For She Who Grieves: Practical Wisdom for Living Hope

Grief is painful. It hurts. Badly. We know.

What if we focused on grief as something that helps us grow wiser and more resilient?

What if we could embrace grief? At least hold its hand? Look at it closely? This is a book about good grief.

For She Who Grieves: Practical Wisdom for Living Hope is a collection of stories on the effects of grief and what comes next.

It’s about steps taken and the power and challenges that can be found on the road from sadness to joy, between grief and relief.

Whether you’re beginning your journey, well on your way, somewhere in between or even back again, there are ways to feel happy and be okay.

Whether you are the driver or a passenger, here you will find hope and connection.

This book is for the brave-hearted and open-minded.

This book is for she who grieves ... and believes in Joy.

"A must-read for anyone whose heart is open and willing to learn about loving their grief to heal their soul."

~PJ Jackson

"With wide-open honesty, vulnerability, and care, Amy and Holly accomplish the goal of bringing together both tenderness and tools for the grief, love, and hope in us all."

~Rachel Madorsky, LCSW

Author of How to Love Yourself in Less Than a Week and Also for the Rest of Your Life

"For She Who Grieves: Practical Wisdom for Living Hope compassionately and respectfully supports and activates the healing potential of others."

~Juliette Stapleton

Online Visibility Strategist, Marketing by Human Design Expert

Ms. Holly McIlwain, M.S., is the founder and chief cheerleader of the Brave Women Project. As an author, Holly dreams of telling stories that matter. Her first book, For She Who Leads: Practical Wisdom from a Woman Who Serves, was published in 2020. She also is a contributing author in the anthology Twenty Won: 21 Female Entrepreneurs Share Their Stories of Business Resilience During a Global Crisis, which is an Amazon bestseller and was published in April of 2021. Professionally, Holly leads the Talent Development platform at Winner Partners. She is a subject-matter expert in the usage of behavior assessments as part of coaching and development plans, in addition to talent acquisition engagements. As a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach, working with individuals and organizations to build a better world and sustainable business solutions is her passion. What's not exciting about that? This enthusiasm comes with Holly into each coaching session, team workshop, search opportunity, and speaking engagement. It carries right over into the Brave Women Project. Nothing excites Holly more than inspiring women to do brave things.Developing leaders who change lives is Holly's passion and professional purpose. She has studied and written about topics such as leadership and mission, bravery in business, and managing human relationships. As a recognized subject matter expert, Holly has spoken at numerous conferences and on Sirius XM Radio. She holds an advanced degree in Organizational Leadership from Robert Morris University and is certified as a DISC Behavior Analyst and a Driving Forces Behavior Analyst. After studying with Pittsburgh Leadership Foundation, she invested her time and professionalism in the Pittsburgh region, consistently seeking ways to challenge leaders to become fully engaged in transformation. In 2020 she served as Pittsburgh Leadership Foundation faculty and became a DDI-certified facilitator. Holly is an expert in the value of dynamic onboarding as part of the foundation for fully engaged employees and was the director of human resources and talent management at Robert Morris University. Currently, she is lending those talents to her undergraduate alma mater, Franciscan University.Holly invests herself to expand the reach of those organizations she serves and has a long record of engagement in the region. Holly functioned as a lead consultant in organizational management and leadership development for one of the largest nonprofits in the world and spent 15 years in the nonprofit sector. Recruiting and developing the talent pool for the nonprofit sector soon led her to engage as a full-time consultant and director of leadership development and talent acquisition for a local firm.Holly has worked with and served on the boards of directors for foundations and nonprofits and continues to be a frequent speaker and trainer on topics of leadership and living at universities, churches, conferences, and workshops. Holly created her own high-impact not-for-profit to engage even more organizations through the people who lead them. She and her husband, Kevin, are raising two young boys and residing in the greater Pittsburgh, Pa., area.

Ms. Amy Hooper Hanna serves as a coach, trainer and consultant in employee communication, people engagement and leadership effectiveness. She consulted with Fortune 500 and Fortune 1000 companies in organization effectiveness and communications for more than a decade in a leading human capital firm in Washington D.C., then spent another decade with a leading talent management firm, assessing corporate client leadership behavior and providing developmental feedback. ​She established her own independent entity, Amy Hooper Hanna & Associates (AhHA!), which started as a strategic employee research consultancy for employee engagement, retention, communications and marketing projects, and has since shifted the focus to leadership coaching, making people-leadership easier with practical wisdom that works. As a strategist, researcher, communicator and coach, she takes an approach in life and business of asking questions and listening closely, and creating "ah ha!" moments for people that generate positive momentum. ​Noted for being unflappable in the face of life's constant blows, grace (ha!) under pressure, and seeing the humor in the most absurdly horrible, Amy encourages taking a leap of faith, trusting oneself and life, while questioning it too. She created the work flexibility she needs to responsibly be who she wants, and continues to take risks to consciously carve out the "shoulds" and commit to what feels intuitively and intellectually right and light, to live a life of meaning and positive, personal impact. Having experienced her own personal transformation through grief, she knows the power of hearing people's stories in helping hopelessness. With family roots in writing and publishing, Amy is proud to produce a first book!