What Happens When a Wedding Planner Enters the Funeral Industry?

Jennifer Muldowney, internationally recognized as "The Glam Reaper," brings a fresh perspective to modern memorial planning through deeply personal, culturally inclusive, and environmentally conscious end-of-life experiences. Her journey from wedding planner to funeral celebrant began after losing two young friends, inspiring her to reimagine how we commemorate lives.

Jennifer Muldowney

• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheGlamReaperMuldowney
• Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/muldowneymemorials
• Email: glamreaperpodcast@gmail.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifermuldowney/

• Founder of Muldowney Memorials, working in the funeral space for over 16 years
• Describes herself as "a wedding planner but for funerals" and "the best friend you never wanted to need"
• Nicknamed "The Glam Reaper" by British media, embraces the moniker for public speaking while maintaining a more gentle approach with grieving families
• TEDx speaker known for her talk "Grief as unique as your heartbeat"
• Transitioned from wedding planning after questioning traditional funeral practices when an atheist friend received a standard church service
• Balances a compassionate, space-holding approach with families alongside her more dynamic public persona
• Featured by major media outlets including the BBC, Fox News, and The Guardian
• Bridges generational and cultural gaps in funeral services through empathy, innovation, and design

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Transcript

Introduction to Friends from Wild Places

Voiceover 0:03

Tales from the Wild. Stories from the Heart. A journey into the mind and soul of fire business professionals where they share their vision for the future. And hear from a different nonprofit organization every month as they create awareness of their goals and their needs. Dive into a world of untamed passion. As we join our host, Shireen Botha, for this month's episode of Friends from Wild Places.

ShireenBotha 0:35

Alright, welcome back, Shireen here, your virtual Boutique bookkeeper and QuickBooks advisor. What's the secret recipe for mastering bookkeeping? It's more than just numbers and spreadsheets, it's precision, passion, and personalization. At Shireen's Bookkeeping Services, we mix more than just numbers and spreadsheets. And uh we definitely have expert insights with cutting-edge technology to serve you perfectly. From organized ledgers to tax strategies, we're with you every step of the way. Unlock your business potential, discover the difference with tailored bookkeeping solutions that work for you. Go check me out at www.shireens bookkeeping.com and allow me to keep your books clean so you don't have to. Shireen's Bookkeeping Services, your bookkeeper for the future. Yes, welcome back. You are listening to Friends from Wild Places with myself Shireen, your host, and my amazing co-host, Tanya Scotece. Hello, Tanya. How are you doing?

TanyaScotece 1:44

Hello, Shireen. Super excited for our podcast this morning. And uh yeah, things are great in Miami. Uh, just super busy with expert witness testimony. It's like my LinkedIn is blowing up. So been asked to do many workshops on it. So that's what I'm doing here. But super excited this morning for our guest. And um, but I do want to give a shout out for Friends from Wild Places podcast. For those of you that are new to listen to us, you can also view the actual recording with video on YouTube. And we do have extra bonus content available. So for as little as $5 a month, you can subscribe to any of the raw edited material and or I should say unedited material and any topic that you want us to dive deeper to. So we do have a subscription, but share with your friends, colleagues. Uh, we've had a lot of interesting guests over the past uh how many years we've been doing this, Shireen. It's been what? It's almost coming to a couple years, a couple years. So monthly podcasts. So subscribe to our bonus content if you haven't done so already.

ShireenBotha 2:49

Thank you so much. Yeah, listeners. Um yeah, Tanya saying the side's crazy busy. Uh just getting ready to pack my bags and leave for Portugal in less than a few weeks. So it's crazy this out in South Africa. But I am excited for the journey. Um, gonna be uh in Portugal and Spain for about three months. So uh we can get into that on one of our um bonus content materials if you want to, but for now, please go and three months? That's a long time. Three months going for October, November, and December. So I'll be back early January.

TanyaScotece 3:29

Wow, that's exciting! Good for you, good for you.

ShireenBotha 3:34

We've got lots to catch up on, so we'll definitely have to chat about that. Um, but yeah, so it's just five dollars. This is really something that Tony and I really thoroughly enjoyed. We don't get paid for it, we give it for fun. It's a great networking tool for us to really meet some fantastic people, like the very guest we have on our show today. This is Jennifer Meldoni. We're so excited to introduce her. She is an internationally recognized voice in modern memorial planning and the evolving deathcare space. As founder of Moldoni Memorials, she has spent over a decade creating deeply personal, culturally inclusive, and environmentally conscious end-of-life experiences for families across the globe. Nicknamed the Glam Reaper by British Media, we need to know more about that. Jennifer brings a fresh and approachable perspective to grief and remembrance. Her work has been featured by outlets like the BBC, Fox News, and The Guardian. She is the host of the Glam Reaper podcast and the TEDx speaker known for her talk, Grief as unique as your heartbeat. Jennifer is a passionate about bridging generational and cultural gaps in funeral service through empathy, innovation, and design. Whether she's training celebrants, consulting with funeral homes, or speaking in industry events, she invites us to rethink how we honor life and why it matters. So we're so excited to have you, Jennifer. Thank you for coming on the show this month.

