The Charleston Marketing Podcast

Living Fully With Mortality In Mind; a Chat with Merridith Crowe

• Charleston AMA • Season 4 • Episode 4

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What if thinking about death could make your life and work lighter, clearer, and more intentional? We sit down with life and death coach Merridith Crowe to explore how memento mori—the simple, ancient reminder that we will die—can sharpen your choices today. This isn’t a gloomy detour. It’s a practical map for how to love better, lead with empathy, and build a business that matches your values.

Meredith shares the heart of her work: guiding people through hard life changes and helping families plan end-of-life with compassion and detail, from medical preferences to the tone of a celebration. Along the way, we unpack why intentions beat resolutions, how present-tense identity statements shift behavior, and the simple weekly check-in that keeps you honest: How did I live, how did I love, what did I learn? We also look at authentic leadership in a noisy market—choosing your race, limiting clients to go deeper, and communicating with clarity instead of euphemism.

We go there on the hard topics, too: hospice, the cultural distance from death, and the nuanced realities of medical assistance in dying in certain states. Meredith’s inclusive approach meets people where they are, honoring different beliefs while focusing on comfort and agency. For founders and marketers, the surprising takeaway is that mortality awareness makes you a better builder: more present, less reactive, kinder in conflict, and clearer in messaging. That kindness isn’t just nice—it attracts the right people and strengthens your work.

If you’ve felt stuck, spread thin, or unsure what to prioritize, this conversation offers grounded tools you can use today. Listen, share it with someone who needs a

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Title Sponsor: Charleston American Marketing Association

Presenting Sponsor: Charleston Media Solutions

Annual Sponsor: ‪SCRA; South Carolina Research Authority

Quarterly Sponsor: King and Columbus

Cohosts: Stephanie Barrow, Mike Compton, Rachel Backal, Tom Keppeler, Amanda Bunting Comen

Produced and edited: RMBO Advertising

Photographer | Co-host: Kelli Morse

Score by: The Strawberry Entrée; Jerry Feels Good, CURRYSAUCE, DBLCRWN, DJ DollaMenu
Studio Engineer: Brian Cleary and Mathew Chase

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SPEAKER_02:

Welcome to the Charleston Marketing Podcast, brought to you by the Charleston AMA and broadcasting from our friends at Charleston Media Solutions Studios. Thanks to our awesome sponsors at CMS, we get to chat with the cool folks making waves in Charleston. From business and art to hospitality and tech. These movers and shakers choose to call the low country home. They live here, work here, and make a difference here. So what's their story? Let's find out together.

SPEAKER_03:

Hello and welcome to the Charleston Marketing Podcast. This is Mike Compton, your co-host today, president of Roombo, RMBO.co, and your president of the Charleston American Marketing Association. Glad to be here. Um I'm here with Rachel Bacall. Hey, Rachel.

SPEAKER_05:

Hello. Hi. I'm the another co-host of the marketing podcast. I am a marketing consultant that goes ahead and specializes in influencer relations and community-driven growth.

SPEAKER_03:

Love that. Love that. So you're gonna hear Rachel's voice more often. Yes, you will. She's jumping on the team. Uh you'll hear you'll hear Tom's voice every now and again too. So we're growing. We're growing. Yeah. Stephanie will show up every now and again when she can.

SPEAKER_05:

We love Stephanie.

SPEAKER_03:

Uh-huh. You know else we love, real quick, before we bring in before we bring in Meredith, who who we do love as well. Absolutely. Uh we love our sponsors.

SPEAKER_05:

We love our sponsors.

SPEAKER_03:

South Carolina Research Authority came through. Thank you, South Carolina Research Authority, also known as the SCRA. Yes, it is. Uh they do great things. Uh listen to our ad roll, like you just did, uh, before this episode, and you'll learn more about what they do. And we also have uh a new teammate jumping on the board for Q1. We have King and Columbus.

unknown:

Woo!

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, yeah, King and Columbus also, they they also own Post and Courier. So you're gonna learn, you know about Post and Courier, you're gonna learn more about King and Columbus if you don't know already, uh, in the near future. Hello, Meredith.

SPEAKER_01:

Hi there.

SPEAKER_03:

How are you?

SPEAKER_01:

I'm doing just fine.

SPEAKER_03:

You woke up today.

SPEAKER_01:

I did. I'm above ground.

SPEAKER_03:

You're above ground. That's what our sound engineer said, too. Yeah. It's a triumph. Yeah. Well, that's pretty much the episode. Thanks for coming.

SPEAKER_00:

You're welcome.

SPEAKER_04:

And that's all right.

