Meet the People Helping Shape Postal Service for the Dead

Small grouping of some PSD Advisory Board Members at the office and archive

PSD’s Advisory Board

Postal Service for the Dead is shaped by the people who believe deeply in making more room for grief, remembrance, and connection.

Our Advisory Board brings together archivists, artists, grief workers, caregivers, clinicians, educators, researchers, and community members. Each person brings a different perspective and a different relationship to grief. Together, they help us think about how Postal Service for the Dead can grow while staying rooted in compassion, creativity, and community.

We asked our Advisory Board members why grief work matters to them and what they hope Postal Service for the Dead makes possible. Here’s what they had to say.

Janelle Ketcher, MLIS

Janelle is the founder of Postal Service for the Dead (PSD). Her work begins with a belief that talking about death and loss can actually help us live more fully. “Grief work matters to me because I believe addressing death, dying, and loss allows us to be more present in our life.”

For Janelle, acknowledging the reality of loss can create more meaningful connection while we’re here. “Knowing that our time is finite and that we will all experience grief invites deeper connections.”

Her hope for PSD is simple and expansive: “My hope is that PSD encourages people to talk about the end-of-life, become proactive in caring for one another, and helps people feel more connected.”

Sara Lemke, Marketing and Development Professional

Sara is the older sister of PSD founder Janelle Ketcher and has been connected to Postal Service for the Dead since its beginning. “Grief connects everyone, yet there is both fear and limited space in sharing stories of those we lost. Our stories heal one another.”

For Sara, Postal Service for the Dead offers a place to hold those stories and create connections beyond our individual experiences. “I hope the Postal Service for the Dead connects those who feel alone in their grief journey to a larger community of individuals who deeply understand, offering space to heal through feeling seen and understood.”

Melinda Ramos, Licensed Emblamer

Melinda attended the very first Postal Service for the Dead event on April 23, 2023, where she wrote a letter to her beloved pug, Eli. She has continued to support PSD through volunteering and participating in events and workshops. 

As a deathcare worker who has experienced multiple significant losses, Melinda knows how complicated, and lonely, grief can feel. “I experienced overwhelming emotions associated with my grief. I felt lonely even though grief is a universal human experience.”

She believes grief work gives us an opportunity to process those emotions rather than push them away. “I hope PSD helps fellow grievers feel less lonely, and seen. PSD workshops have helped me feel less lonely and validated with fellow grievers. It's nice to be heard when you share your story and are not met with a platitude at the end.”

Rosie Grant, MLIS

Rosie brings a deep belief in the importance of learning how to talk about grief. “I think silence around grief isolates us and have watched people carry loss alone simply because no one ever taught them how to talk about it, or how to sit with someone else who's hurting.”

Rosie sees creative expression as another language for grief, especially when words aren't enough.“Since grief doesn't move in straight lines, and it doesn't involve a quick healing process, sometimes writing a letter and creating art says what we can't yet process out loud.”

She hopes Postal Service for the Dead can help make conversations about grief feel more possible, especially for younger generations. “I hope PSD programming helps people, especially young people, grow up understanding that grief can be something to move through and express.”

Isabella León-Chambers, MLIS

Isabella is a member of the Archival Advisory Board. Her connection to Postal Service for the Dead is also deeply personal. After her grandmother passed away in 2022, Isabella attended one of PSD's letter-writing workshops and wrote a letter to her. “I wrote a letter addressed to her and it became one of the most healing experiences of my own grieving process.”

That experience showed Isabella the power of combining grief work with compassion and creativity.“This ultimately showed me the power of grief work and I hope we are able to help more people navigate loss through compassion and creativity.”

As an archivist, Isabella also brings a unique perspective to the care and processing of PSD's growing archive.“I also hope that we can deepen ongoing conversations about grief work in the archive as we process these materials both physically and emotionally.”

Brondie Vien, MLIS

Brondie joined Postal Service for the Dead looking for a meaningful way to connect with others through grief while bringing her background in information science to a mission rooted in community and storytelling.

For Brondie, grief is universal, but the ways we experience and process it are not. “Grief is a universal experience, yet many people navigate it in isolation.”

She believes everyone deserves access to spaces where they can process loss in ways that feel meaningful to them. “I believe everyone deserves accessible spaces where they can process loss in a way that makes sense to them, find connection, and feel seen.”

And she hopes PSD can model what it looks like when communities meet grief with care rather than isolation. “I hope PSD serves as a model for how communities can embrace compassion and vulnerability, creating spaces where grief is met with connection, care, and understanding rather than isolation.”

Hannah Whelan, MLIS

Hannah serves on the Archival Advisory Board. Much of her work as an archivist focuses on preserving memories after loss - from collective experiences to the deeply personal losses that shape our lives.

“In both my work and my personal life, I’ve come to understand that grief is absolutely central to processes of remembering.”

For Hannah, grief work gives people permission to name what—and whom—they carry with them. “Grief work gives people space to articulate what—and whom—they are carrying with them, and to recognize the value in honoring those expressions of love and loss.”

She hopes Postal Service for the Dead can help us rethink the way we live alongside grief. “I hope that people are reminded that grief shouldn’t be something we are constantly expected to brace ourselves against or move through quickly, and that PSD makes it more possible to live alongside grief as it renders new, complex, and deserving-of-care worlds in front of us.”

Haley St. Paul, Peer Grief Group Facilitator

Haley and Janelle met through a Death Doula course in 2021 and have continued building a friendship through personal grief and grief work. Haley has had the privilege of watching PSD grow from an idea into a community.

Her own experience with grief has shaped the importance she places on creating intentional spaces to slow down. “After losing my older brother to cancer following 5 years of consistent illness and loss in my family, I didn't have many grief resources as a young adult despite grief shaping my life significantly.”

She knows how difficult it can be to navigate loss while the rest of the world keeps moving.“Navigating life before, during, and after a loss while the World moves on can be  isolating and challenging.”

Haley hopes PSD can offer people a place to pause, honor their grief, preserve their stories, and find others who understand. “To provide an interactive format for those navigating grief to honor it, to preserve an archive for others to witness the many words and aspects of grief, and find community in it.”

Sydney Kysar, MLIS

Sydney serves as an Archival Advisory Board member and believes grief work matters in part because of how rarely we talk openly about death and dying. “It's something everyone goes though and yet so rarely talked about.”

For Sydney, creating space for those conversations is itself meaningful. “This work matters to me when I am able to talk about death and dying more easily and allow friends and strangers the space to do the same.”

She hopes PSD gives people permission to grieve in whatever way feels right for them. “I hope PSD opens up space for people to grief on their own terms and in their own time - by writing a letter or by seeing themselves reflected in the letters we share online.”

Danielle Galván Gomez, MLIS

Danielle serves on the Archival Advisory Board. Her perspective gets right to the heart of why this work matters.“Everyone knows death is inevitable, but grief work shouldn't be as inaccessible and mysterious as the great beyond.”

Danielle hopes Postal Service for the Dead can help break down the barriers that make grief and conversations about death feel so difficult.

Her hope for the work is to help create a world with less: “Shame, isolation, and fear surrounding feelings and conversations about grief and death.”

Building This Together

There is no single way to grieve, and there is no single way to remember someone we love.

Postal Service for the Dead is being built by people who believe all of these things can be part of how we care for one another through loss.

We are so grateful to our Advisory Board for sharing their wisdom, experiences, creativity, and hope as we enter this next chapter. We're building a place where no one has to grieve alone, one stamp at a time.