Leslie's husband, Steve, died of cancer on June 21, 2015 – the longest day of the year became the worst day of her life. Now, Leslie is channeling her grief and corporate experience into something that helps businesses, Grief Warrior - a company that helps managers and leaders build the skills to support employees through grief and transition. Leslie also offers team coaching, 1:1 coaching, and corporate sympathy gifts called Heartfelt. 

Additionally, Leslie Barber is a community strategist, builder, and entrepreneur with 15+ years of experience launching businesses and creating human-centered experiences for high-growth brands. She most recently served as Director of Customer Community & Advocacy at BILL and previously led growth initiatives at BetterUp and Intuit QuickBooks. 

Leslie holds an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and a BA from Scripps College in Claremont, CA. She is an ICF-certified professional coach and a trained, paid speaker. Her course about grief on LinkedIn Learning has almost 200K learners. 

www.agriefwarrior.com

After 20 years in corporate leadership, primarily as a Starbucks executive, Michelle turned to a career in thanatology - the study of death, dying, and bereavement. This pivot followed a lifelong experience of close personal losses, navigated while managing a demanding career.

She is the founder of On Grief and Death LLC, through which she offers education and consulting, and an adjunct faculty member at Marian University, where she created and teaches the first course of its kind on the role of technology in the modern experiences of death, dying, and grief.

In addition to her Master of Science in thanatology from Marian University, Michelle holds an MBA from The University of Texas at Austin and a BS from University of Richmond.

www.ongriefanddeath.com