SPEAKER_03:

Meredith, introduce yourself, your background. Uh I want to hear what you're doing now, and then we'll kind of dive in and how you got there.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, sure. Thanks so much for having me today. So I'm Meredith Crow. I am the life and death coach. So my job is to help people who are struggling through difficult life change get to the other side, and I help people uh prepare for and navigate end of life.

SPEAKER_03:

I'm pretty safe to say that you're the first life and death coach on the show. Yeah. Thank you for your time.

SPEAKER_01:

Great to be first.

SPEAKER_03:

It's perfect also because it's also January. It is. This is gonna launch January 20, late 20s. Okay. End of the month.

SPEAKER_04:

Great.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, to answer your question from before. I just remembered that it's gonna end then. You asked one. That's what it's saying. So it's a perfect timing for New Year's. Yeah, it is to and to kind of grow into what we're gonna be doing in 2026. It's true. Love it. Um, where are you from?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, goodness gracious. I'm an Air Force brat, born in Miami, Florida, and uh, went to eleven different schools, and I've lived in Charleston for gosh, almost 15 years now. Okay. So this is my third time here. So you're not a Charlestonian.

SPEAKER_03:

You can't claim Charleston.

SPEAKER_01:

I don't think I can claim any. I'm a woman of the world. Oh Mike. I like that. Woman of the world.

SPEAKER_03:

I appreciate that. I'm just from Detroit. Part of the world. What are you laughing about, Matt? Of course I'm a Lions fan. Uh so Meredith, what what what are you what was your first job coming here to Charleston? Charleston's such a fancy move into, isn't it? Like we love it. It's a beautiful livability place, but to find a gig is different.

SPEAKER_01:

My first job, I had the title of special initiatives director for a local nonprofit. And ask me what that is, and I'll tell you that buying urinals was part of that.

SPEAKER_04:

Jesus Merit. Urinals.

SPEAKER_01:

Urinals. Well, yeah. I manage a renovation for a a local, one of our local nonprofits, in addition to many other things.

SPEAKER_03:

Sure, sure, sure. Yes. And then and then what what brought you into what you're doing today, though, like your journey here into the life and death coach.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I've spent more than 20 years um serving in health and human service nonprofits, helping vulnerable populations, children and adults. And uh I made a pivot about a year ago um to really move into helping adults uh navigate big change. So life change that's painful, and then preparing for the final change, um, which we will all face someday. So for me, I've always been in heart-filled, purpose-aligned work. Um, I was placed on this planet to do this kind of thing, and uh, this is the newest iteration of that.

SPEAKER_00:

So that's how that works.

SPEAKER_03:

Give us a sample. Give give give us a use case here.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh my goodness. So I am currently uh helping somebody navigate marital problems while also supporting um a child with illness. I'm helping a woman uh support her daughter who experienced some relationship abuse. And then I've got about four people I work with that um are in hospice and are navigating, um, you know, preparing for themselves but also their families to really uh survive their passing.

SPEAKER_00:

So yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

It is. Do you keep it really busy?

SPEAKER_01:

I try to limit the number of clients I have, quite frankly.

SPEAKER_03:

I feel like you own the category.

SPEAKER_01:

So far. Yeah. And for me, it's about providing really deep and uh valuable support to the people I'm with.

SPEAKER_04:

Right.

SPEAKER_01:

Um, whole attention so that you know they feel like they're getting value. But additionally, you know, you need someone in the trenches with you when you're navigating big painful things.

SPEAKER_03:

Exactly. We feel like there's a lot of agencies that are going down that road where they're limiting their clients as well, so they can give full focus. Yeah. And that's kind of what our conversation is a little bit is is bringing it um to the focus conversation. And I'm sure part of your um therapy sessions, let's call it what the sessions, right. For the record, you're not a therapist.

SPEAKER_01:

No, I would say that I'm I'm definitely a life coach, but I some of the work that I do is um alternative therapy. So internal family systems for those who know about that. Um so I split the difference between the two. But I cannot climb claim that I am a psychotherapist.

SPEAKER_03:

But you do hang your head on the gifts of mortality.

SPEAKER_01:

I do.

SPEAKER_03:

What is that?