JenniferMuldowney 5:17

Hello, ladies. Thank you so much for having me. It's an honor. Oh my gosh, where are you from, Jennifer? So I all the accents are on this call. Uh I am originally from Ireland, Dublin in Ireland, but I'm living in the US at the moment. So yeah. We're covering all the continents. Well, not all of them, but that is so cool.

Meet Jennifer Meldoni, The Glam Reaper

ShireenBotha 5:39

Well, so glad to have you on the show with us, Jennifer. Um, we're looking forward to diving deeper into who you are, uh, your name, the glam reaper, where did it come from, and all sorts of other wonderful questions. But we'd love to just start the podcast with the quote of the day, right? We love to just have an inspirational quote for ourselves, our listeners for the month. We can ponder on it, we can act on it, we can use it. Um, it's all about inspiration, which is Tanya's adjective. So we want to inspire. Uh, so the quote that Jennifer brought to us for the month is you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is even if we're apart, I'll always be with you. Jennifer, who quoted that?

JenniferMuldowney 6:35

One of my favorite poets in the whole world, um, Winnie the Pooh. I love it. It actually, it's it's it's very interesting that quote um for me personally. Um, so as a celebrant, I get to know, you know, I'm reading a lot of books and I'm reading, you know, getting to know a lot of poets, and whether it's modern ones and old ones, and because every family I meet uh, you know, wants different uh so I have a plethora of a whole library of poems, but that one just strikes uh a chord with me. And I actually used it when I launched my book back in Ireland, my first book back in Ireland over 10 years ago, and it I had journalists come up to me afterwards and say that it brought tears to their eyes because it's just such a beautiful sentiment in its totality to leave as your last image or last sort of words to your loved ones, you know, that you will always be with them, but that they have to be strong and be brave and and all the all the things, and that they are, you know. So it's very important.

Quote of the Day: Winnie the Pooh

True Crime Discussion: The Adelson Case

ShireenBotha 7:41

I love that, I love that so much. Um, I think it's so special, especially now, and we've just been seeing so many unnecessary deaths and murders, and just wives and kids losing their fathers at such a young age. So yeah, it's it's a hard thing to deal with death, definitely. Um, especially ones, you know, your loved ones. Um but yes, we're going to start the podcast with our true crime, ladies and gentlemen. You know, Tanya and myself are absolutely passionate and we love true crime. We watch all the YouTube channels, we are there, eyes are glued onto the screens just to see all these current uh true crimes that are happening, the true trials that are going on um as we speak. Some of them are really interesting, some of them not so much that catches our eyes, but some of the ones that we bring on the show are particularly ones that we know we we specifically wanted to chat about. And so um this one, listeners, is is quite a family-oriented one, which is makes it a little bit more juicier because it's not often you have the whole family that's planned a murder. But um so I don't know if any of you know this. I'm gonna give you some of the details, but my ultimate question for us to discuss, ladies, is whether we actually think Wendy Adelson has anything to do with the plot to murder her ex-husband. Now, the trial was about Donna Adelson, which is Wendy's mother. Okay, so stay with me here. So Donna is Wendy's mother, and she was found guilty um and was convicted of first-degree murder for orchestrating the 2014 murder for hire of her former son-in-law Dan Markel, a Florida law professor, to resolve a contentious custody battle and financial issues stemming from the couple's divorce. She was found guilty after a trial that revealed the wealthy Adelson family's involvement in a long-running plot, which included attempts to relocate the children and fund the assassination plot. And she was arrested in 2023 after her son's conviction in the same scheme. So, key details of this whole thing really is obviously the victims being Dan Macal. The crime is obviously Markel was shot and killed in a murder for hire plot in 2014. The plot's origin, prosecutors alleged Jonna Adelson masterminded the murder to address issues related to the custody and relocation of her grandchildren and to resolve financial problems stemming from her daughter's marriage to Markel. The Adelson family's involvement. So basically the case revealed a pattern of behavior where the wealthy and they're wealthy, I mean, what are they doing here? Just divorce, go on and live your lives. I don't understand why you're going after Markel, but anyway. Um so where the wealthy Adelson family allegedly tried to resolve the custody dispute through various means, including bribery and threats against Markel, Donna Adelson's son, Charlie Adelson, was deeply involved in the logistics and funding of the plot and was convicted for his role in the murder. So the arrest and trial, they were obviously uh Donna was arrested. Charlie is convicted as well. And what happened was Donna and her husband attempted to flee the country on rush visas to vi Vietnam, um, a country without an extradition agreement with the US. So this is quite interesting. Um, but I guess, you know, ultimately, you know, anything for children, huh? So if you'd want to try and manipulate things to uh end up better for you, you want to try and I mean it's almost like stealing the children wasn't an option, or hijacking or child abduction wasn't an option. So instead of abducting the children, they decided to murder the father. What? Anyway, so crazy, but yeah, so the daughter, which is the ex-wife, Wendy. Do you think she actually had anything to do with this? Jennifer, you want to go?

