American Academy McAllister Institute

The Bartender Who Left the Industry for Mortician School

"A Manhattan mortuary-science school where she enrolled to train as a funeral director; the program is rigorous—typically two to three years of study, national board exams, embalming a minimum of ten bodies, and a one-year residency—and appealed to her after pandemic layoffs and personal losses. She sees the school as preparing students to handle the emotional, psychological, and physical demands of funeral work, and notes the field is changing with more young women entering and shifting attitudes toward death and mourning practices, challenges that were amplified by COVID restrictions on communal grieving." - Chris Crowley