AKILAH S. RICHARDS & THEA MONYEE
Tending Grief & Centering Joy as Unschoolers
Akilah and Thea introduce Bringing Flowers, a collaboration that invites us to recognise and tend to grief as it shows up in our lives, so we can also be open to joy.
Akilah S. Richards is a grief educator, savor coach, and cultural strategist who supports people through life’s shifts and losses. Rooted in unschooling and community care, her work invites us to slow down, honor endings, and listen for what still wants to live—trading urgency and performance for presence and truth-telling. For over a decade, Akilah was a leading voice in the global unschooling movement, helping families reclaim autonomy, question hierarchy, and build consent-based relationships. That legacy of liberation now lives through her grief and joy work, where she invites us to trade performance for presence and urgency for rhythm. She is the creator of *What I Let Die*, a public service podcast on grief literacy, and co-creator of *Bringing Flowers*, a collaborative offering with Thea Monyeé that explores the sacred interplay between grief and joy.
Collect Akilah's FreebieThea Monyeé embodies, advocates for, and teaches humans how to embrace Joy & Change in their daily lives. From podcasting to diving, she uses diverse mediums to demonstrate the power of these two forces, and offers a hand to those willing to engage the journey! She defines JOY as every living thing’s innate and inextricable birthright, to choose at any moment, what brings them the maximum experience of aliveness they desire—without abusing or dehumanizing others. Her JOY mission seeks to ensure every human being understands their JOY is a birthright, and can be engaged using the following four pillars: Joy Curiosity, Joy Experiences, Joy Politics, and Joy Culture. This work is rooted in our belief that joy can be used as a powerful metric for aliveness.
