Penny Waugh

Founder

Certified End-of-Life Doula

At the age of 56 while living a comfortable life in San Diego I felt a nudge that was drawing me towards deathcare. I had established a successful 30-year career in the home furnishing industry overseeing staff development, marketing, and product innovation, but deep inside I knew I was here for a greater purpose. As I watched my parents begin their journey into their end-of-life process, I became very curious about how we embrace death in America. It's something we seem to fear and don't feel comfortable talking about, and that just didn't sit well with me.

My parents have been divorced for over 40 years, and they acknowledge death and its approach in different ways. One has always been somebody who embraced life and its challenges and could find the humorous, lighter side in just about any situation. The other is quite the opposite... they tend to hold onto grief and discomfort without understanding that growth and love can flourish as we move through these lifelong processes.  That parent feels like my sisters and I are expediting death by trying to talk about it so we don’t bring it up, and that is heartbreaking and frustrating for us. 

I began to think about what I wanted my end of life to look like and I kept coming back to the thought of 'I want to leave a rich emotional legacy while being celebrated for the authentic and unique person that I am - and I want that to happen before I die!' 

My vision is to inspire creative, productive conversation about death by building a community that is focused on helping to bring to light the beauty and mystery that can happen when someone is nearing their end of life. It’s a tough yet sensitive topic of conversation, but one that our society so badly needs to embrace.

I bring to this role a lifetime of experience with people from all walks of life and the ability to connect in an authentic and compassionate way. Modern medicine and the corporate funeral industry have turned death into something shocking and unnatural, and I am passionate about bringing back those time-honored traditions of allowing death to happen naturally and celebrating life in a respectful and authentic way before it's too late.