We are thrilled & grateful to feature our speakers, presenters, and panelists.
Emma Acker
Emma Acker has been working as an End-of-Life Doula since 2017. She trained under Henry Fersko-Weiss (INELDA), and completed the End-of-Life Doula Professional Certificate at The University of Vermont. In 2021, Emma founded All’s Well Initiative to provide compassionate end-of-life care across the socioeconomic spectrum of NYC. Partnering with the Pathways Program at All Angels’ Church on NYC’s Upper West Side, Emma created the Health Care “Proxy Project” supporting unhoused individuals. Emma joined University of Vermont's End-of-Life Doula Professional Certificate Program as an academic instructor in 2025. She is a founding team member of Here to Honor.
End-of-Life Doula & Founder, All's Well InitiativeJohn Alsdorf
Michael Balboni, Ph.D.
Michael Balboni, Ph.D., Th.M., M.Div., is a theologian, congregational pastor, and researcher whose work focuses on the relationships among medicine, spirituality, and religion. He is a Research Affiliate with the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University and co-directs the Initiative on Health, Spirituality, and Religion at Harvard University. He holds a Ph.D. in practical theology from Boston University and completed postdoctoral training at the Harvard School of Public Health and Harvard Divinity School.
He has published approximately fifty articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals at the intersection of faith and serious illness. With Tracy Balboni, he co-authored Hostility to Hospitality: Spirituality and Professional Socialization in Medicine and co-edited Spirituality and Religion Within the Culture of Medicine, both published by Oxford University Press. Their newest book, Walking Lois Home, explores the role of Christian faith communities in accompanying and caring for people facing serious illness and death.
Theologian, Pastor, Researcher
Amy Cunningham
Amy Cunningham was a magazine writer until 2009 when her elderly father’s memorial service ignited a passion for helping folks plan home funerals, green burials, cremation gatherings, and all manner of memorial events. When she’s not directing funerals for her NYC firm Fitting Tribute Funeral Services, she writes a funeral planning blog called TheInspiredFuneral.com. She believes that a good funeral can send everyone in attendance out the door with an altered view of the world we share, and the beginnings of a plan for moving forward.
Funeral Director & Celebrant
Katie Benn, RN, MPH
Clinical Nurse, Palliative CareKatie Benn works at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center as an oncology nurse with an emphasis on palliative care. Her interest in end-of-life work has come from years of bedside nursing in a culture that remains uncomfortable discussing end-of-life planning. Katie has published her research on caregiver experiences with the transition to home hospice. She teaches various courses related to communication and palliative care. Katie is currently pursuing her doctoral degree in Nursing at Hunter College.
Marni Blank
End-of-Life & After Loss ConsultantMarni Blank is the founder of Begin With The End. Her services are curated to empower individuals and families to prepare for logistical and emotional aspects of death, dying, and grief. This can include accountability in completing end-of-life decisions and documents, facilitating family conversations, getting your important documents and digital life organized, and legacy projects. For families in grief, she offers after loss support to help executors and families work through the paperwork and logistics to close the estate. She is a trained end-of-life doula, mediator, after-loss consultant, recovering lawyer, and female-founded small business owner (and a lifelong learner at heart).
Gabrielle Gatto
Erica Hill
Erica Hill is the co-owner of Sparrow, A Contemporary Funeral Home in Brooklyn, NY, and of The Alpha Society by Sparrow in Los Angeles, CA. She is also a licensed funeral director in California. Erica brings a modern, thoughtful approach to end-of-life care. Whether arranging traditional funerals, memorials, or innovative eco-friendly options such as aquamation and human composting, her commitment to dignity and respect remains unwavering. As the only funeral home of its kind in the country, Sparrow is redefining the funeral experience with a warm, design-forward space and a focus on inclusivity, transparency, and innovation. Sparrow has been featured in The New York Times, NPR, NBC, Morning Brew, and Good Housekeeping.
Founder, SparrowKimberly Hong, LCSW, APHSW-C
Palliative Care Social WorkerKimberly is a licensed clinical social worker who received her MSW from NYU Silver in 2018 and has additional training from the esteemed NYU Zelda Foster Palliative and End of Life Care program. She also received her Advanced Palliative Hospice Social Worker certification in 2025. She has been working in the Palliative/End of Life Community for about eight years, primarily in large NY hospital settings. Kimberly knew from the beginning of her social work journey that she was passionate about working with individuals in this population, particularly drawn to the elderly and Asian populations, being a Korean American herself. For the last two years, Kimberly has also developed a small private practice and has been enjoying helping those who are struggling with grief and loss, currently receiving care as patients, or exploring their own Asian roots and identities.
Tatiana Lloyd-Dotta, LMSW
Tatiana is a geriatrics social worker, end-of-life care specialist, and lifelong seeker of meaning through connection. Raised by a constellation of mothers, Tatiana carries a deep appreciation for community care, nontraditional kinship, and the sacredness of tending to others through life’s most vulnerable moments. Professionally, Tatiana was a founding care manager at Hera, a pioneering health‑tech company that supports families in keeping loved ones at home as they age. Tatiana has also worked at a private practice in New York City as a geriatrics care manager, supporting dozens of clients through late‑life transitions and end‑of‑life care and is a graduate of New York University’s Zelda Foster Fellowship in Palliative and End‑of‑Life Care.
