Best Life Lessons 2026 · TalkDeath Readers' Choice Best Podcast 2025 · Women Who Podcast Awards 2025 Winner · Podground Editor's Pick New episodes wherever you watch or listen. Connect with Nina Rodriguez: griefandlight.com@griefandlightResting Grief Face on SubstackThank you for listening!  If this conversation resonated with you: ✅ Share this episode with someone who needs it ✅ Follow Grief and Light so you never miss a conversation ✅ Leave a review! It helps this podcast reach more hearts Disclaimer: griefandlight.com/safetyanddisclaimers

    51 min
  4. Women’s Health & Self-Advocacy: How to Be Heard in Healthcare | Spencer Moore

    May 19

    Women’s Health & Self-Advocacy: How to Be Heard in Healthcare | Spencer Moore

    What does it mean to advocate for yourself as a female patient, especially in healthcare systems that often overlook women’s pain, symptoms, and lived experiences? In this episode we welcome Spencer Moore, founder and host of The Hairy Chin, certified women’s health coach, certified breast health educator, and certified breathwork specialist, for a powerful conversation about women’s health advocacy, chronic illness, breast cancer, medical dismissal, and learning how to navigate healthcare systems with confidence and clarity. After years of chronic health struggles and being passed from doctor to doctor as what Spencer calls a “hot potato patient,” she was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer at 40. Her experience transformed the way she approached healthcare, communication, and self-advocacy, and led her to help other women develop the tools to better advocate for themselves in medical settings. Together, Nina and Spencer explore the grief that can live inside illness, chronic symptoms, medical dismissal, and not being believed. They also discuss practical strategies for navigating doctor appointments, communicating symptoms effectively, recognizing misinformation online, and building trust with your own body. This episode is especially meaningful for women navigating chronic illness, breast cancer, autoimmune conditions, invisible illness, medical trauma, grief, burnout, or healthcare advocacy. Key Takeaways  Self-advocacy is a skill set that can be learned  Preparation can change the outcome of medical appointments  The language women use in healthcare settings matters  Chronic illness grief deserves recognition and support  There is no single “quick fix” for complex health issues  Trustworthy health advocates acknowledge nuance and uncertainty  AI tools can support research but cannot replace medical careIf you’ve ever felt dismissed, unseen, or overwhelmed inside the healthcare system, this conversation is for you. *** Advocacy Tools by The Hairy Chin One-page Health Summary *** Connect with Spencer Moore: Instagram: @the.hairy.chin YouTube: @thehairychin Website: thehairychin.com This episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please consult a qualified healthcare provider regarding your health concerns. Send us Fan Mail Support the show Grief and Light is an award-winning, independent podcast exploring the honest, messy, and deeply human experience of loss. We're on a mission to foster a more grief-informed, hopeful world, one conversation at a time.  🏆 Ear Worthy Best Life Lessons 2026 · TalkDeath Readers' Choice Best Podcast 2025 · Women Who Podcast Awards 2025 Winner · Podground Editor's Pick New episodes wherever you watch or listen. Connect with Nina Rodriguez: griefandlight.com@griefandlightResting Grief Face on SubstackThank you for listening!  If this conversation resonated with you: ✅ Share this episode with someone who needs it ✅ Follow Grief and Light so you never miss a conversation ✅ Leave a review! It helps this podcast reach more hearts Disclaimer: griefandlight.com/safetyanddisclaimers

    56 min
  5. Losing Both Parents Changed Everything | Tara Accardo on Navigating Life With Grief

    May 13

    Losing Both Parents Changed Everything | Tara Accardo on Navigating Life With Grief

    How do you navigate life after multiple losses and still make space for joy, purpose, love, and hope? In this deeply honest conversation, grief and soul purpose coach Tara Accardo joins Nina Rodriguez to explore what it means to live through layered grief, traumatic loss, and major life transitions while rebuilding your sense of self. After losing both of her parents to cancer within six months, navigating the isolation of the 2020 pandemic, experiencing heartbreak, grieving the loss of her beloved 19-year-old dog, and enduring a traumatic birth and NICU stay with her daughter, Tara found herself asking the same questions so many grieving people ask: Who am I now?  How do I move forward after loss?  And what does it mean to create a meaningful life after grief? Together, Tara and Nina discuss anticipatory grief, cancer caregiving, pet loss grief, parenting after parental loss, continuing bonds, spirituality after loss, soul purpose, grief coaching, and learning to trust your intuition through grief and trauma. This episode is for anyone grieving the death of a parent, navigating compounded grief, adjusting to life after loss, or searching for hope and healing after heartbreak, trauma, or major life change. Whether you're grieving a mother or father, coping with grief during motherhood, healing after traumatic birth, or trying to rediscover yourself after loss, this conversation offers compassionate insight, validation, and reminders that grief and joy can coexist. Connect with Tara Accardo: Website: lossesbecomegains.comLife With Grief podcastInstagram: @lossesbecomegainsSend us Fan Mail Support the show Grief and Light is an award-winning, independent podcast exploring the honest, messy, and deeply human experience of loss. We're on a mission to foster a more grief-informed, hopeful world, one conversation at a time.  🏆 Ear Worthy Best Life Lessons 2026 · TalkDeath Readers' Choice Best Podcast 2025 · Women Who Podcast Awards 2025 Winner · Podground Editor's Pick New episodes wherever you watch or listen. Connect with Nina Rodriguez: griefandlight.com@griefandlightResting Grief Face on SubstackThank you for listening!  If this conversation resonated with you: ✅ Share this episode with someone who needs it ✅ Follow Grief and Light so you never miss a conversation ✅ Leave a review! It helps this podcast reach more hearts Disclaimer: griefandlight.com/safetyanddisclaimers

