Celebrate Good Lives: The Podcast
A funeral podcast which dives into all aspects of the funeral industry in New Zealand and abroad. With two qualified funeral directors who care little for the old school mentality of we tell you what you can and cant do, lets leave that to you and we will give you the tools to empower the celebration of a good life!
Ep 35: 30 Years of Funeral Service - What's Changed?
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Today is special, i interviewed Dean Weber on 30 years of funeral service. We covered all aspects of his time, his study, the changes and what he is grateful for.
Ep 34: Are funerals expensive?
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Welcome to 2025, today we discuss the curly one, are funerals expensive? We share our experiences and some justification on the matter. Thanks for joining us!
Ep 33: Death Positivity
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Today we chat about death positivity, the language we use to help be more positive about the death journey, the personalization of a funeral and starting the grief journey well.
Ep 32: Halloween 2024
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All tings Halloween, funeral ghosts, dreams, nightmares and the word FUNERAL.
Ep 31: Marketing - How do you market a funeral home?
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Today with special guest Cherie Stevenson from Stellar Creative Marketing we dive into the dynamics of how to market a funeral home, where to start, what things work and what doesn't.
Ep 30: Digital Legacy
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Do you know what happens to your Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn when you die? Neither did we! So today we share what we learnt and how you can plan for this.
Ep 29: Funeral Costs - What does a funeral actually cost?
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Today we dive into the sticky one, funeral costs! ewwww.. always a difficult one, but one that needs to be addressed. Lets dive in!
Ep 28: DIY - Do's and Dont's
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The Do's and Dont's of DIY, controversial? Yes. We chat through what we see as value, what DIY can do for you and what to avoid when DIYing!
Ep 27: End of Life Care Practitioner Michael Harrington
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Today we are joined by End of Life Practitioner Michael Harrington who has been working in this space for almost 20 years. He shares some insights to his learnings that he has shared in his book Conscious Transition: A Journey into the Heart of Death & Dying. Michael has some great takeaways for the listeners in this episode!
Ep 26: Personal Grief Journey - Ali from Align and Nourish
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We sit down with Ali from Align and Nourish to chat about her own personal grief journey. Ali was very open, vulnerable and has been diligent in her healing process. She had some great learnings and takeaways to consider when losing a loved one.
Ep 25: Memorable Moments
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This episode looks into the memorable moments of our careers, the funerals that have stuck in our minds, the things that make you smile, the moments that glisten and most of all the achievements of creating a memorable farewell!
Ep 24: International Views Pt 3
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The last of the catch up with Craig, Ben and Jordan on their overseas trip.
Ep 23: International Views - with Craig Caldwell, Ben Whitworth and Jordan Goss PT2
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Today Dean sits down with international embalmers Craig Caldwell (US) Ben Whitworth (UK) and Jordan Goss (NZEA) to discuss embalming and international funeral trends.
Ep 22: International Views - with Craig Caldwell, Ben Whitworth and Jordan Goss PT1
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Today Dean sits down with international embalmers Craig Caldwell (US) Ben Whitworth (UK) and Jordan Goss (NZEA) to discuss embalming and international funeral trends.
Ep 21: Lets Catch Up
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Woaaaaaaah, been a busy few weeks with guests, lets draw back the curtain and catch up.
Ep 20: with Glenys Talivai from Public Trust
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Today we catch up with Glenys Talivai who is the CEO of Public Trust New Zealand. We yarn today about wills, estates and everything we need to prepare for after death to administer an estate. A super interesting podcast with some wicked takeaways!
Ep 19: Embalming Pt 3 - With Jordan Goss
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Our third and last part of the series with Jordan Goss from the New Zealand Embalmers Association. A massive thank you to Jordan for his time and sharing of knowledge around embalming being the "gold standard" in funeral care.
Ep 18: Embalming Pt 2 - With Special Guest Jordan Goss
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The second part of our embalming series with special guest Jordan Goss - President of New Zealand Embalmers Association.
Ep 17: Embalming Pt 1 - Special Guest Jordan Goss
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The first part of our embalming series with special guest Jordan Goss - President of New Zealand Embalmers Association. We discuss the pre embalming and starting of embalming in this podcast. The first of a three part series.
Ep 16: Things to know about the process
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News story of the week, the week in sport and our topic of the day being what do you need to know when it comes to someone who is about to die and how can you prepare.
Ep 15: What's the hype around burials?
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News story of the week, followed by a yarn on burials, natural burials, burials at sea and our thoughts on everything burial related.
Ep 14: Summer - Whats the Plan?
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Fun one today talking news story of the week, summer, sport and everything inbetween!
Ep 13: Expected Vs Unexpected - What to expect?
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The boys today discuss what to expect when someone dies expectedly and unexpectedly. The coroner, the pathologist, the mortuary technician and everything in-between.
Ep 12: The FUN in FUNeral
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We talk about how we think you can put the FUN in FUNeral. A fun way to really make those funerals that are bland and boring more interesting and what would we do to help?
Ep 11: What to do with ashes?
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Today we chat about ashes, what you can do with them, how they come back to you, what you can buy for them and ways in which you can memorialize loved ones. There's even a little challenge in here! Cheers!
Ep 10: 10 things to do before we die!
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We get personal on this one, 10 things we want to do before we die! Also our weekly news round-up story that caught our attention + some cool learnings here!
Ep 9: Music - Whats your funeral song?
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We have the film crew in today and we discuss music, what songs are common, what songs are popular now, what was popular back in the 90's and 2000's. Listen in, a few good laughs!
Ep 8: NZ VS USA VS AUS - How is the industry different?
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We have special guest Hayley Waugh on the podcast today sharing her knowledge of the funeral industry in Australia along with Brad and Dean. We talk cremations, burials, coroners and everything in between!
EP 7: I Don't Want a Funeral
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The rise of I don't want a funeral is taking over the funeral industry, so we discuss the value of a funeral and what you can do to take a funeral from no fuss to beautiful without changing the wishes of a person!
EP 6: A Day In The Life
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We get into a personal description of what a day in the life of Brad & Dean looks like here in Whakatane, New Zealand.
EP 5: Education: How do i get into the funeral industry?
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We get into what you need to know about education and how to land a job in a funeral home both in the USA and NZ.
Ep 4: Hearses, Cars and what else?
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We get right into the conversation of hearses (not hursts), funeral vehicles, not funeral vehicles and what is the future of funeral vehicles?
Creativity - How to create the perfect event.
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This podcast dives into how to create the perfect commemoration event for your loved one, our experiences with creating these and what you should do.
Ep 2: Rites and Rituals
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Welcome back to Ep 2, where we dive into the different rites and rituals of different cultures and religious groups when it comes to how they grieve and what they do when it comes to their celebration of a life.
Ep 1: Introduction to Us
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We talk about our backgrounds in funeral service and a bit about what you can expect from the only funeral podcast coming out of NZ. Lock it in!
