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Mallory Greene: A Modern and Caring Approach to Funeral Services
2 Plays3 years ago
Welcome to another episode of The Glam Reaper podcast, where host Jennifer imparts all her knowledge and experiences about the different aspects of life, love, loss, and funerals, together with her special guests!
Today’s episode shines the spotlight on Mallory Greene, the amazing Girl Boss and Co-Founder of Eirene. As the daughter of a nurse and a funeral director, Mallory has always been comfortable talking about life and death—something that has contributed a lot to who she is now as an adult. Her upbringing, combined with her seven-year experience in the tech industry and her passion for helping others, is the foundation for Eirene.
Jennifer’s chat with Mallory gives us an overview of how Eirene, which means ‘state of peace’, offers a modern and caring approach to funeral services. It stands as an ode to women all over the world, who are usually the ones who make funeral arrangements and act as caregivers. Eirene makes the funeral arrangement experience simple, affordable, and entirely transparent to their clients, providing them with a unique and easier experience during an already incredibly difficult time.
Tune in to this insightful conversation about Eirene as well as the current trends and challenges in the funeral industry, especially during this COVID-19 pandemic.
LITTLE NUGGETS OF GOLD
- Getting to know Mallory Greene
- The meaning behind Mallory’s company name, Eirene
- How Eirene differs from others
- The funeral industry before and during the COVID-19 pandemic
- The responsibilities of a funeral director and how to become one
- The importance of transparency and education in the funeral industry
Connect with Mallory Greene:
Website: https://eirene.ca/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EireneCremations/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eirenecremations/
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/Eirene
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/eirene/
Connect with Jennifer/The Glam Reaper:
Facebook Page - Muldowney Memorials: https://www.facebook.com/MuldowneyMemorials/
Facebook Page - Rainbow Bridge Memorials: https://www.facebook.com/rainbowbridgememorialsdotcom
Instagram - @muldowneymemorials & @jennifermuldowney
Twitter - @TheGlamReaper
Email us here: glamreaperpodcast@gmail.com
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Transcript
Introduction to Irene and its Origins
00:00:04
Speaker
Hi guys, and welcome to another episode of the Glam Reaper podcast.
00:00:09
Speaker
I'm your host, Jennifer, a.k.a.
00:00:10
Speaker
The Glam Reaper.
00:00:12
Speaker
Speaking of glam, we have a super glam lady on the show today.
00:00:17
Speaker
Mallory of a company called Irene is taking cremation to the next level.
00:00:25
Speaker
So Mallory Green, welcome to the Glam Reaper podcast.
Mallory Green's Background and Irene's Creation
00:00:29
Speaker
I am super psyched to talk to you and I love that you had to double check that I knew how to say your company's name.
00:00:37
Speaker
As an Irish person, I didn't even hesitate.
00:00:40
Speaker
I read very Irish name, not how you spell it though.
00:00:44
Speaker
And I'm fascinated.
00:00:45
Speaker
You'll have to tell me how it came about, the name, and also what you do.
00:00:49
Speaker
I have lots of questions.
00:00:50
Speaker
So Mallory, I'm going to leave it over to you to tell me exactly what it is, who you are and what you do.
00:00:55
Speaker
Yeah.
00:00:57
Speaker
Yeah, for sure.
00:00:58
Speaker
Thank you so much for having me.
00:00:59
Speaker
I was so excited when you reached out, mostly because your name was the Glam Reaper, and I feel like I love glam, so it just felt very suitable.
00:01:07
Speaker
It felt very suitable and really happy to be here.
00:01:10
Speaker
Yeah, so my name is Mallory Green.
00:01:12
Speaker
I am based in Toronto, Canada.
00:01:15
Speaker
My background is in tech, so I've worked in tech for over seven years now.
00:01:19
Speaker
I have a great love for the startup world and
00:01:22
Speaker
I guess like helping people access certain things through technology, making it more affordable, making it more accessible.
00:01:28
Speaker
And Irene came to be, I think, from a mix from my tech background and my upbringing.
00:01:35
Speaker
So previously I worked at a company called Wealthsimple.
00:01:38
Speaker
It was a financial technology company.
00:01:40
Speaker
I joined in September, September, 2014.
00:01:42
Speaker
There was five people on the team at the time and really saw it grow to over 300 employees.
00:01:48
Speaker
We expanded to different companies.