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, there's so many people out there. I know there are the people are listening who are like, I never want to think about death. And I'm telling you that you really need to think about death. And the reason for that is um the gifts of mortality really help us make good decisions in our day-to-day. So um the Romans or the Stoics used to say this phrase memento mori, which really means to like remember that you will die. And the thought process there was that people would um stay humble for one, um, but two, really make choices that are virtuous because they had a faith system about what would happen after their death. And certainly the Buddhists believe this too. They believe that um if you contemplate your death on the regular, or the fact that you're impermanent or in that you are constantly decaying, which sounds very morbid, um, then you really can focus on the now and be appreciative about these things. And so I invite all of our listeners to think like, what if this inhale is my last and I sort of expire with the next exhale? That pause in between is really where we are. And it just death is very clarifying for my clients who come through. Um, you know, I've had people after their parents have died look at me and say, Meredith, can we have time together? Because I need to decide whether I'm staying in this uh intimate relationship that I'm in now. Because life becomes very focused when you are thinking about death or surrounded by death or supporting people in that. And I really think we should live that way all the time. And we could leave this studio right now and not make it home. I mean, that's completely within the realm of possibility.

SPEAKER_05:

So the motto, live each day like it's your last.

SPEAKER_01:

You really it is rooted in that. But you know, you're gonna leave the house and your loved ones in the house. Are you gonna kiss some goodbye? Are you gonna say you love them? Like, I am not spooky about that, but I I take that very seriously.

SPEAKER_03:

Sure.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

You know what's sad to think, but I have that same thought when the boys get on the school bus and I watch them get on the school bus in the morning.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm like, You guys make it home.

SPEAKER_03:

You know what I mean? Like because it's yeah, it's unique with the chill. Oh, so so anyways, it's very you know what it is. You're you're you're you're hitting a lot of touch points, a lot of soft spots here. So that's good. Rachel, did you have an uh thing that you wanted to chime in anytime, Ray?

SPEAKER_05:

I will. I will chime in, don't you worry. Yes.

SPEAKER_03:

But going back to the you know, gifts of mortality, specifically the momentum more practice. Yeah. Is that what you bring to the table for your your your clients as well?

SPEAKER_01:

Your um, you know, I'm gonna wrap our sessions up in that, which is to say, you know, like, you know, so many people will contemplate or share all of the things they aren't enjoying that they aren't, that they want to change in their lives, that they don't want to tolerate anymore. And I'm gonna shift that conversation into like, what do you want?

SPEAKER_04:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

Like what what would make your life robust? And for me, it's really rooted in like why do I think I'm here? What is my actual purpose on this planet? Like not living in purpose-filled lives is is maybe one of the quickest ways to get to disease next to living inauthentically. Um, so shifting focus to what we don't want and to what we do want and getting concrete about that to the best of our ability is really how I help my clients. So, if that's what death do I want to have, how do I want to spend the last days with my family? What kind of medical support do I want? Or what kind of relationship do I want with my partner? How do I want to show up as a great parent to my child? What relationships and friendships are serving, what business relationships that I have are not serving, that are taking time away from what I should stay focused on. Those are really many of the conversations that we have.

SPEAKER_05:

Do you see yourself when you're having those conversations when it comes there that you like you said, family members they want to continue talking to you about those things after the fact?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, there's something about bearing witness to uh say a family member's um passing that makes you a trusted uh partner after the fact. Because you saw it go down, you understand what the dynamics were, um, you've been helping people through these vulnerable patches, and no one wants to find somebody new in that moment. It's hard enough to find somebody new when you decide that you want to engage in something. Now imagine being a survivor of someone's passing. Yeah, it's nice to be able to turn to somebody who already knows the story, so to speak.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, totally. Um Rachel.

SPEAKER_05:

I was gonna say, in that, like, for me, when I sorry, this is a little dark, but when I think about it, I think like I want my life to be celebrated once I leave. Oh yeah. Is that something common where it's kind of not seen as more of a sadness, like more of a let's party and celebrate who she was or he was?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I certainly wrote my end of life wishes and and it involves things like feel free to roast Meredith, uh, make sure there's black beans and rice and sushi. Um like it's like there can't like here's my I just finished an end of life document for someone who said, I want them to play the sweetest thing station on Pandora. I mean, you can get really, really concrete about things that are important to you. Like if you hate the color red, then there's zero red at your at your celebration of life. And then other folks, my partner included, are like, just just toss me off of a cliff. I mean, he does not even care. Yeah. And he's like, don't spend the money, right? It'll happen. We're here, we're here talking about the marketing. Don't spend the money, uh, go on vacation or something, right? Yeah, and so it just varies so widely.

SPEAKER_03:

Throw me off a cliff. Don't don't throw me off a cliff. No.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I mean, this is you know, you'll be dead first. We won't do this.