JenniferMuldowney 12:20

You're asking me, okay. Um, so I only briefly looked at this while I was mid-flight from state to state um uh between conventions. Um and I listen, I am I'm not as I don't think a deep diver uh into these things as you guys. Um, and I actually you you intrigued me because um I used to love, I absolutely love true crime growing up, and I just I think maybe because being in the funeral space, you know, you see enough that I'm like now now I kind of find that I either watch girly flicks or you know, I don't kind of get into real life because I'm like, no, no, no, I'd like to check out for a little bit. But my thought on all of this is, and I've kind of held this for a while, is women are not stupid. I'm sorry, women are not stupid, and we are the amount of women I know, whether it's friends or people I hear about who say, Oh, I didn't know he was cheating, or I didn't know, or I this came out of the blue, or whatever. I'm like, I don't believe that. I think we are so intuitive that like we have brain and gut that talk to each other. I'm a firm believer in that that I feel like you know. So even if she wasn't actively a part of it, I feel like she knew about it and she was she either turned a blind eye or uh yeah, I don't believe that there was absolutely nothing in no. I just I I think also women again, you know, this isn't to disparage men or anything, but I do think a lot of things in the world that we think men are at in control of or are in charge of. I think women are the ultimate masterminds behind it, whether it's the mom or the wife, just leaving you know a few words here and there. Um, yeah, I do. I think we're a lot there's yeah.

ShireenBotha 14:11

Yeah.

JenniferMuldowney 14:12

So I think absolutely. I'm not the professional.

ShireenBotha 14:16

You go, no, I mean, nor am I. He has he has little me. And the more the professional one is Tanya here.

TanyaScotece 14:25

What do you think?

JenniferMuldowney 14:26

You need to hear from the expert.

TanyaScotece 14:28

Well, so this, you know, it's interesting because this crime resonated on so many levels. First of all, um, where the actual like they lived up in uh Tallahassee, you know, outside of Tallahassee or in that area. So my daughter actually went to Florida State University, which is where he was working as a law professor and got killed. And um, their residence is literally like 20 minutes from me um here, so where they actually live. So I was I followed the case uh pretty intensely, not the first one, not with the the son that was convicted, but with the recent, with the mom. Um, I, you know, definitely, I would say as a behavior um analyst, I would say her Wendy's um her whole demeanor, even on the witness stand, um, it's just it's um, I believe there's more to the story. I think there's more that meets the eye. And um, you know, as you said, Shireen, it's like, you know, the rest of the world, people just get divorced and move on and you know, whatever. But I mean, you know, you're talking an affluent family on so many levels. I mean, both education, monetary, you know, abundance to have to resort to murder where now you're in prison. Like, I don't know, but they're not alone. There's a lot of people that end up in that, you know, track. So yeah, I just um I've watched it. Um, I've seen some recaps, even um expert behavior analysts that have actually um, you know, dissected Wendy's demeanor on the witness stand. And yeah, I don't think, you know, it's so that another thing that's interesting is how much, you know, is one sharing about their own life? If nobody knew, then nobody would be committing murder, you know. So it's like how much is disclosed about their ins and outs to have somebody take action, right? Even if it's her own mom or brother for that matter.

ShireenBotha 16:10

Yes, absolutely. It sounds like the whole family knew all the details of what was going on. You know how family is, it's like they don't want they want to defend each other till the very end, you know, and we always joke about these memes that we see on TikTok or whatever, where the person speaks to their family member. You can't ask any questions, I just need you and dress up in a disguise, bring a bat, and don't ask any questions, and we're gonna go, you know, and it's all about obviously killing someone and doing away with the body, but it's always a joke. But in fact, in fact, you have members of the family that obviously will do anything for you know, your daughter, your son, mom, dad, you know. So I think what's your take, Shereen? What's your take on it? Uh honestly, I I I think there's no way is that there's clearly stirring each other's emotions up by sharing all the details of the case that's going on for sure she had a part of it. Or she just knew about it. There's no way she did not know that your your mum and dad knowingly and brother was full-on in a plan to kill your ex-husband, that you're busy going through a very contentious divorce, and there's children involved. Don't don't believe it for a second. That's all I'm saying. Love it. Thank you, thank you guys. We're gonna swiftly move on. Um, Jennifer, let us know, let ourselves and the listeners know a little bit about who you are and your background, you know?