00:01:49
Speaker
countries and it was an amazing experience but what brought me to Irene is the fact that I'm the daughter of a nurse and a funeral director and so I always say that the the conversation around end of life and death has been very normalized for me and really a part of my identity as much as maybe earlier on in life I was a little bit embarrassed by it just because people were so weirded out when I told them that
00:02:12
Speaker
It's something that now I've harnessed for good and that's how Irene came
Revolutionizing Cremation Services in Canada
00:02:16
Speaker
to be.
00:02:16
Speaker
And so the word Irene means a state of peace.
00:02:20
Speaker
My co-founder and I many years ago were kind of throwing out different words and he came across Irene and he said like, what do you think of this?
00:02:26
Speaker
This is what it means.
00:02:27
Speaker
And I felt like it was really just, it was what we wanted people to feel when they were using our product.
00:02:32
Speaker
I think it's just like a very sentimental name.
00:02:35
Speaker
So
00:02:36
Speaker
As soon as we heard it, we loved it and that's how the name came to be.
00:02:41
Speaker
And most people do not know how to say Irene.
00:02:44
Speaker
I often find that when I'm having conversations, I can tell when they don't know, like they're kind of walking around actually saying the name.
00:02:49
Speaker
So I always even in my emails say like I-Reen, but I'm glad I knew that you would know because you're Irish.
00:02:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:02:57
Speaker
Well, it's funny because to me that's a very American, as an Irish person living in America, it's a very American experience.
00:03:05
Speaker
I used to have a roommate called Aoife and Aoife is literally every vowel in the language.
00:03:13
Speaker
It's A-O-I-F-E.
00:03:16
Speaker
she got called everything so I get it like I'm sure people probably say Aireen or various different things but what I loved about it and I love that you touched on it me my little moniker of the glam reaper and and for all of you who are only listening Mallory is super glam and I'll put all your links and everything below but absolutely fellow glam reaper for sure
00:03:38
Speaker
I love it.
00:03:38
Speaker
Although I don't know where I got it.
00:03:40
Speaker
I find it hilarious that I actually have the glam reaper, but I'm as glam as you get, I don't think.
00:03:45
Speaker
But the Irene is also the name for, it's the goddess of peace and spring.
00:03:52
Speaker
Like, how beautiful is that?
00:03:53
Speaker
And also the name, I don't know, maybe it's because it sounds like serene, but I think the name, it does, it just sounds peaceful.
00:04:03
Speaker
And I loved that she was a goddess.
00:04:05
Speaker
I mean, who wouldn't love that?
00:04:08
Speaker
And I think that was kind of, I mean, for us, that was also an ode to women.
00:04:12
Speaker
Like, I think a lot of the time women are the ones making funeral arrangements, they're caregivers often.
00:04:17
Speaker
And so it was really important to me as just a feminist overall to have a name that had a very feminine meaning.
00:04:24
Speaker
But yeah, no, it's perfect.
00:04:25
Speaker
I mean, people tried to say, like, you shouldn't name it Irene just because it would be hard for people to pronounce.
00:04:30
Speaker
But I think that there's a lot of company names that at first it's hard and then eventually they just become normalized, right?
00:04:36
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:04:37
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:04:38
Speaker
And when you look back to any names, Amazon, Nike, I mean, I call it Nike.
00:04:43
Speaker
You know, it's Nike, apparently Adidas, Adidas.
00:04:46
Speaker
I had so much fun with the guys in the funeral home about I say vitamins, you say vitamins, tomatoes, tomatoes.
00:04:52
Speaker
So look, it doesn't honestly a name is as my mom actually once said, she's going to kill me for saying this shit is to shite.
00:05:01
Speaker
You know, a Smith is to smite.
00:05:02
Speaker
Like it doesn't really matter.
00:05:04
Speaker
Mallory, tell us what, most importantly, what does Irene do?
00:05:08
Speaker
I love this idea.
00:05:09
Speaker
Yes, yes.
00:05:10
Speaker
So Irene makes the funeral arrangement experience simple and affordable and entirely transparent.
00:05:16
Speaker
And so how Irene came to be in and why we really chose cremation is I was looking at the trends over the next 10 to 20 years and I realized that most Canadians today choose cremation as their final disposition.
00:05:28
Speaker
So it's over 70% of Canadians
00:05:31
Speaker
And I think it goes back to what I just said.
00:05:33
Speaker
It's about the simplicity.
00:05:34
Speaker
It's affordable and it's really flexible.
