Hi, I’m Aditi.

I’m a Mum to two wonderful human sons and a grieving dog Mum to my beloved girl, Ruby Pants, who traded her earthly paws for angel wings in 2022.

I’m an entrepreneur, an avid traveller, a lover of adventure, and someone who believes there’s an enormous amount of life to be lived.

I’ve spent much of my adult life raising my sons, building businesses and juggling the responsibilities that come with it all. While I wouldn’t change much of that journey, there’s still a whole world out there that I want to explore.

Although I’m not frightened of death, I find it hard to contemplate that I might run out of time before experiencing everything I hope to. I dream of living in foreign lands, discovering new countries, having adventures and embarking on multi-week walks. I also want to watch my sons find their own paths and perhaps become a doting grandmother someday.

But I know that none of us gets to choose how long we’re here for. Perhaps that’s part of why I feel so strongly about making the most of the time we have, while taking care of the practical things that will matter when we’re no longer around.

My Relationship With Death

My first encounter with death was when I was seven, attending my Granny’s funeral. I remember feeling bewildered by the idea that she was inside the coffin, and I can still picture the drawing I made of her lying inside it.

Seven years later, my much-loved Grandpa died. We lived on opposite sides of Australia and we wrote letters to each other. I still have his letters, and treasure dearly.

Over the years, I’ve experienced the deaths of friends, family members and beloved animals. Some brought profound sadness, while others left me with questions that have stayed with me for years.

Why I Created Leave A Light

Leave A Light was born from love, friendship and the realisation that even the most carefully considered end-of-life plans can leave loved ones facing an enormous amount of work.

In May, 2024, my dear friend John died.

John and his husband, Kevin, had been thoughtful about their planning, yet after John’s death, Kevin still found himself navigating a mountain of administrative tasks, decisions and responsibilities.

Watching what Kevin went through opened my eyes to the reality of death admin and how little information and conversation there is around this subject.

There are so many things we don’t think about, don’t know we need to organise, or simply assume someone else will be able to work out.

I began to wonder how much easier things could be if we approached end-of-life planning differently - not just as a collection of legal documents, but as a practical, thoughtful way of preparing the people we love for life without us.

That was the beginning of Leave A Light.

What I Bring To The Table

Before creating Leave A Light, I spent many years building and running businesses across different industries. Being an entrepreneur has taught me the importance of organisation, forward planning, asking questions and making sure important information doesn’t exist solely in someone’s head.

I’m a big fan of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), the documented processes that help a business run smoothly, and I’ve built Leave A Light around many of those same principles.

I’ve worked in the death care industry for seven years, more recently as part of the end-of-life team for a funeral director. I’ve spoken with thousands of families and am often the first person someone speaks to immediately after a loved one has died.

I see this role as a privilege; one that has given me insight into the practical and emotional challenges people face after someone dies.

As an end-of-life educator and guide, my role isn’t to tell you how to live your life or what decisions you should make. It’s to help you think through what’s important, understand what needs attention and bring everything together in a way that makes sense for you.

I do this without judgment or unnecessary jargon, and with no expectation that you should already know what you’re doing. Most people I work with have no idea where to begin, and often, it’s their first time thinking or talking about these things.

Live Brightly; Leave Lightly

Working with grieving families and hearing their stories makes me realise how precious life is, and how quickly everything can change.

We spend so much time planning holidays, careers, homes, celebrations and even what to cook for dinner, yet so many of us put off planning for the one thing we know, without fail, will happen.

We live as though we’ll live forever, and in doing so, we inadvertently leave behind much more than grief. We leave unanswered questions, decisions to be made and important information that may never be found.

I get it! It’s not comfortable to think about death, either our own or the death of our favourite people, and there’s always something more enjoyable we’d rather be doing.

But I believe that having the important conversations, making our wishes known and organising the practical details of our lives is one of the most thoughtful things we can do, especially for the people we love.

Being prepared doesn’t mean your loved ones won’t grieve, but it does mean you’ve done what you can to make a difficult time a little easier.

And once those things are taken care of?

You can get back to living: exploring, laughing, loving, learning, making memories and experiencing as much of this wonderful, unpredictable life as possible.

Because ultimately, that’s what I want for myself, and it’s what I want for you.

Live Brightly,

♡

Aditi