The Grief and Happiness Alliance

Meet Emily

Emily’s Personal Journey

Emily has much experience with the grieving process having dealt with the death of two husbands, as well as the deaths of her father, mother, sister, and many aunts, uncles, and friends. Through all this, she learned to face life with love, optimism, and joy.

She has kept journals and written to express herself most of her life. This led her to a career of teaching writing at the university level and writing textbooks. After her husbands died, she naturally turned to writing to help deal with her grief. Then she discovered that she could use her writing to help others deal with grief too. She created an online group to guide people through the ways writing provides comfort.

Emily wrote the book Loving and Living Your Way Through Grief: A Comprehensive Guide to Reclaiming and Cultivating Joy and Carrying on in the Face of Loss which provides guidance for navigating the downs and ups of that unfamiliar territory.

She felt something was missing in the work she was doing, and through the inspiration of author Marci Shimoff, she recognized the importance of helping people discover how allowing happiness to coexist with grief is essential. She created the popular podcast Grief and Happiness, but she knew she wanted to do more.

To help provide comfort, support, love, and happiness to those dealing with grief and loss, she founded the Grief and Happiness Alliance. This group meets on Zoom weekly to write about dealing with grief and to learn happiness practices. These meetings and other services are provided by the Grief and Happiness Alliance Nonprofit Organization so there is no charge to those who attend.

Emily retired on the beautiful island of Maui in Hawaii after a rich and varied career of teaching writing and owning and operating business ranging from an ambulance company to a live theatre, to a school of arts and more.

She spends her time now writing and teaching others how to deal with grief and loss and she teaches happiness practices.

Emily's Professional Biography

Emily holds a master’s degree with a concentration in writing. She taught writing and composition for over 30 years. During that time, she published three writing textbooks with Prentice Hall and Pearson Education.

Giving Back

Emily believes in social responsibility in business. A portion of the proceeds from her book Loving and Living Your Way Through grief is donated to NaKeiki O Emalia, which means Emalia’s Children. This organization provides support to grieving children, teens, and their families in Maui to help them heal after the death of a loved one. All their services are free.

All of the profits from the sale of Th Grief and Happiness Handbook and the Grief and Happiness Cards go to The Grief and Happiness Alliance Nonprofit Organization to enable them to provide their services free.

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