SPEAKER_03:

Just so you know. Um, you hit some authentic touch points there and some touch points of like when you're an agency owner, um, getting clarity and becoming your authentic self. Can you talk a little bit about that?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So, you know, I spent years in sales trying to um inspire people to invest and helping humans, um, which, you know, there's no there there, right? It's, you know, you're trying to make a positive impact, but I'm not gonna give you a ducket or a trinket or something for the pleasure. And I'm a firm believer that in whatever business endeavor you're in, whether you're an entrepreneur and it's your own company or whether you're representing a company, then you really just have to believe in that product. And you need to enjoy waking up to do the service on any given day. And it needs to be in alignment with, you know, some people talk about, you know, what is my personal brand? You can certainly ask that question, but before you even get to that branding question, it's more like, why am I here? What are my life-giving talents? What is my purpose? What gives me the juice every morning? And we're not here long enough to do anything but that. Now, however, you know, if your purpose is to put food on the table and to support your partner and to make sure your kids are fed and you're happy enough, happy enough, like that's a good choice to be making if that's what you decide to do.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yep. Um, you know, then that guides your decision making. But I think when we move through life without a set of governing principles about what our our purpose is, what our uh values are, then we find ourselves in these pickles where we're wondering like life is happening to us instead of us making choices in life. I was having a conversation just the other day, and and somebody was sharing all of these things that were happening to them. And I said, and and they felt like they had to make certain choices, like it was something they had to do. And I said, I want to challenge you on that. You are deciding to make that choice. You have agency in this moment. You are always making a choice.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And be it's fine that you made that choice, but be understanding that you're in the driver's seat always. And so I think that it's important when we're talking about living authentically and working authentically and leading authentically, um, that we're doing so in all the dimensions of our lives. Like, are we taking good care of ourselves from a replenishment standpoint? I have been guilty of not doing that. And the people that I've led have suffered because of that. My relationships in and at home have suffered because of that. My ability to be a patient mother suffered because of that. And it's important that we're taking care of ourselves. It's important that we're taking care of our personal life or our nest, as I refer to it, as a good crow would. Um, and we want our business experiences to feed us and energize us and self um self-fuel, like be like a closed circuit where that energy gets recycled and recycled. And then certainly we want to be thoughtful of our community. And how are we relating to our neighbors but beyond our neighbors, the community at large? What are we giving back? Right. Because we're gonna die. What's left after the fact?

SPEAKER_03:

Nothing.

SPEAKER_01:

Nothing.

SPEAKER_03:

Other than your debt, maybe, or a bunch of money that you have left over. Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So again, the Buddhists will say you focus on the impermanence, and because we know we're decaying and dying and all of these things, then we kind of shift our attention to those things that are permanent. And, you know, everything we could argue is anything permanent? Well, maybe not, but you know, love passed on, kindness passed on, creating good uh value or products and things that endure, those are pretty passed on.

SPEAKER_03:

I do. I like that. I like that. Love is passed on. Yeah, you're right. Okay. So those untangibles are still tangible in a sense.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_05:

Do you ever talk to clients about, you know, what it looks like after they leave this earth? Like if they come back, if they're recarnated, or I like to think I'm gonna be a haunted ghost. You're already haunting me, right now.

SPEAKER_01:

Do you get to live in a special mansion? I think so. I think I'm gonna live in a special mansion. I see that for you. Yeah, I see that for you. I totally see that for you. Um Well, I am what I would describe as an inclusive coach. So whatever faith system or philosophical system somebody comes to the table with is one that I will accommodate in our coaching sessions. So, you know, my personal beliefs are my personal beliefs. And I do um I do think it's important for everybody to have a process. Uh, if we were to get like really, really medical about it, I would call it an irrational process. Like something like faith is not tangible and you can't see it, you can't touch it. So it's an irrational process for us. And so many people, in order to pass on into uh whatever lays beyond, whether that's nothing or whether that's heaven or a mansion, yes, or a haunted mansion, have a a belief set that help them uh it just allows people to release more easily when they're making sense of what lays beyond. Um because it's chaotic. I mean, we have no idea. However, I'll challenge everyone to say, here's a good question for you. Um why are we afraid to return to the place from whence we came?

SPEAKER_03:

Because we don't know about it.

SPEAKER_05:

It's the unknown. It's the fear of the unknown.

SPEAKER_01:

Right. But I mean, we came from there. Can't be that bad. I mean, we think we're pretty cool people individually. We hopefully not everybody likes themselves. They should call me if they don't. But um, like, oh yeah, it's just something to think about.

SPEAKER_03:

That is something to think about. Yeah. Um on a on a long-term level, right? Like on a full-scale I'm off.

SPEAKER_01:

You should just, you know, um, really take stock. So at the beginning of each uh year, or actually prior to that, I like to look in the rear view. Okay.