00:05:36
Speaker
They can choose to scatter the remains the day after they receive them or they can choose to keep them for the next 10, 20 years.
00:05:45
Speaker
Some people even can send them to space like there's just like unlimited amount of things you can do with cremated remains.
00:05:51
Speaker
And so I was looking at the trends, as I said, and most people were choosing cremation.
00:05:55
Speaker
We have an increasing aging population and most people were looking for they were just looking for
00:06:01
Speaker
a kind of peace of mind during that experience, simplicity.
00:06:05
Speaker
And so what that looks like on our platform is that they go on our website, they enter the required information, they pay an all-inclusive fee, so we don't have any hidden fees or upselling involved, and then we handle the rest.
00:06:17
Speaker
So we use the exact same industry providers that any funeral home would rely on in Toronto and surrounding areas.
00:06:24
Speaker
And we transfer store and cremate your loved one.
00:06:27
Speaker
And the biggest difference, I think, for us is that we don't carry the same overhead that a traditional funeral home would, which is how we can kind of keep our costs lower.
00:06:36
Speaker
So I think for like I said, it really comes down to another option for families.
Balancing Technology with Compassion
00:06:41
Speaker
I think that families deserve multiple options and and funerals and funeral arrangements should be as unique as the person that you are commemorating.
00:06:50
Speaker
And so for us, it was just kind of providing a different experience during an incredibly difficult time.
00:06:55
Speaker
Okay.
00:06:56
Speaker
So the main part that I'm taking from that and I love, which I'm a big fan of, is you're providing a different option.
00:07:04
Speaker
This isn't you saying, oh my God, funeral homes are terrible.
00:07:08
Speaker
This is the worst thing in the world, which I find a lot.
00:07:11
Speaker
Sometimes that can be the resistance.
00:07:13
Speaker
It's not.
00:07:13
Speaker
Just having something new just allows a family to have a different option.
00:07:18
Speaker
Maybe there's a family out there that doesn't want to go to a funeral home.
00:07:21
Speaker
Maybe there's one that does.
00:07:23
Speaker
If they do, you're not for them.
00:07:25
Speaker
And that's okay.
00:07:26
Speaker
And I think that's where brands across the board, across all industries need to get their audiences right is you're not going to satisfy everybody's needs.
00:07:36
Speaker
Facebook isn't for everybody.
00:07:38
Speaker
Amazon isn't for everybody.
00:07:40
Speaker
Myself and my best friend fight over Amazon the whole time.
00:07:43
Speaker
She hates it.
00:07:44
Speaker
I adore it.
00:07:45
Speaker
It's, you know,
00:07:46
Speaker
So I do think that's super important.
00:07:48
Speaker
And, you know, it's also important to note that
00:07:53
Speaker
you're not cheap because what you're providing is cheap.
00:07:57
Speaker
It's that you don't have the overhead and a lot of people don't realize a funeral home is a business.
00:08:03
Speaker
And I'm sorry to say, and I'm going to break that to a lot of people, I'm sure over the course of my career, but I already have, but it's, it is, it has to turn the lights on.
00:08:14
Speaker
It has to pay employees.
00:08:16
Speaker
It has to pay health insurance.
00:08:18
Speaker
And so I guess with all of that, you get to provide those savings to the families.
00:08:24
Speaker
So that's the difference there.
00:08:27
Speaker
What is your opinion though on losing, if you like, that physical comfort?
00:08:33
Speaker
Because obviously physical touch is a huge component of comforting somebody.
00:08:39
Speaker
We've massively noticed that with COVID.
00:08:41
Speaker
I mean, I know myself as a memorial planner now, when I walk into any funeral home,
00:08:46
Speaker
and I can't sort of just even put my hand on somebody's arm as they're crying their eyes out.
00:08:52
Speaker
It's been really difficult.
00:08:53
Speaker
So how do you feel taking that away?
00:08:57
Speaker
Just speaking to what you just said about, I've never and will never think that Irene is the be-all end-all.
00:09:02
Speaker
Like I said, it is another option.
00:09:04
Speaker
I think that there are so many incredible different experiences you can have in the end of life.
00:09:09
Speaker
And for us, it's really about sharing that with families.
00:09:13
Speaker
So whether that's they're choosing cremation or they want to choose a green burial or something like bio cremation, like...
00:09:19
Speaker
Just showing them their options is like, that's the biggest part.
