We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Myra Sack. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Myra below.

Myra, appreciate you joining us today. Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.

My life changed when my older daughter, Havi, was diagnosed with a fatal neurodegenerative disease in December 2019. Havi died on January 20, 2021 of Tay-Sachs disease.

At the time of Havi’s diagnosis, I held an MBA in Social Impact from Boston University, and graduated with a B.A. cum laude from Dartmouth College, where I captained the women’s soccer team and earned All-America honors. I devoted over a dozen years to youth serving nonprofits, including serving as Chief Program and Strategy Officer at Squashbusters, Inc. and leading program development across Latin America for Soccer Without Borders. E-Motion, Inc., evolved out of a new way of living with the most difficult reality, blending my lived experience and knowledge as a certified Compassionate Bereavement Care provider with my lifelong identity as an athlete and career in social impact.

“Fifty-Seven Fridays: Losing Our Daughter Finding Our Way,” is the memoir I wrote to honor Havi’s life and share the magic of community to sustain us.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

E-Motion, Inc. is on a mission to change the way the world interacts with grieving people.

We are a movement that is led by grievers, for grievers. We offer programs for grieving individuals through a gently guided 10 week movement-based experience. We train facilitators who work directly with grieving people to increase connection and coping through movement, ritual and community. This experience can also be found through our audio-series called Rx to Feel on soundcloud or insight timer.

E-Motion, Inc. also provides grief literacy education and training for organizations, teams and communities who want to take a grief-informed approach to care. Learners are equipped with accessible language, content, and tools to integrate the E-Motion approach into their lives, organizations, companies, and communities. Topics include: Enhancing emotional literacy, increasing coping and connection, navigating heartbreaking situations, and showing up for self and others.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

Learning to listen with generosity and developing a daily practice that is restorative.

If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?

This is a very emotionally charged question, which is why I am leaning into it. I would do anything, truly, to have Havi on this earth and have her be healthy. And so, if I could go back and correct the physician’s ordering error, and have Havi without Tay-Sachs, I’d never choose this profession!

And yet, it is nearly impossible to “unsee” all the gaps in grief support now that I’ve lived it. I’ve met and been inspired and moved by so many incredible grieving parents, siblings, spouses that it’s hard to imagine a world without this kind of depth and meaning.

Perhaps this is a non-answer and yet it is my honest one!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.emotion-mc.org
• Instagram: weare_emotion
• Linkedin: myra-sack