SPEAKER_04:

I like it.

SPEAKER_01:

Like, how did I live? How did I love, and what did I learn?

SPEAKER_03:

How did I live?

SPEAKER_01:

How did I love? I love and what did I learn?

SPEAKER_03:

What did I learn?

SPEAKER_01:

And so looking into 2026, it's not too late because January is really a false month. We're still in kind of this weird hibernation.

SPEAKER_03:

Still January, then.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. I mean, it's hitting hard, but like we're trying to catch up and and also move forward at the same time. It's a it's a strange month.

SPEAKER_03:

I appreciate that because I did fail my first week of um um time blocking.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, with a brand new planner, even. With a brand new planner. It's empty. 100%.

SPEAKER_03:

Yes, it is.

SPEAKER_01:

I get a whole five days in and then I forgot yesterday and then I fixed it today, and now we're on track again. I have time.

SPEAKER_03:

I have time.

SPEAKER_05:

Well, the first couple weeks you're like, what day is it? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So January's a funny month that way, but it's still possible for us not to set resolutions, but instead to set intentions.

SPEAKER_03:

I love that.

SPEAKER_01:

I do not trade in resolutions. I trade in intentions. And so what that sounds like is, you know, for me, um, you know, I'm gonna figure I I have figured out, or I am, it's actually I am, I am uh healing my. Side joint, for instance.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay, what's that mean?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, that's just a a hip joint. Like I get some hip problems.

SPEAKER_03:

I am healing my Achilles tendinitis.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, right. I am a mother who's patient for her son. I am a partner who is doing X, Y, and Z. I am a boss who does X, Y, and Z. That way we're embodying that every morning. It's not future focused. Again, if we're Momento Mori, we're now.

SPEAKER_03:

I want to go back to Momentum Ori. Like, yeah, this is it. Okay, cool. Keep talking about it.

SPEAKER_01:

So if I'm an entrepreneur or if I'm a business person, like, how do I want to show up for my employees? You're not saying, well, I'm going to show up like that for my employees. You're like, no, that's BS. I am the leader who does these things.

SPEAKER_03:

Yes.

SPEAKER_01:

And then you can look at this every single morning. I mean, I know people make fun of like things on mirrors.

SPEAKER_03:

We've done uh what are they called? Uh mantras. We've done mantras. Nikki Kunye. She's in the building somewhere. Maybe she can hear me. I don't know if the speakers are on. Hey Nikki. Um, is this mic working? Anyways, uh, Nikki, we did it was our OG episode, like first three episodes we did, and we did mantras. So we're we're open here.

SPEAKER_01:

But we're calling it, we're calling it intentions in this frame.

SPEAKER_03:

Intentions. Yes.

SPEAKER_05:

Do you like the idea of like creating like some sort of vision board?

SPEAKER_01:

That's been the I have done a vision board. I actually did the first vision board.

SPEAKER_03:

You did the first actual vision board?

SPEAKER_01:

No, no, gal. I did the movie now. I invented the internet too. No, I sure didn't. Um, but I I did one. And it was that I like a vision board because it's fun. Um and I think it doesn't matter, whatever kind of style learner you are. If you're a writer, if you're a you need to record it for yourself, you need to make some pictures, you know, whatever works for you.

SPEAKER_03:

Right, right. Well, that's the most important. I mean, you're just kind of talking about the practice, how they implement the practice in their own life is their own. That's right. You coach them through that. That's correct. Make the big box. How do you market death?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, goodness gracious. That is is is you have to it's an uphill climb, Mike. It totally is. In part because there is so much fear and stigma associated with it. Um, for me, it's having conversations like this. And, you know, death is an industrial complex like anything else. It used to be something that was in our homes. You know, we had a parlor for a reason. You laid out your family member in the front. And it really wasn't until the turn of the what?

SPEAKER_03:

Laid out what? Like dead in the like in the parlor.

SPEAKER_01:

We took care of our dead. That's what we did. Really? And it was only until funeral homes came about uh really post-World War II that we had that death get so far away from us and so sanitized.

SPEAKER_04:

No kidding.

SPEAKER_01:

And death is a beautiful process, it's not all that different than birth. And I've seen lots of people on their way to dying and dying, and it can be a very, very sweet and meaningful process. I supported a man just a week before Thanksgiving whose mother was passing, and uh he wanted to keep her on new food and nutrition longer, and I said, Well, what else has what's what's left to be done? And he just sat there and he was contemplating all of the things that he had done for his mother. And he's like, There's nothing else I can do. And I said, Have you done everything you can do? And he said, Yes, and I said, Well, then now's the time to give her the gift of allowing her to pass.