    1h 22m
  6. Food Allergy Anxiety & Chronic Illness | Dr. Amanda Whitehouse on Trauma-Informed Care & Not Feeding Fear

    May 7

    Food Allergy Anxiety & Chronic Illness | Dr. Amanda Whitehouse on Trauma-Informed Care & Not Feeding Fear

    What does grief look like when it lives inside a body that can't always feel safe? Dr. Amanda Whitehouse joins Nina to explore food allergy anxiety, trauma, and the layered losses that chronic illness brings. Summary: Grief doesn't only come from death. Sometimes it comes from a diagnosis. From the life you imagined slipping away, from food becoming a source of fear, from watching your child struggle to breathe and feeling helpless. That is grief, too. In this episode, Nina Rodriguez welcomes Dr. Amanda Whitehouse, a licensed psychologist who specializes in food allergy anxiety, trauma, and chronic illness. Dr. Whitehouse is also a mother navigating food allergies firsthand and the host of the Don't Feed the Fear podcast.  Together, they unpack the layered emotional experience of living with food allergies (anaphylaxis), including the grief, the trauma, and the profound work of returning to safety in your own body. They also go deeper. Dr. Whitehouse shares the story of her brother Adam, who died from cancer in 2020, and what his death taught her about closure, connection, and continuing bonds with loved ones beyond physical presence. In this conversation: Why grief in chronic illness is real, and why it often goes unnamedThe critical difference between trauma, anxiety, and fear in the context of food allergies, and why language mattersWhat trauma-informed care looks like for food allergy patients and familiesCommon myths about food allergies debunked (including "avoidance is enough" and "epinephrine is the last resort")How to return agency to yourself and set boundaries with loved ones who don't fully understandThe physical toll of grief on the body, and why that connection mattersDr. Whitehouse's personal grief: losing her brother Adam, the gift of time, and continued bonds in dreamsGratitude as awareness, not positivity, making space for "this AND that"Connect with Dr. Amanda Whitehouse: Website: thefoodallergypsychologist.comInstagram: @thefoodallergypsychologistPodcast: Don't Feed the FearWhether you're living with a food allergy, loving someone who is, or simply navigating a body and a life that grief has changed, this conversation is for you. Send us Fan Mail Support the show Grief and Light is an award-winning, independent podcast exploring the honest, messy, and deeply human experience of loss. We're on a mission to foster a more grief-informed, hopeful world, one conversation at a time.  🏆 Ear Worthy Best Life Lessons 2026 · TalkDeath Readers' Choice Best Podcast 2025 · Women Who Podcast Awards 2025 Winner · Podground Editor's Pick New episodes wherever you watch or listen. Connect with Nina Rodriguez: griefandlight.com@griefandlightResting Grief Face on SubstackThank you for listening!  If this conversation resonated with you: ✅ Share this episode with someone who needs it ✅ Follow Grief and Light so you never miss a conversation ✅ Leave a review! It helps this podcast reach more hearts Disclaimer: griefandlight.com/safetyanddisclaimers

    57 min
  7. Life After Sibling Loss: Identity, Faith & Following Your Destiny | Destiny Rael

