Episode #92
What Nobody Tells You About Grief And Loss with Ariana Lavelli
Ariana Lavelli is a Solutions Engineer at Slack (Salesforce), where she helps small businesses spot the gaps in how they work and match them to the right tech. She holds a bachelor's and master's degree in Accounting (with a minor in Spanish) from Binghamton University, and got her start at KPMG before making the jump to tech. The real turning point came in 2023, when Ariana became her mother's primary caregiver after a terminal diagnosis. After her mom passed, Ariana became the family's default executor, which meant she was the one untangling probate, estate admin, and all the family dynamics that grief blows wide open. Unexpectedly, she lost several more people close to her in quick succession, and learned some uncomfortable lessons firsthand and more than once. So on the two-year anniversary of her mom's death, Ariana started Light & Ari, a grief and end-of-life support company built to fill that experience gap for others. It's meant to be practical, unglamorous help for grievers and executors, delivered with the same whimsy and warmth her mom always brought to everything. Right now, Light & Ari is launching an Etsy shop of curated goods for the grief-stricken and the people who love them, with plans to grow into full-service support: legacy planning, document organization, probate guidance, trust funding, estate and home sales, memorial planning, the whole thing. Ariana is building it out of Brooklyn alongside her corporate career, with an eye toward going full-time early next year. Connect with Ariana Lavelli Website → https://thelightandari.com/ Etsy Shop → https://www.etsy.com/shop/LightandAriShop LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/arianalavelli/ Email → hello@thelightandari.com The Light and Ari Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/thelightandari/ Connect with Naomi Haile: Website → https://www.naomihaile.com/ Sign up to my Newsletter → https://powerofwhy.kit.com/57ca5180df Purchase the Purpose Canvas to ensure your dreams have an action plan → https://naomiahaile.gumroad.com/l/purposecanvas LOOKING FOR A SPECIFIC GEM? 00:00 Welcome and Ariana's story 06:00 Growing up in Yonkers and how travel shaped her view of community 09:25 Why third places matter, and why they're disappearing 10:20 How Ariana turned her own rooftop into a community space 13:01 AI, isolation, and the human need for connection 16:32 The "reverse centaur": what happens when AI takes the helm 20:05 Helping businesses separate AI FOMO from actual need 24:36 When grief breaks the optimization mindset 27:03 "There's no scorecard to life" 32:14 Why "How can I help?" may be the wrong question 38:31 The two deaths of a person: physical death and the death of memory 42:57 How losing her mother changed Ariana's relationship with work and money 46:12 Wills, trusts, healthcare preferences, and legacy conversations 55:45 From professional organizing to Light and Ari 59:12 Building a concierge for the logistical side of loss 1:01:59 The vision: from Etsy shop to a physical third place for grievers