SPEAKER_05:

On that topic, do you feel like because right now it's very controversial? Sorry, I'm getting away from the case. No, I'm not crying, you're crying, it's fine.

SPEAKER_03:

Um emotion.

SPEAKER_05:

Seriously. Um because in different in different countries, there's it if you're in a place where it gets uncomfortable, and I think maybe some states have legalized it in the US. I could be wrong. You know what I mean? Dr.

SPEAKER_03:

Cavorkian style, is that what you're getting at? Yeah. I'm from Detroit, so yeah, he's from Michigan.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. He's your neighbor neighbor. Former neighbor, him and the MM.

SPEAKER_04:

Kid Rock. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Memorable, all of them.

SPEAKER_05:

Because every because some people look so down upon that, right? Yeah. But to me, it kind of gives me hope because you don't know what illnesses you're gonna get and you don't know where life is gonna go. But if you were in that place, if you get to make that decision, if you're sound of mine, right? And still can, I feel like that's something that's very a controversial topic.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm sure it's now called medical assistance and death. There are about 12 states that allow for this. I forget which state just came on in the last few months. Um, you know, I think where the rub is, and I mean there's several rubs, but one of the concerns is certainly rooted in faith based on you know what your faith system might be. And so there's resistance to MAID because of that. But beyond that, they don't want it to be used in a malfeasant way. Um so you mentioned soundness of mind, that's very important. In most MAID states, if you are somebody who elects to um have medical assistance in death, then you have to administer that medicine yourself. And so you have to be able enough to do that because otherwise, you know, your your support system is going to be legally um at risk. And so there's just a lot of um, and there's some good documentaries out there. And so I take a nuanced approach to that. Again, you know, I'm I'm I'm flexing to the belief systems of whoever it is I'm supporting. South Carolina is not a made state, so you would have to move and establish residency in other ones before you could engage in the state. Not a what state a medical assistance in death legal state.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

Um, but you know, there are ways to die comfortably in this state. Um and you know, hospice is is a big part of that. Is the death penalty in South Carolina?

SPEAKER_05:

Good question.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh my goodness. I I I I haven't focused on death penalty in my work.

SPEAKER_03:

Could be a new vertical. Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Um joking aside, like Florida is not the death, like I run the independent political path, but I am uh you know, my personal beliefs are, you know, I I've had violence against me and I have survived uh abuse and these kinds of things, and I still am not uh pro death penalty.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01:

But you know, I'm focused on life, living all the days of your life as holy as you can.

SPEAKER_03:

Well you can tell that you love what you do. I do. You know, because you practice what you're preaching, is I mean, you've surrounded yourself with death. Yeah. But you're helping others through live. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_05:

How do you separate that when you leave age chance and you go into your mother, you know? This is the most frequently asked question I receive.

SPEAKER_03:

Meryless mental health.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So I do believe that all coaches need coaches, all therapists need therapists, and if you they don't have that's the first question you should ask one of us uh when you when you before you sign up for anything to do with mental health. Um You know, I have developed a strong ability not to overpersonalize what's happening for others. I mean, I I left a hospice patient yesterday and I was feeling all kinds of things because I was worried about her um support system, right? Um and then at some point, you know, I have to deep breathe and say, I've done what I can. And I kind of wrap them up in this little light bubble in my head and put them on the shelf until I see them the next time. They can come off the shelf anytime they want. Um, but it's you know, some of its visualizations, some of its self-care, some of it's reminding myself that, you know, I'm only responsible for my life and not that of others. My emotional experience is mine alone. I'm not responsible for that of others, and I can help and I'm a guide, but I am not walking their path. And so I'm focused on my sheet of paper and I'm running my race, and they have to do the same.

SPEAKER_03:

Love that.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

I mean, that's kind of what the theme of this conversation really is to our agencies and our entrepreneurs, is get your shit together.

SPEAKER_01:

It is, you know, I was thinking about uh, you know, I'm a uh a coach or an alternative therapist, and and what is sometimes a saturated field. I mean, the death thing certainly uh sets me apart. But um and you know, some people want to make X millions of dollars, and some people want to have this many clients, and and I'm thinking about my business model, and I'm like, no, I don't want that, I don't want that. And I am constantly bombarded with ideas and frameworks and things I could do that other people are doing, and then I remind myself, I again I'm looking at my paper, I'm running my race, my experience is mine, and yes, you have to benchmark, yes, you need to do market research, but you can decide to run a race that's different than others.

SPEAKER_03:

Exactly.