00:09:23
Speaker
That's the most important part of what we're doing, I think.
00:09:25
Speaker
And then for us, it's just providing a great cremation experience if that's what they want.
00:09:29
Speaker
So yeah, I think for us, it was interesting when we were building Irene, initially it was a very tech heavy platform.
00:09:37
Speaker
We really, like we weren't going to include a phone number.
00:09:40
Speaker
It was just going to be for people who just wanted to go online, enter the information and maybe didn't want to interact with someone.
00:09:46
Speaker
But what we found is that most of our families actually always call us before they start the arrangement process online.
00:09:53
Speaker
So we do have licensed funeral directors on staff.
00:09:55
Speaker
They're available to speak to our families anytime they want via live chat, email, phone.
00:10:00
Speaker
And like I said, what we're finding is that most families actually do want to call and speak to a licensed director before they make the arrangement, whether that's them describing kind of what they're going through.
00:10:10
Speaker
I know that someone recently was crying to someone on one of our licensed directors on the phone.
00:10:14
Speaker
And so we don't want to lose that experience.
00:10:17
Speaker
And then there's other pieces that we've done as well.
00:10:18
Speaker
So you can still do a final goodbye if you choose Irene through our partner provider at their facility.
00:10:26
Speaker
Or you can go to our crematorium, our partner crematorium.
00:10:30
Speaker
You can pick up the remains.
00:10:31
Speaker
It's a beautiful location.
00:10:33
Speaker
They have like scattering gardens and it's really beautiful.
00:10:36
Speaker
So
00:10:36
Speaker
I think small pieces that we can still build into that, that people feel that there is that emotional connection and they're still being supported.
00:10:43
Speaker
And like I said, and if at the end of the day, they do need to sit across from someone and make that arrangement and feel comfort through that, then we would encourage that.
00:10:51
Speaker
Like that is up to them ultimately.
00:10:54
Speaker
But yeah, I think there's always going to be a fine balance between technology and that human experience for sure.
00:11:00
Speaker
And just so listeners are clear, so somebody has passed away on me.
00:11:06
Speaker
I log on to your website, which I actually was doing last night.
00:11:10
Speaker
And somebody pops up, you know, message pops up straight away to say, you know, do you need to talk to somebody or anything?
00:11:17
Speaker
It is very, very interactive.
00:11:19
Speaker
But obviously, and I'm not surprised that you get phone calls because...
00:11:22
Speaker
especially nowadays and you know you and i will absolutely attest to this technology as it's you know different things happen and you're not sure and it's it's hard to trust somebody you haven't physically seen and i know that's a hugely irish thing my dad did business deals over handshake i mean that's where we come from as human beings so you log on you fill in your information you're not putting any critical information on there that's
00:11:50
Speaker
open to stealing or anything like that right no and then somebody comes to pick up the body from your home or from a hospital correct and takes it to a direct cremation which has been massively popular during covid as a memorial creator as a memorial maker we've had so many direct cremations and it's been a very quiet year in that sense for me and i'm yeah
00:12:16
Speaker
looking forward to slash dreading 2021 because I think it's going to be super, super busy.
00:12:21
Speaker
And I'm excited that people want
The Need for Transparency and Education in Funeral Industry
00:12:23
Speaker
to still memorialize their loved ones.
00:12:25
Speaker
Yes.
00:12:25
Speaker
And that's something you're not taking away from that.
00:12:27
Speaker
And that's what I think for me with direct cremation, it doesn't have to end there.
00:12:33
Speaker
You can take the remains home.
00:12:35
Speaker
And you can have a piss up in a pub like my dad wants.
00:12:39
Speaker
You can take it and have an elaborate concert.
00:12:42
Speaker
You can have a dinner.
00:12:43
Speaker
The world is really your oyster when it comes to innovation and ideas around what you can do with cremated remains.
00:12:50
Speaker
And so I do want to emphasize that this isn't taking away any possibility of personalization.
00:12:57
Speaker
It's just making...
00:13:00
Speaker
if I may be so, you're like the Amazon in Toronto of Croatia, I guess.
00:13:05
Speaker
But I'm not Jeff Bezos.
00:13:07
Speaker
I do want to say that I am not Jeff Bezos.
00:13:09
Speaker
Thank you so much.
00:13:10
Speaker
Okay.
00:13:11
Speaker
Yes, no, I think at the end of the day, I spoke to someone a few weeks ago and her husband had passed away and he loved to ski.
