Jasmine Hathaway

How did you first get into this work?

My co-founders, Rachel Donnelly, Esther Pipoly, Mollie Lacher, and I had started our own businesses focused on a space we felt was a wide-open gap in the market: helping people with all of the administrative tasks, logistical work, and decisions that fell to them after the loss of a loved one. There are attorneys, financial professionals, therapists, and other professionals who are focused on one aspect of this work, but there was no one to come alongside the family every step of the way to help them with all of it, including FINDING those other professionals.

We each experienced this issue first-hand when we navigated personal losses in our own lives. In my case, my husband Allan died in 2015. We were married for less than three years, and I was suddenly a widow and a single mom to a toddler while working full-time. I was astounded to learn that I was also responsible for closing all of his accounts, finding passwords, fending off student loan collectors, changing the name on the utilities so the power wouldn’t get cut off, and more…all while grieving profoundly. I wanted to hire someone who could project-manage and help me figure out everything I had to do, but there wasn’t anyone like that.

When Mollie, Rachel, Esther and I connected, we were so excited to find other people who were doing the same thing! We started meeting regularly and got so much value out of this community we had created where we could relate and share best practices. One of the things we had in common was just how often we heard from people who wanted to do what we were doing in their own community, and that’s how PALS was formed: to share our combined knowledge and experience, and really define and establish this space.

Our first task was to decide what to call it! We landed on Professionals of After Loss Services (PALS for short) and we set to work creating a course to lay out exactly what to do if you want to be an after loss professional–whether that’s creating your own company like we did or adding a service line to an existing business.

What keeps you doing it?

The deep meaning and purpose I find from this work is what keeps me doing it. I love knowing that my work makes a difference for families in really tough situations, and being a part of PALS allows me to amplify that impact by equipping professionals all over the world to help even more people than I would ever be able to do alone.

Who has mentored, inspired, or encouraged you along the way?

By far my biggest champion has been my husband, Luke. Beyond that, it’s hard to narrow it down, honestly! There are so many people who have inspired and encouraged me along the way, some of which were years before I started my business. They just believed in me and helped me see that I could do this.

One piece of advice for women entering this profession.

The world needs more after loss professionals! I would say my biggest piece of advice is JUST DO IT. Don’t second-guess yourself, don’t hold yourself back by feeling like you need to know everything, just show up and don’t be afraid to put yourself out there.

Favorite moment or memory from your work so far.

That’s tough because there are so many wonderful moments I’ve gotten to share with clients, but I would say I love the end of an engagement when I get to say, “Wow, look how far you’ve come!”

What’s a surprising skill or fun fact about you?

I love to bake and enjoy all kinds of art and crafts, including knitting and hand embroidery.