SPEAKER_05:

And I'm curious, how do you tell your? I guess I I'm not sure how old your kids are at this time um if she has kids.

SPEAKER_03:

Do you have kids?

SPEAKER_05:

Uh you talked about your son.

SPEAKER_01:

I have a 12-year-old son who's awesome. Okay.

SPEAKER_05:

Love your 12-year-old son. Okay, so um, how do you explain how do you explain what mommy does?

SPEAKER_01:

Like Oh, that poor boy.

SPEAKER_05:

Um, right? And they're like, what does mom do?

SPEAKER_01:

No, I mean, I don't know what he says, honestly. Um I use he used to just say, My mom helps kids. Um, and now I you know I help adults. But uh we talk about death a lot. I mean, he rolls his eyes, it's so often. Really? Yeah. I mean, but we talk about everything in our house. We're very open household.

SPEAKER_03:

Amazing. Right. Well, when when you do what you love and you love what you do, it just seeps out too, and it's not.

SPEAKER_01:

You mean think about the dark humor opportunities that happen in our house.

SPEAKER_03:

So many. Yeah. So many dark humor opportunities. I had to bite my tongue on a few of them. Um so you find yourself selling death.

SPEAKER_01:

No, I don't sell death. I am a I sell living wholeheartedly all the days of your life up until death in a mic. I don't sell death.

SPEAKER_03:

That's the I sell a good life. Can you talk more about the Memento Mori practice? Is there another piece of this practice? I feel like it's you said it was between Buddhism and and Catholic.

SPEAKER_01:

Like what I mean, it's honestly, it's we have spent so much time and money, most of us, trying to look as young as possible and pump our body full of peptides and digitize our brains and have the like mountain head or whatever that movie with Steve Carell experiences. When we get away from death, we cause harm to other people.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

Like when we feet feel or if we think we're gonna live forever, we just have much less accountability for our choices in the now.

unknown:

I see.

SPEAKER_01:

And so, in order for us to be compassionate humans, we need to believe on the in a fundamental way that we could die. Because if that were the case, we would be much kinder to one another. We would be less quick to other eye other humans, and we'd realize that we are super vulnerable at humans too. And so, you know, whether that's in your management practices, whether that's in your business decisions, whether that's in the like when you're pissed off at your spouse for doing that thing again. Um golfing. Yeah. For hours, full days. Like three hours turns to ten. Yeah. We know what golfing means. Boy, that trigger there, huh? No, but I I I believe that uh, and I'm not alone in this, and I did not invent this that when we believe that we are vulnerable and that we could die at any moment, just like every other person on the planet, what we the dignity we offer other humans, uh, the protection we offer them would just be different. And many faith systems have uh prophets or um important key figures in them that have died and suffered. And so I think it's important for us to remember that it is our destiny to die and that it should inform our virtuous life decisions.

SPEAKER_03:

Be more prosperous in the moment, intentional, you know, loving, all that kindness.

SPEAKER_01:

And it's profitable to be those things because you will people will move towards you because they want more of that.

SPEAKER_03:

Yes. Oh, yeah, 100% understand what you're saying there.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Uh if that was profitable, I'd be rich.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm just saying, like maybe you are rich and you don't know what might be.

SPEAKER_03:

Rich in love and karma and all that stuff. You know what I mean? But I yeah, yeah, I I get it.

SPEAKER_00:

You're just getting richer. I'm just getting richer. Every day.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, that's why I wanted to have you on, is because of your input and your knowledge and and this this the conversation's important. Yeah. You know, mental health is important. So, you know, we had two jumpers within like two months, right? It's true. You know, rich jumpers. It was terrible. So it is. I felt like your timing was perfect.

SPEAKER_01:

And that always happens around the holidays. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Really? Well, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_05:

Because because people are lonely and holidays are just fundamentally hard for people.

SPEAKER_01:

It's you recognize you don't have the family, you just things aren't for most of us are are not exactly as perfect as we expected them to be. And you've had loss. Again, it's losses everywhere. Um and there are parts of those two humans that uh felt it would be a better choice, like less suffering. Right. So um again, if we think we're going to die, we will help people that's out of their suffering.

SPEAKER_03:

That's my point. Yes. Please call me before you do anything. You know, give us a give a give your friend a shout before you, you know, do anything irrational in 2026. Let's take care of ourselves. That's all.

SPEAKER_01:

Take care of ourselves. So yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

That's all.

SPEAKER_01:

In a nutshell.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh man, we could talk forever, I feel like, about death with you, Meredith.