00:13:20
Speaker
And so what she did when she got his cremated remains is that she put a little bit of his remains in ski wax and
00:13:27
Speaker
and gifted it to all of his friends.
00:13:29
Speaker
And the concept was that he could continue to ski with his friends.
00:13:32
Speaker
I think at first they were probably like, what is going on?
00:13:35
Speaker
But honestly, I thought that was so beautiful.
00:13:37
Speaker
Like what a beautiful thing to do.
00:13:39
Speaker
And I think that, I do think that's why a lot of people, cremation is appealing to them because there is that flexibility.
00:13:46
Speaker
And like you said,
00:13:47
Speaker
in 2020 and beyond, they can host, they can still have a memorial.
00:13:50
Speaker
It's just that the reality is that very small piece of choosing burial or cremation has to happen quite rapidly.
00:13:58
Speaker
And especially during this time, during COVID, I think maybe when it happens and most families haven't spoken about it, it just makes it feel a little bit easier.
00:14:07
Speaker
And then from there, they can start making the decisions of what they want to do next.
00:14:11
Speaker
And that can be like 20 years from now if they want to make that decision.
00:14:14
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
00:14:15
Speaker
Yeah, it's a possibility.
00:14:16
Speaker
Now I have, so you're only available in Toronto?
00:14:21
Speaker
Yes, so the Greater Toronto Area, we are licensed in all of Ontario currently, but we're only operating in Greater Toronto Area currently, yes.
00:14:29
Speaker
Okay, are you a licensed funeral director?
00:14:31
Speaker
I'm not.
00:14:32
Speaker
Okay, you're like me!
00:14:35
Speaker
You know, it's funny, I thought about doing it, but we have like Jen, who is our lead licensed funeral director, she's incredible.
00:14:42
Speaker
And like, I really leaned on her throughout this process and we have amazing directors on staff.
00:14:47
Speaker
So I felt like I didn't need to do it, but I do find myself constantly
00:14:52
Speaker
seeking education.
00:14:53
Speaker
Like I want to do some death meditation next year.
00:14:56
Speaker
I think there's a lot of interesting things that I can do to ensure that I am equipped and I'm educated in the space.
00:15:03
Speaker
But yeah, I'm not, I'm not a licensed director as of right now.
00:15:06
Speaker
Well, and it's interesting, we're going a little off topic, but I was actually speaking to somebody about this the other day and what irritates me about a lot of mortality or mortality school, more mortician school?
00:15:20
Speaker
Yeah.
00:15:21
Speaker
Am I getting the word wrong?
00:15:23
Speaker
Anyway.
00:15:23
Speaker
What fascinates me about school to become a funeral director is that you have to do all elements.
00:15:32
Speaker
You may not go on to do any of 90% of the elements, but you have to do them all.
00:15:38
Speaker
In funeral homes that I work in, some people just do face to face with families.
00:15:42
Speaker
Some people are just embalming downstairs with the bodies.
00:15:46
Speaker
Some people are just cleaning up around the funeral home.
00:15:49
Speaker
All of these different aspects, but yet they have to do the full training.
00:15:53
Speaker
And for me, I would absolutely love to do the training, but I just have no interest, absolutely no interest in embalming.
00:16:03
Speaker
and dealing with the body.
00:16:04
Speaker
I don't want it for myself when I go.
00:16:07
Speaker
It's not that I don't think it's a good option for other people.
00:16:11
Speaker
You ask my opinion, I'm going to give it, but I'm just not interested in it whatsoever.
00:16:16
Speaker
And it's frustrating, I think, that people have to go through certain elements just to be qualified.
00:16:24
Speaker
I also don't agree with the fact that, and obviously I am based in New York, is that state by state, it's different.
00:16:30
Speaker
The fact that a funeral director is in
00:16:33
Speaker
yeah texas couldn't run to help the new york funeral directors when we were at the height of it and covet i mean that just seemed bonkers to me that it had to get approved right good god anyway on that you did mention on the on your website and i want to scratch a bit on it as you said the funeral industry is broken tell me more about what you think about that
00:16:56
Speaker
Uh-oh.
00:17:00
Speaker
Yeah, so I think that my biggest bone to pick with the industry as a whole, and I can only really speak, obviously I can only speak to Canada, but for me, I think that the
00:17:12
Speaker
There is a lack of education for consumers.