Geriatric Social WorkerDavid Kim
Rev. Dr. David Kim is the CEO and co-founder of Goldenwood, a non-profit cultivating spiritually attentive communities to envision work enlivened by hope and the fullness of our humanity. Over the past several decades, David has trained, consulted, and counseled hundreds of leaders and organizations in developing a robust, meaningful integration of faith and work. He has served as the Vice President of Faith and Work, Executive Director of the Center for Faith & Work and Director of the Gotham Fellowship, and as Editor of the NIV Faith and Work Bible. David’s passion is to help people and organizations see the unseen realities that give rise to the world we create.
CEO and Co-founder, GoldenwoodEllie Ledin
Dr. Venus Mahmoodi
Daphne McWilliams
Daphne McWilliams is an End-of-Life Doula who offers calm, compassionate presence to those navigating death and grief. Daphne received certificates in End-of-Life Doula Training under Henry Fersko-Weiss in 2023 and through the International End-of-Life Doula Association (INELDA) in 2024. She also received the Companion Animal End-of-Life Doula Professional Certificate from the Osher Center for Integrative Health at The University of Vermont (2025). Her work honors each person’s story, helping them find meaning, comfort, and dignity in life’s final chapter.
End-of-Life DoulaMary Malhotra
End-of-Life MinistryMary Malhotra is a parishioner at St. James' Church in Manhattan and started the End-of-Life ministry there. The ministry centers on getting our spiritual and logistical end-of-life "houses" in order. This is done through workshops, book groups, and small group sessions.
Rebecca Missel
Rebecca Missel is an exuberant and purposeful community builder specializing in building human-centered systems of care, connection and support around death, dying and grief. A Certified Grief and Bereavement Specialist and trained Death Educator, Rebecca is the lead consultant at Shomer Collective where she has designed and scaled a community-focused grief care initiative, grounded in the Jewish rituals of shiva. Across her more than 20 years working in the nonprofit sector, Rebecca delights in transforming ideas into vibrant programs that engage people and invite them to show up with authenticity. Rebecca lives in Jersey City with her community.
Grief & Bereavement Specialist, Shomer CollectiveRonalda Nicholas
Natalia Rodriguez
Amy Shea
Amy Shea is an essayist and the author of Too Poor to Die: The Hidden Realities of Dying in the Margins. Her work has appeared in The Missouri Review, Portland Review, The Massachusetts Review, the Journal of Sociology of Health & Illness & others. She works as the Writing Program Director for Mount Tamalpais College, a free community college for the incarcerated people of San Quentin.
AuthorMarisa Sifontes
Rachel Snyder
Kate Sokol
Elsie Soto
Elsie Soto is a public health professional and the Director of Friends of Hart Island. Her advocacy is deeply personal, as both her father and brother are buried on the island. Through storytelling, family engagement, and policy advocacy, she works to protect the dignity of those buried there and improve access for their families. Elsie holds degrees in Public Health and Health Education and Promotion, with a minor in Disability Studies.
Public Health & Advocacy
MinisterRev. Andrea Steinkamp
Rev. Andrea Steinkamp (she/her) is an ordained Minister of Word and Sacrament in the United Church of Christ (“UCC”). Her call to ministry is rooted in a desire to create and facilitate spaces of respite and community where people can be fed, both physically and spiritually, nourished to encourage and sustain their ethical action in the world. Andrea received her Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary with a concentration in cross-testament Biblical studies, where she was the recipient of The Hudnut Award, The Maxwell Fellowship of Auburn Seminary, and The Scholarly Excellence Award.
Dana Tanamachi
Eva Ting
Founder / CEO, Here to HonorEva Ting founded Here to Honor, a social enterprise that cultivates community around end-of-life learning through offering education that addresses practical, relational and spiritual concerns around death. Prior to starting Here to Honor, Eva served as the Director of W83 Ministry Center, a community events facility at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. With a career in arts and events management spanning Boston, Shanghai, and New York, she is passionate about creating meaningful community experiences and facilitating connections. Eva trained as an end-of-life doula with INELDA (International End-of-Life Doula Association), and she holds bachelor’s degrees from Boston University, and a master’s degree from New York University. Eva also currently serves as the Director of Operations at City Seminary of New York.
Scott Wohl
Vice President of Community and Public Affairs, LiveOnNYScott Wohl joined LiveOnNY in 2017 and currently leads strategic outreach to build public trust and awareness around organ and tissue donation. He guides community-driven initiatives, empowering staff, volunteers, and partners to advance the organization's mission through service, equity, and collective action. Before LiveOnNY, Scott spent 20+ years in public policy, advocacy, and stakeholder engagement, driving inclusive and impactful change.