    Apr 28

    Life After Sibling Loss: Identity, Faith & Following Your Destiny | Destiny Rael

    What happens when grief doesn’t just take your person, but reshapes your identity, your faith, your career, and your sense of what’s possible? In this episode of Grief and Light, Nina Rodriguez sits down with Destiny Rael, a trauma-informed life and grief coach, group facilitator, and sibling loss survivor, for a deeply personal and expansive conversation about what it means to live with grief and still create a meaningful life. Destiny lost her brother Joseph who she describes as her best friend, creative partner, and fellow musician, two days after his 34th birthday in January 2011 to a sudden aortic dissection. She has spent the years since learning how to carry that loss forward without leaving him behind. Together, they explore the duality of grief and joy, the evolution of identity after loss, and how purpose can emerge in the aftermath of devastation. We explore:  Sibling loss and identity: why this type of grief is often overlooked  The coexistence of grief and joy in a purposeful life  Destiny’s story of losing her brother Joseph, and their deep sibling bond The significance of sibling bonds, shared music, and inside jokes  How grief reshapes identity, especially for creatives and performers  Navigating faith, spirituality, and questioning God after loss  The connection between childhood trauma, abuse, and grief  The shift from music career to trauma-informed grief coaching  Supporting the mind, body, and spirit through grief recovery  The role of grief in life transitions, relationships, and personal growth  Tools for support: grief groups, coaching, and creative expressionConnect with Destiny Rael: Website: destinyrael.comIG: @destinyrael"Joseph's Destiny" & MusicYouTube ChannelIf you're navigating grief, sibling loss, or a life that no longer looks like the one you planned, you are not alone. Send us Fan Mail Support the show Grief and Light is an award-winning, independent podcast exploring the honest, messy, and deeply human experience of loss. We're on a mission to foster a more grief-informed, hopeful world, one conversation at a time.  🏆 Ear Worthy Best Life Lessons 2026 · TalkDeath Readers' Choice Best Podcast 2025 · Women Who Podcast Awards 2025 Winner · Podground Editor's Pick New episodes wherever you watch or listen. Connect with Nina Rodriguez: griefandlight.com@griefandlightResting Grief Face on SubstackThank you for listening!  If this conversation resonated with you: ✅ Share this episode with someone who needs it ✅ Follow Grief and Light so you never miss a conversation ✅ Leave a review! It helps this podcast reach more hearts Disclaimer: griefandlight.com/safetyanddisclaimers

    59 min
  8. Grief Doesn’t Have to Rule the Show: Living Alongside Compounded Grief with Sylvia Wolfer

    Apr 21

    Grief Doesn’t Have to Rule the Show: Living Alongside Compounded Grief with Sylvia Wolfer

    Sylvia Wolfer has lived through a lifetime of loss. Her father died suddenly when she was seven. Her younger brother, Johan, at sixteen. Her older brother, Stefan, in 2019. Her mother in 2023.  She has navigated decades of layered grief. Through neuroscience, mindfulness, and work in the body, she has come to understand that grief can be in your life without running your life. In fact, you get to be "the boss." In this conversation, we explore what it means to live alongside loss without being consumed by it. We talk about the weight of sudden grief, the complexity of family dynamics, and the quiet, ongoing relationship we maintain with those who have died. We Explore: Why grief is so often misunderstood, and why we are not powerless to it The distinct impact of sudden versus anticipated lossHow grief moves differently through sibling bonds, parent-child relationships, and across timeHer practice of “grief appointments," a structure that allows emotion without overwhelmAnger in grief, how to leverage its energy, and what it protects The "body budget" and why supporting the nervous system is foundational Post-traumatic growth, the window of tolerance, and what integration actually looks likeContinued bonds: how each person we've lost lives on differently within us Buddhist grief practices, the dana tradition, and a different relationship to deathIf you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by loss(es), unsure how to move forward, or disconnected from yourself in grief, this conversation offers a deeply human, grounded perspective. Connect with Sylvia Wolfer: WebsiteInstagramLinkedInGuided Meditations by SylviaSibling Grief: The Overlooked LossSend us Fan Mail Support the show Grief and Light is an award-winning, independent podcast exploring the honest, messy, and deeply human experience of loss. We're on a mission to foster a more grief-informed, hopeful world, one conversation at a time.  🏆 Ear Worthy Best Life Lessons 2026 · TalkDeath Readers' Choice Best Podcast 2025 · Women Who Podcast Awards 2025 Winner · Podground Editor's Pick New episodes wherever you watch or listen. Connect with Nina Rodriguez: griefandlight.com@griefandlightResting Grief Face on SubstackThank you for listening!  If this conversation resonated with you: ✅ Share this episode with someone who needs it ✅ Follow Grief and Light so you never miss a conversation ✅ Leave a review! It helps this podcast reach more hearts Disclaimer: griefandlight.com/safetyanddisclaimers

    55 min
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About

This space was created for you by someone who gets it – your grief, your foundation-shattering reality, and the question of what the heck do we do with the shattered pieces of life and loss around us.It’s also for the listener who wants to better understand their grieving person, and perhaps wants to learn how to help.Now in its fourth season, the Grief and Light podcast features both solo episodes and interviews with first-hand experiencers, authors, and professionals, who shine a light on the spectrum of experiences, feelings, secondary losses, and takeaways.As a bereaved sister, I share my personal story of the sudden loss of my younger brother, only sibling, one day after we celebrated his 32nd birthday. I also delve into how that loss, trauma, and grief catapulted me into a truth-seeking journey, which ultimately led me to answer "the calling" of creating this space I now call Grief and Light.Since launching the first episode on March 30, 2023, the Grief and Light podcast and social platforms have evolved into a powerful resource for grief-informed support, including one-on-one grief guidance, monthly grief circles, community, and much more.With each episode, you can expect open and authentic conversations sharing our truth, and explorations of how to transmute the grief experience into meaning, and even joy.My hope is to make you feel less alone, and to be a beacon of light and source of information for anyone embarking on this journey."We're all just walking each other HOME." - Ram DassThank you for being here.We're in this together.Nina, Yosef's Sister--For more information, visit: griefandlight.com

Information

  • Creator
    Nina Rodriguez
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    121
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 GRIEF AND LIGHT
  • Show Website
    GRIEF AND LIGHT

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