Alua Arthur is the founder of Going with Grace, an organization focused on redefining what it means to die gracefully.
Why you should listen
Alua Arthur is a leader in the field of "death work," essentially helping individuals and families to navigate the emotional, legal and spiritual issues that arise around death. This involves decisions about care, funeral planning and a surprising amount of paperwork — something she, a recovering attorney, feels more than qualified to help with. Her organization,
Going with Grace, helps educate fellow death doulas around the world in nonmedical end-of-life care and, well, in assisting people to "go" with grace. Her forthcoming book,
Briefly Perfectly Human, reframes how we think about death.
Arthur was recently featured in the
National Geographic television series
Limitless, in which she helped actor Chris Hemsworth map out his own future death. She speaks regularly on how to bring awareness to dying -- and, most importantly, how that process can inspire us to live with verve. She has been featured in the
Los Angeles Times,
Vogue,
InStyle and more. She is a former director of the National End-of-Life Doula Alliance.
