Harvard University

Writer, speaker, and entrepreneur

Grief is Love reveals that healing does not mean moving on after losing a loved one—healing means learning to acknowledge and create space for your grief. It is about learning to love the one you lost with the same depth, passion, joy, and commitment you did when they were alive, perhaps even more. I guide readers through the pain of grief—whether you’ve lost the person recently or long ago—and show you what it looks like to honor your loss on your unique terms, and debunk the idea of a grief stages or timelines.  Grief is Love is about making space for the transformation that a significant loss requires.

In beautiful, compassionate prose, I offer wisdom about what it means to authentically and defiantly claim space for grief’s complicated feelings and emotions. I share my journey after losing my mother, a pregnancy, and, most recently, a cousin to the COVID-19 pandemic. These losses transformed my life and led me to question what grief really is and what healing actually looks like. In this book, I also explore the unique impact of grief on Black people and reveal the key factors that proper healing requires: permission, care, feeling, grace and more.

The transformation we each undergo after loss is the indelible imprint of the people we love on our lives, which is the true definition of legacy. At its core, Grief is Love explores what comes after death, and shows us that if we are able to own and honor what we’ve lost, we can experience a beautiful and joyful life in the midst of grief.

Grief is Love

Author

Supportal is a platform that makes it easy for people to respond when someone they care about is faced with a life-changing challenge. With a focus on experiences that are difficult to deal with and difficult to respond to, Supportal features first-hand accounts of people who have experienced life-changing challenges. They detail the best and most thoughtful ways people in their lives responded and Supportal provides recommendations that will make it easy for others to do the same.

Supportal

Co-Founder

Beacon Advisors is the formal name for my strategic consulting practice focused on advising business, political, and non-profit leaders.  We focus on helping these leaders achieve greater impact across multiple sectors. We have significant experience building and leveraging partnerships, growing new organizations and initiatives, and improving business systems and operations.

Beacon Advisors:  https://www.marisareneelee.com/about-marisa/

Established, managed, and led national 501c3 non-profit organization committed to raising money for breast cancer care and research and awareness of the disease among young professionals. Oversaw the organization's growth and development, including initiating and consummating strategic partnership with The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, where the organization currently resides.  Served as the public face of the organization; profiles and by-line articles on topics related to philanthropy and personal experience with breast cancer have appeared in a variety of national media outlets.

The Pink Agenda

Founder, Past President, Honorary Chairman

My Brother's Keeper Alliance

Managing Director

Building an innovative 501c3 to change life outcomes for young men and boys of color.

Deloitte

NCC Chief of Staff and My Brother's Keeper Project Lead and External Advisor

Provided support to Business Forward leadership during a time of growth and transition. Helped oversee team members, cultivate key relationships with political leaders, and expand the membership of the organization. 

Business Forward makes it easier for tens of thousands of business leaders from across America to advise Washington on how to create jobs and accelerate our economy. Business Forward is active in over 100 cities and works with more than 450 senior Administration officials, Members of Congress, mayors, and governors.

Business Forward

Fellow

Oversaw office operations including the creation and maintenance of multiple tracking systems to accurately reflect the Administration's private sector engagement and develop recommendations for future engagement.  Managed relationships and public-private partnership opportunities with Fortune 500 companies.  Drafted all memos for meetings between business leaders and the President, Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, and Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett.

The White House

Deputy Director of Private Sector Engagement

Responsible for coordination and development of urban economic development strategies, which included efforts related to access to capital, financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and workforce development. Developed and executed the external engagement strategy around the President's Ladders of Opportunity agenda.

Senior Policy Advisor (Urban Affairs),  Domestic Policy Council

Responsible for management, strategic development, oversight and execution of the priorities of the Deputy Administrator and the U.S. Small Business Administration including legislative implementation, operations, policy development, and outreach.  Coordinated minority business engagement activities across the Administration on behalf of the White House Office of Public Engagement.  Co-led successful White House Urban Economic Forum events in seven cities reaching more than 20,000 entrepreneurs.

U.S. Small Business Administration

Senior Advisor

Responsible for lending relationships with 15 diverse clients with generative average annual revenues of $723M.  Managed total loan portfolio of $209.6M in revolving credit facilities and regularly analyze credit worthiness and compliance with financial and business guidelines.  Studied accounting, advanced accounting, corporate finance, and macroeconomics with professors from Columbia, Fordham, and the University of Pennsylvania.

Marisa Renee Lee