00:17:16
Speaker
I think that most people, like I said, they don't plan or think about death where we currently stand as a society.
00:17:22
Speaker
So when it happens, they're heavily depending on funeral homes to guide them through those decisions.
00:17:28
Speaker
And I think that there could be a lot more education and information widely available to families.
00:17:35
Speaker
like I said, back to what I was saying, to make decisions that are unique to them.
00:17:39
Speaker
I don't think that burial needs to be the decision for every family.
00:17:42
Speaker
And I don't even know if the average person understands the difference between a cremation and a direct cremation, right?
00:17:47
Speaker
I think there's just so much more transparency and education that could be involved in the industry.
00:17:52
Speaker
And a good example of that in Ontario is price lists.
00:17:56
Speaker
So it's mandated that you share your price list, the itemized price list with your consumers, but with your customers, but it's not...
00:18:04
Speaker
it's not really mandated how you do that, right?
00:18:07
Speaker
So in some cases, families are really digging for that information.
00:18:10
Speaker
And to me, when someone has died, I think that's really the last thing that they should be doing is like digging for information.
00:18:19
Speaker
And so for me, what I really want to see is more education and more transparency in Canada, in the funeral industry.
00:18:25
Speaker
Because I don't think that will really change consumers what they choose.
00:18:30
Speaker
I think it will just help them understand what their options are and help them make informed decisions.
00:18:35
Speaker
And overall, that makes for happier customers at the end of the day.
00:18:38
Speaker
So that's really what that means to me.
00:18:42
Speaker
I don't know if you read it, and I can send this to you after, but the Auditor General just put out a massive report in Ontario saying,
00:18:50
Speaker
just about kind of the industry as a whole in Ontario.
00:18:53
Speaker
And there were some like scary things in there that I think need to change.
00:18:57
Speaker
So I would like to see a bit of an overhaul and kind of how the industry is regulated and specifics on how we're sharing information for sure.
00:19:06
Speaker
And I mean, that's what we do at Irene, right?
00:19:08
Speaker
Like our price list and all of the information is available.
00:19:11
Speaker
So to me, it's important that by the time someone has hit our funeral services contract,
00:19:16
Speaker
They understand fully what they're purchasing and every piece of what they're getting.
00:19:21
Speaker
We are not the least expensive option in Ontario.
00:19:24
Speaker
There's more options that are more affordable than we are.
00:19:27
Speaker
But I think that it's important for people to understand, once again, what your options are.
00:19:32
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
00:19:33
Speaker
And back to the point of every funeral business is exactly that.
00:19:38
Speaker
It's a business.
00:19:39
Speaker
So there's always going to be a cheaper shirt.
00:19:42
Speaker
There's always going to be a more expensive shirt.
00:19:43
Speaker
And unfortunately, that's where we're at.
00:19:46
Speaker
And it's interesting.
00:19:48
Speaker
I don't know if you ever read that Jessica Mitford book.
00:19:50
Speaker
I'm sure you probably did.
00:19:52
Speaker
What is it?
00:19:52
Speaker
What's it called?
00:19:53
Speaker
So I'll send it to you after this.
00:19:55
Speaker
I think it's the American way of death or I'm always getting confused with something.
00:19:58
Speaker
Anyway,
00:19:58
Speaker
And I was just brushing over it again last night in preparation for a talk that I'm going to be doing and it's a scathing review of funeral directors.
00:20:08
Speaker
It's written back in the 1960s and it's just a scathing review.
00:20:12
Speaker
And it's actually almost comical in certain points because it's like she expects funeral guys, she calls them, funeral men,
00:20:21
Speaker
to do everything for free.
00:20:23
Speaker
Now, granted back then the industry was a lot different and there is a lot of cowboys in the industry, like there's a lot of cowboys in every industry.
00:20:33
Speaker
100%.
00:20:33
Speaker
And I do think that unfortunately when they mess up it affects everybody.
00:20:38
Speaker
And trust as you pointed out at that point when a family is in and they're grieving the last thing they want to be thinking about is price but also one of the foremost things in their brain unfortunately is price because not everybody has a bottomless wallet.
00:20:54
Speaker
I do think it's important that people realize it's a business but I do also think it's important and it was one of the
00:21:01
Speaker
biggest bones of contention in my first book say farewell your way where funeral directors called me in ireland so i wrote a funeral planning book about funeral planning in ireland and i had a whole chapter on cost it was the only chapter that i got phone calls from funeral directors on and i couldn't to me that was just
00:21:22
Speaker
so disappointing because it should be about so much more than that.
