The Muldowney story
Carrying the Irish Wake Across the Atlantic
I grew up in Dublin, Ireland with a relationship with death that I did not realize was unique until I moved away.
In Ireland, death is woven into the fabric of life. We gather. We tell stories. We make tea. Lots of tea. And ham sandwiches. Can't forget them. We laugh at memories we probably shouldn’t laugh at, and we cry over the ones we never want to forget. The Irish wake teaches us: a farewell should honor a life as well as acknowledge the loss.
Before I ever imagined working in the funeral industry, my background was in hospitality, events, and marketing. I loved creating experiences and bringing people together. But after experiencing 'modern' funerals, I began to question why we put so much thought and personality into weddings, birthdays, and other milestones, yet so many people felt overwhelmed when trying to create a meaningful final farewell for someone they loved.
In 2008, I founded Farewell Funeral Planners in Ireland, bringing my event experience into the world of funerals and helping families create more personal goodbyes. I never set out to work in deathcare. Eventually, that journey brought me to America.
Like many Irish people before me, I arrived with big dreams, a suitcase full of ideas, and absolutely no clue what was ahead. America challenged me in wild ways, surprised me in wilder ways, and gave me room to grow like I never had before. The things I thought might make me stand out, my Irish humor, directness, storytelling, and willingness to talk openly about death, became the things that shaped my career.
I rebranded to Muldowney Memorials in NYC and expanded into other markets both nationally and internationally, and continued my mission to change how people think about funerals, grief, and remembrance. Along the way, the British media gave me the nickname “The Glam Reaper.” It stuck, mostly because it makes people smile, but also because it opens the door to conversations people usually avoid which now take place on my podcast of the same name.
My work has never been about making death glamorous. It has always been about showing that conversations about death are really conversations about life.
Today, I am an author, speaker, educator, and memorial planner helping families create celebrations of life across America and beyond. I have had the privilege of sharing my message on stages including TEDx, where I spoke about grief being as unique as our heartbeat, and I continue to train others to bring more personality, creativity, and humanity into deathcare.
No matter where this journey takes me, Ireland is always at the heart of it and features in so many of my presentations, especially in March and October!
Ireland gave me the storytelling, the humor, and the understanding that remembering someone well matters. America gave me the space to take those traditions and build something new.
To me, being Irish is about what you carry with you: the stories, the people, the laughter, the resilience, the hospitality and the ability to find connection in every chapter of life.
I crossed an ocean, but I am still doing something deeply rooted in where I came from.
Gathering people together.
Sharing stories.
And helping make sure every life is remembered as uniquely as it was lived.