Jennifer's Journey into the Funeral Industry

Closing Remarks and Next Episode Teaser

JenniferMuldowney 17:52

Yeah, so uh hello again. Um, so my name's Jennifer. I am originally from Ireland, from Dublin and Ireland, but I'm living in the US. I am currently between New York and Florida, which is where I met the gorgeous Tanya. And we actually had her on my podcast. It was a great and interesting episode that people adored. Um, shockingly, not really, she's so lovely. Um, but I am working in the funeral space now for over 16 years. Uh, I am not a funeral director, I am not a death doula. Those are two things that often cross my desk, and I am neither of those. Um, what I am is I am a funeral celebrant, which is like a priest but not a priest, or a rabbi, but not a rabbi. So somebody who officiates a funeral service. And I am a wedding planner, but for funerals. That's the easiest way for me to describe it. So I'm like an event planner that works in the funeral space. So I used to be um 16 years ago, I was in the wedding and party planning um space back in Ireland. I had my own business, and then two friends of mine passed away, and they were both very young. One was only 23 and one was 28. And it was in a short space of time that they they both went and actually had the exact same nickname, which was kind of crazy. Um, but it just just watching their families go through it, watching my best friends um grieve their siblings, and then also they had been my friends too, so I was dealing with a lot of layers of grief, um, but also witnessing something that I'd never kind of really experienced before. Uh, and in Ireland we do funerals really well. We don't do death well. I want to clarify that we do funerals really well. So, what evolved from that for me was uh I did what most millennials do, I guess. I went, you know, and I went Googling and I thought, well, if I wanted to plan my own funeral, you know, what do I want to do? Because here we were sitting in a church and one of them was atheist, and that's just what we do in Ireland. We go to the local funeral director and we go to the local church. There's no questions, you know, asked. Um, and so I just thought, like, what would I want? And that's sort of how it started. And it snowballed from there. My first book came out. Um, I did a 10x talk. I then eventually moved to the US after kind of coming back and forth to a lot of conventions over here because the business, the funeral business over here is very different to Ireland. Ireland has changed since, and I'd like to think I'm a part of that. Um, you know, I've regularly been on TV and radio and in various different media back home, which is how I got the gorgeous name of the glam reaper. Oh God. I mean, listen, I embrace it now at this point, but I'm not gonna lie, there are times, especially when I'm at conventions and you know, either we've been partying hard the night before or for whatever reason I'm just exhausted, which happens regularly, and people are like, You're the glam reaper. And I'm like, Oh god, yeah, I know I don't look very glam today. At least turn the other way. So, you know, there is a little bit of pressure that we laugh about with that, but honestly, I don't care. It's it was given to me by the British media where when my book came out, there was a giant uh full page of a newspaper dedicated to my face, and they just had the glam reaper, and it's sort of listen, it's a brilliant stage name, you know. As I said, I did a TEDx, and I've I've been on many stages since. It's a great icebreaker when you know I'm in retirement homes or just generally at conferences and talking to people. Most people remember that before they actually remember my name, which is embarrassing. Um, but at least they remember something, and um yeah, it's brilliant. It the only thing is, is my company is called Muldowney Memorials because you know, if you lose your mom or your brother or your sister or your grandmother, calling the glam reaper just felt a little too on the nose for me. I just it's just like it's a great stage name. It's I I adore it, it's very much who I am, um, and the way I talk. Like I'm very outgoing and bubbly and stuff, but uh I'm positive in general. But you know, when I'm sitting with a family, it's all about um comfort and it's all about sort of like our tagline is the the best friend you never wanted to need. Um it's holding people's hand in the worst time of their life, you know. It really is, even when it's expected. Um and sorry, my camera's doing some crazy work there. Um I don't know what's going on. I had nothing to do with it. Um, but yeah, so it's it's I just I kind of have two sides to it. I have the very much softer side where I'm there with holding space for people, and then you know, I have the stage side where I can be a little bit more, you know, on the nose with it. But yeah, that's a little bit about what I do. I think I covered everything, I hope.

TanyaScotece 22:35

Tune in next week for part two from Friends from Wild Places.

Voiceover 22:41

You've been listening to Friends from Wild Places with Shireen Botha. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast from the links to catch every episode and unleash your passion.