Never Can Say Goodbye, Part 1 of 3
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In this three-part Reimagine series, Darnell Lamont Walker and special guests explore themes from his new book Never Can Say Goodbye: The Life of a Death Doula and the Art of a Peaceful End (Harper One, 2026). What’s a death doula? In many ways, it’s a role we all need to learn and develop: being present emotionally and spiritually at the bedside, to help our beloveds feel seen and heard, and to honor their wishes in their final days. Because we all face mortality, the series is for everyone. According to Darnell, “If you’ve ever sat with someone who was grieving, if you’ve ever listened to a loved one tell a story from their past, if you’ve ever been there for someone when they needed comfort—you’ve already been doing the work. You’ve been holding space, just like my grandmother held space for me all those years ago.”
Topics will include the traditions and the taboos that surround death and dying across cultures, the impact of generational trauma on our ability to grieve, racial inequities at end of life, Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD), the power of collective mourning when public figures and celebrities die, and the capacity of storytelling to guide us from grief towards growth.
Discussions will also cover Darnell’s eight steps to dying with fewer regrets: getting honest with yourself, embracing your mortality, finding your truth, telling your story, letting go of perfection, connecting with others, defining your own success, and living with intention.
Session 1 focuses on the collective grief surrounding the deaths of public figures and celebrities, as well as ordinary individuals whose lives resonated with others after their deaths. Why is there an outpouring of grief of these individuals who we’ve never actually met? Are we mourning something else besides that individual? How do race and class inform who gets remembered? How are we transformed as individuals and groups when we gather for vigils and rituals, both in person and online? Can recounting the lives of luminaries and lesser-known folks inspire us to share our own stories?
From February 2 to April 17, 2026, registrants to the series receive a 15% discount on the paperback version of Never Can Say Goodbye on Bookshop.org using the code REIMAGINE.
Darnell Lamont Walker is a death doula, Emmy-nominated children’s television writer, producer, and explorer. Born in Charlottesville, Virginia, he creates spaces worldwide for healing through storytelling, end-of-life care, and workshops on grief, resilience, unlocking the writer within, and radical empathy. He joyfully lives in the Chattahoochee National Forest of North Georgia.
J.J. Duncan is an award-winning television producer, speaker, health-care advocate, and co-founder of the nonprofit organization, “Not Today Cancer,” which raises funds for childhood cancer research. She is widely known in the entertainment industry as an Executive Producer and Showrunner of such hits as Project Runway, and The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, among many others. After losing her eleven-year-old son to leukemia, J.J. began using her influence as a television producer to open up discussions of grief, mental health, and end-of-life care through story-telling. J.J. has appeared on numerous stages, podcasts, and interviews, sharing about grief and healing. J.J. has partnered with Hollywood, Health, & Society at the Norman Lear Center at the University of Southern California, in discussing and studying the effects of media’s responsibility for telling authentic stories involving death and dying. She has written for Variety Magazine in recognition of World Mental Health Day, disclosing her own healing journey through grief by way of storytelling on television. J.J. is also an active advocate for federal and state healthcare laws, often discussing potential bills with representatives that would help research initiatives for newer, less toxic, and more effective pediatric cancer treatments, as well as for inclusive laws that would help ensure all children with life-threatening diseases receive greater access to care, regardless of income or regional limitations. J.J. lives in Los Angeles, California with her wife and daughter.
https://www.nottodaycancer.care/
James R. (Bob) Hagerty, based in Pittsburgh, was a reporter and editor for The Wall Street Journal and the International Herald Tribune for more than 45 years, based in New York, Hong Kong, Paris, London, Brussels and Atlanta. From 2017 to 2023, he was the lead obituary writer for the WSJ. He continues to write obituaries and other stories on a freelance basis for the WSJ, the New York Times and other outlets. Hagerty holds a degree in economics from the University of North Dakota. He is the author of Yours Truly, a guide to writing life stories, and The Fateful History of Fannie Mae, an account of a minor New Deal program that grew willy nilly into a giant role in America's home-mortgage industry. In his spare time, he is an English-language tutor for immigrants, directs a Scrabble club and helps run a senior softball league.
wsj.com/news/author/james-r-hagerty
Michelle Hord is a media consultant, executive coach, published author and speaker. She has spent more than three decades in media and has worked with all of the major networks including shows like Good Morning America, The Talk, 48 Hours and The Oprah Winfrey Show. Michelle’s award winning memoir, The Other Side of Yet, was published in 2022. Her book tells of her grief journey of resilience in the face of tremendous personal loss. She lost her mother and maternal grandmother within months of each other in 1994. Her seven year old daughter, Gabrielle, was tragically murdered in 2017. She has been featured in O Magazine, The Tamron Hall Show, The Talk, GMA, Essence Magazine, MSNBC and others. Michelle founded a nonprofit, Gabrielle’s Wings, to honor the memory of her daughter. Gabrielle’s Wings serves a global community of elementary aged children through educational, recreational, and cultural engagement with partners on three continents.
Mary-Frances O’Connor, PhD is a professor of psychology at the University of Arizona, where she directs the Grief, Loss and Social Stress (GLASS) Lab, investigating the effects of grief on the brain and the body. Her book The Grieving Brain was included on Oprah’s list of Best Books to Comfort a Grieving Friend. O’Connor holds a PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Arizona and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in psychoneuroimmunology at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. Having grown up in Montana, she now lives in Tucson, Arizona.
https://maryfrancesoconnor.org/
About Reimagine
Reimagine is a nonprofit organization catalyzing a uniquely powerful community–people of different backgrounds, ages, races, and faiths (and no faith) coming together to create a more compassionate world. We support each other in facing adversity, loss, and mortality and channeling life's biggest challenges into meaningful action and growth.