00:21:27
Speaker
And what they were upset with me about was that I had put averages in there because that's all I could do because I was talking about the island of Ireland.
00:21:36
Speaker
And so what made me laugh was that they were upset that I had put averages in
00:21:42
Speaker
when they could be more expensive.
00:21:44
Speaker
And I said, well, as long as you can show why you're more expensive, the family might still choose you.
00:21:49
Speaker
I mean, I can see a handbag in JC Penney's for $5.
00:21:55
Speaker
I can see one in Chanel for $500.
00:21:56
Speaker
I'd even get...
00:21:59
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know where you're shopping.
00:22:00
Speaker
Anyway, you know where I'm going with it.
00:22:03
Speaker
So as long as, you know, you can make some sort of a reasoning as to why.
00:22:08
Speaker
Yeah.
00:22:09
Speaker
You know, it shouldn't be cloak and dagger.
00:22:10
Speaker
It shouldn't be all behind the like the Wizard of Oz.
00:22:13
Speaker
It shouldn't be like that.
00:22:14
Speaker
Yeah.
00:22:15
Speaker
And I think what you are doing is drawing back that curtain a little bit.
Future of Irene: Eco-friendly Options and Pre-planning
00:22:19
Speaker
There's two other points I want to touch on quickly before we go.
00:22:22
Speaker
This is for cremation only.
00:22:26
Speaker
What are your thoughts on all the other methods of body disposition?
00:22:30
Speaker
So we have composting, we have water cremation, or there's about 100 different names for that, unfortunately.
00:22:35
Speaker
And there are others coming down the road.
00:22:38
Speaker
What are your thoughts on it?
00:22:39
Speaker
And...
00:22:40
Speaker
would you embrace them in the future in terms of for what you do for Irene?
00:22:45
Speaker
Yeah, that's a good question.
00:22:46
Speaker
So on the topic of human composting, there's a name for it, but I can't remember what it was.
00:22:51
Speaker
I spoke to Katrina actually at Recompose a few months ago, and she's doing incredible work.
00:22:56
Speaker
I think that Canada is always way behind on innovation and new ideas.
00:23:03
Speaker
And so I think it will be quite some time before that comes to Canada and is legally allowed.
00:23:07
Speaker
I think it's only, is it only allowed in Washington in the U.S. right now?
00:23:11
Speaker
It's
00:23:12
Speaker
I believe so.
00:23:12
Speaker
I think she might have gotten a second state, actually.
00:23:15
Speaker
Okay.
00:23:15
Speaker
She could have gotten a second state.
00:23:17
Speaker
So I think, I mean, I think that's really interesting.
00:23:20
Speaker
I know, so in Ontario alone, we are allowed to do bio-cremation, so alkaline hydrolysis, or like you said, there's many words to it.
00:23:28
Speaker
I think there's about three providers that currently do it, so it's still relatively new.
00:23:32
Speaker
And then green burials, there's about, I think, four cemeteries.
00:23:36
Speaker
that currently offer that.
00:23:38
Speaker
And so for me, definitely starting with cremation, I think that as a society, we are going to become more eco-conscious or looking to find more eco-friendly options over the next 10, 20, 30 years.
00:23:51
Speaker
And we've had a lot of people reach out asking if we're going to offer those eventually.
00:23:55
Speaker
So definitely top of mind for me to expand our offerings.
00:24:00
Speaker
I likely, I mean, I should never say never,
00:24:03
Speaker
But I don't think that we'll ever get into like a traditional burial memorials.
00:24:07
Speaker
I don't think that that will be a part of our services, but I definitely want to expand in terms of more eco-friendly options because I think that's top of mind for a lot of people as they age.
00:24:18
Speaker
So to me, I think that...
00:24:21
Speaker
People should choose to do whatever they would like to do.
00:24:24
Speaker
And hopefully we can offer those services.
00:24:26
Speaker
And if not, I hope that we can point them in the direction of who would offer that for them.
00:24:31
Speaker
I think just because of my upbringing, I'm not
00:24:35
Speaker
Even I was speaking to someone about human composting the other day and they were like, what?
00:24:38
Speaker
Like, they were just so freaked out about it.
00:24:40
Speaker
And to me, it's just like, it's just like another day for me.
