Recent Episodes
30: Eco-Friendly Burial Options – You Can Help Expand Them
Sept. 30, 2022
A discussion with Edward Bixby of the Green Burial Council on eco-friendly burial options – and the consumer's role in helping expand what's available.
29: Who They Gonna Call?
Sept. 14, 2022
In addition to choosing an emergency contact, you should prepare contact lists for who they should call if you ended up in a crisis or need longer-term support. In this episode, Cianna goes over what kinds of contact lists y…
28: Preparing for Writing Your Will
Aug. 17, 2022
We all know we should write a will, but how do you get started? Here are some tips on what to prepare that will make it easier and will save you time and money when you sit down to write your own will.
27: Planning for Long-Term Care, with Matt McCann
Aug. 3, 2022
People are living longer and longer. While generally that's a good thing, it also means that more of us are going to need long-term care – and that can get expensive. What is long-term care? What options are there? And how c…
26: In The First Hours After Your Death
July 20, 2022
If you were to become incapacitated or die suddenly, what would your people need to know? This is a replay of Episode 1, updated to include an announcement for BinderDash, a workshop + co-working session to help you get the…
Brief Thoughts on SCOTUS and the Future
July 9, 2022
The decisions made by the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) during this past session raised some concerns about how certain classes of people and situations will be different treated from state to state. Cianna sha…
About the Host
Cianna Stewart
Dying has been a fact of Cianna's life.
Cianna was first drawn to reading about death and death rituals in childhood and never stopped. Maybe it was growing up next to a cemetery. Maybe it was from knowing many people who died in all kinds of circumstances at all different ages. Maybe it was being a teenager when her mom died.
For whatever reason, death has always been part of Cianna's conversation and experience. This was amplified and reinforced by working in HIV during the 1990s in San Francisco. During this period, Cianna experienced the death and memorialization of many friends, and became the primary caretaker for her roommate who died from AIDS.
After Cianna's father and stepmother died in 2019, she resolved to get her own paperwork and other affairs in order so that she wouldn't leave behind the same kind of disorganized mess she and her siblings were left with. To support that effort, she started a group on Facebook. The Dying Kindness podcast emerged out of that group as an effort to encourage others to join in the effort to make key decisions now, well before they're needed, as an act of kindness to those left behind.
Professionally, Cianna has been a writer, documentarian, speaker, coach, event producer, startup founder, nonprofit manager, consultant, workshop leader, and more. Her tagline is "super curious about nearly everything."