In this episode, Brad Wolfe is joining me to talk about our most feared topic: Death. This was a super special conversation that came at an extremely timely moment in my life as death was consuming my life. This is a good one, folks. Listen up.
In this episode, we discuss: Brad’s work with Reimagine End of Life, how Brad’s experiences with death have influenced his work and the way he relates to the world, how to remember our mortality and also seize the day, why breakups are their own form of death, how to create more beauty and creativity in life by confronting death, how our medical system is unprepared to handle death, how to have conversations about the end of life before it’s too late, and my own wishes for my death.
Brad Wolfe is the founder and executive director of Reimagine, a new nonprofit that brings diverse communities together to explore death and celebrate life through creativity and conversation. With over 30,000 attendees to date--and with a belief that by facing death we begin to live more fully--Reimagine End of LIfe citywide festivals have quickly become the largest end-of-life events in the United States. Reimagine was recently named a "World Changing Idea" by Fast Company Magazine.
Before becoming a nonprofit, Reimagine was initially inspired by OpenIDEO’s End of Life Challenge, and was led by Brad as part of an OpenIDEO project exploring art and end of life. Brad's personal interest in end-of-life began as he performed bedside concerts for his friend Sara L., who died of a rare pediatric cancer. In Sara's honor, Brad co-founded the Sunbeam Foundation for pediatric cancer research and formed Brad Wolfe & the Moon, a band which has performed concerts for other young people facing terminal cancer and been featured on MTV.
Brad has an MA in Sociology from Stanford and an MBA from UC Berkeley, where he has served as a lecturer on the topics of innovation and design.
www.letsreimagine.org
www.bradwolfe.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradleywolfe/
Mentions:
You’re Going To Die - open mic in San Francisco
Beginner’s Guide To The End by Shoshana Berger and AJ Miller
The Conversation Project
The 5 Wishes
Being Mortal by Atul Gawande
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
Brad Wolfe and The Moon on Spotify