00:24:43
Speaker
Like I did a tour of a crematorium a few months ago and it was just, to me, I was just like, oh, this is really interesting because it's reality.
00:24:50
Speaker
That's the thing for me.
00:24:51
Speaker
This is reality.
00:24:53
Speaker
There are incredible people behind the scenes making this all happen.
00:24:57
Speaker
And I mean, even to your point about funeral directors, I have met so many incredible funeral directors who are,
00:25:03
Speaker
so good at their job like this is a very niche job to be in and an incredibly difficult job to be in and so i mean i have i have respect for everyone in the profession but i also think that people should choose whichever disposition method suits them and as long as they're planning for it and thinking about it way in advance that's my biggest i'm a big advocate for just thinking about it and putting those wishes in writing yeah just putting it in writing right
00:25:29
Speaker
yeah i think that's super important you and i have a have a lot in common then mallory yes that's one of my absolute i am such an advocate of free planning i've mine detailed out to the end i know what cocktails what food who's saying what everything and i mean i'm only 38 and i've had that done for 10 years so yeah that says a lot and i don't intend on going home anytime soon or you know yeah it's important
00:25:55
Speaker
You kind of touched on what I want to finish with, which is you are very similar in thought to me in that my big things are digital environment and pre-planning.
Sustainability Efforts and Conclusion
00:26:05
Speaker
Those are sort of three of my pillars that I focus on.
00:26:08
Speaker
And you incorporated the environment in the way that you could with Irene in that you plant five trees for each family that you get.
00:26:19
Speaker
That's incredible.
00:26:21
Speaker
I mean, tell me about that.
00:26:22
Speaker
That's incredible.
00:26:23
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:24
Speaker
So my background at my previous company, I spent the last year launching the Wealth Simple Foundation.
00:26:30
Speaker
And a big part of, I mean, I went to school for international development.
00:26:33
Speaker
So CSR and kind of ensuring that we are building a business within a mission, but also that gives back to society and to the environment is super important.
00:26:43
Speaker
And I'm very cognizant of the environmental impact that we have
00:26:48
Speaker
By by offering cremation.
00:26:51
Speaker
And so for me, it was a way to, I think, once again, like I said, give back to me, it's like significant of new life.
00:26:59
Speaker
And it's on behalf of the family.
00:27:01
Speaker
So it was interesting.
00:27:03
Speaker
I think to me, it was it was a no brainer.
00:27:05
Speaker
I think that.
00:27:06
Speaker
Canada has beautiful forests and I know that, like I said, the environment's on people's mind, right?
00:27:12
Speaker
So it was just like a small way that we felt like we could slightly offset our environmental impact.
00:27:17
Speaker
I say slightly because obviously...
00:27:20
Speaker
would be, would need a lot of trees to actually offset what we are doing, but, and kind of provide some type of thank you to families for choosing our services and, and, and making them feel like they can also give back by, by choosing Irene.
00:27:33
Speaker
That's where we're starting.
00:27:34
Speaker
I'm sure there's many other things that we can do in terms of kind of our corporate social responsibility initiatives, but planting a tree just, it felt, it felt right.
00:27:42
Speaker
It just, it felt really, really nice.
00:27:44
Speaker
Well, I think that is a beautiful way to end, wrap up this episode.
00:27:49
Speaker
And I think it's fantastic.
00:27:51
Speaker
I wish you all the best for the future with Irene.
00:27:54
Speaker
I will definitely be staying in touch and keeping a close eye and hopefully getting to Canada at some point.
00:27:59
Speaker
I've never actually been to Canada.
00:28:00
Speaker
It's so devastating.
00:28:01
Speaker
Oh my gosh.
00:28:02
Speaker
I know.
00:28:03
Speaker
No, you have to come.
00:28:03
Speaker
I definitely will.
00:28:05
Speaker
And so, yeah, the best of luck with it all.
00:28:07
Speaker
And we will definitely have you on the Glam Reaper again soon.
00:28:11
Speaker
Thank you so much for having me.
00:28:13
Speaker
No worries.
00:28:18
Speaker
Well, what did we think of that?
00:28:19
Speaker
How glam is Mallory?
00:28:21
Speaker
She's just so fab.
00:28:23
Speaker
She's definitely one of my favorite guests on the Glam Rupert podcast.
00:28:28
Speaker
But let us know if you've got any favorite guests that you want us to interview at glamrooperpodcast at gmail.com.
00:28:35
Speaker
And we'll talk to you soon.