SPEAKER_01:

Which is really about life. Yes, go ahead and do that. Did you see that? In high school, get this. So any of my high school friends that are listening, uh, they used to call me Megadeath. No.

SPEAKER_03:

You were like this back in high school?

SPEAKER_01:

Potentially, actually. We'll have to ask them.

SPEAKER_03:

Lovely, lovely is what I mean. Lovely, lovely.

SPEAKER_01:

Nice, deep.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. All those things.

SPEAKER_05:

I have a random question. Yeah. What do you think about like right now, everyone's talking about cloning, right? Oh gosh. Do you think that you're supposed to live your life to the fullest and then you know you leave a legacy? Or do you think that there's a world where you might clone yourself and come back and when that technology is here? What's your thoughts on that?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, goodness gracious. You can ask me what I would want. I'm not going to be able to tell you like some moralistic argument on that because I haven't done uh I'm not an ethicist in that regard. Um, but I would tell you right now, I've I would I'm ready for whatever's next. I mean, I love this life and I'm good for it. And if I were to pass tomorrow, my biggest concern would be my son's welfare. Um, but you know, I've had near-death experiences before, and it's really not all that frightening. And uh, if I get recycled into a tree or some other fantastic human, I'm okay with that. Or you know what, if I'm just dust to dust, or if I get to go to some ethereal, wonderful place where like I get to eat endless sushi, I'm good. I don't need to be cloned.

SPEAKER_03:

So you think about it though. Of course, the salesman in me says if we're cloning people, that's more potential clients for you at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh I might not want those because you have to go down like a different route because it's like Marinette. You know what? That's that's uh a business uh trailhead that uh I'm going to leave to someone else. Yeah, I know my purpose here.

SPEAKER_03:

I have plenty of bad ideas, as everybody in the listeners know.

SPEAKER_01:

I feel like you got a terrible dystopian movie uh script uh in you right there.

SPEAKER_03:

Right, Matt? We should get to recognize that. The real life clone wars. I just did it. It was on me. You heard it here first, Charleston. Charleston Marketing.

SPEAKER_01:

Founder Mike Compton.

SPEAKER_05:

Because I know Walt Disney, he has him I primal therapy.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, Walt.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah, he's ready to come back.

SPEAKER_01:

I don't think he wants to come back.

SPEAKER_03:

Nobody wants to come back.

SPEAKER_05:

He'd be happy how Disney's doing.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, maybe.

SPEAKER_03:

I don't know, right? It's hard to say. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah. So, anyhow, in a in a in a nutshell, Meredith, what a thank you for your time. Thank you for sharing. You shared some deep secrets there. I didn't some soft stuff there. You didn't have to really talk about mostly that high school nickname.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

No, there was some other stuff that you didn't really have to share, and I really appreciate you doing it. Of course. Uh, Rachel.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah, no, it's awesome, you know, talking about this topic, but talking with someone who kind of brings a positive light to such a somber thing that we can't avoid.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. I mean, I I think That's the idea. I honestly, it is the idea. Why not live like every second or every breath as fully and as wonderfully and as wholeheartedly as possible?

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Why not?

SPEAKER_03:

And I'm happy to do it here with you guys.

SPEAKER_01:

Fantastic. Thank you.

SPEAKER_05:

Let's all go together.

SPEAKER_01:

No, I'm not ready. Well, we got Kool-Aid faster on. Like what? No. Dark humor is a love. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Uh shout out to our sponsors.

unknown:

Yes.

SPEAKER_03:

Keeping us live. The S C R A and now King in Columbus. And uh don't forget about Jerry Feels Good with the beats. And then Meredith again, thank you so much. Thank you. Real quick, how do we get a hold of you?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, so you can reach me at my website, thelifeanddeathcoach.com, um, where all my contact information I'm available on LinkedIn, on Instagram, on Facebook.

SPEAKER_03:

Yes.

SPEAKER_01:

Come find me.

SPEAKER_03:

Yes, she likes coffee. I do. And uh and a great conversation. I know because I had one.

SPEAKER_05:

What's your favorite sushi spot? Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_01:

That's oh 167. That's a great line. Yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_03:

167, where is that?

SPEAKER_01:

East Bay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05:

You've tried Sheiky? Not yet. Oh, you'll love Shaky. Next week.

SPEAKER_03:

Look at that. Look at that. All right, guys. Uh, and also thank you to Matthew, uh, our sound engineer, and the Charleston Media Solutions for recording and Matthew's time. Big supporters of Cama. Appreciate you guys. We'll see you guys next time. Bye guys. Bye bye.

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Mike Compton

Co-host
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Stephanie Barrow

Co-host