Women's Leadership Academy
A year-long experience designed to cultivate strong, compassionate leaders within the funeral and deathcare profession.
Leadership Academy - Our First Class
We proudly launched our inaugural Leadership Academy on November 17 with a powerful kickoff event that brought women across funeral service together for a day filled with insight, inspiration, and growth.
This Academy is a cornerstone of our mission to unleash the greatness in women of funeral service and deathcare. We do this by elevating and supporting women leaders through meaningful learning, mentorship, and genuine community connection.
Meet the 2025/2026 Cohort
Relive the Kickoff Experience
More opportunities to join future cohorts will be shared soon!
Grow the Leader Within.
We'll Show You How.
The Women’s Leadership Academy is a personalized and intimate leadership journey created specifically for women in the deathcare and funeral profession. Through our customized curriculum, group gatherings, discussions and one-to-one coaching, the Academy supports the unique challenges and aspirations women experience in this work. Our goal is to empower women to become confident, capable, and visionary leaders, whether as future managers, owners, or influential voices within their organizations.
An Experience of Growth
Participants leave the Academy with a strengthened leadership foundation, clear goals, and a renewed sense of purpose. Throughout the program, each woman will:
- Develop her own personal leadership brand
- Publicly articulate her goals, plans, and the impact she intends to make
- Gain tools and practices to lead with clarity, confidence, and compassion
This transformational journey encourages deep reflection, meaningful connection, and practical skill-building.
Understanding and Improving You as a Leader
As part of this program, you will be presented with opportunities to be coached, guided, and supported in your growth in the following ways.
- Set goals you’ll actually achieve—and build systems to make them stick.
- Build unshakable confidence and resiliency—so you bounce back faster, and rise stronger.
- Receive private one-on-one coaching with Academy Dean, Kristen Ernst—tailored to your goals and challenges.
- Learn how to establish healthy boundaries to help balance life and work.
- Gain practical ways to integrate self-care and avoid burnout
- Develop your personal mission, core beliefs/values and purpose.
- Discover and hone your personal brand and learn how to utilize it as the key to your success
Academy Structure: Courses, Group Exercises, Discussions and Individual Coaching
The Women’s Leadership Academy was created to systematically address the pressures women like you face in the funeral and deathcare profession. Through our LeadHership Learning Courses, Kristen Ernst will present core concepts and lead interactive group discussions and engaging exercises on each topic. Course discussions are enhanced and supported by the suggested reading list.
In addition to the learning modules, participants receive individualized attention in confidential coaching. In these one-to-one sessions, participants privately work on their personal and professional goals with a licensed professional counselor and coach.
- Four LeadHership Learning Course modules
- Private one-on-one coaching with the Dean of the Academy
- Two Open Group Sharing Sessions
The year is tentatively broken down in the following way*:
MONTH | EXPERIENCE |
December | Initial one-to-one coaching sessions |
January | “LeadHERship” Course #1 : Building Your Self Confidence and Resiliency (Daring Greatly) |
February | Open Group Share & Discussion |
March | Second one-to-one coaching sessions |
April | LeadHERship Course #2: Establishing Boundaries That Fit Your Life (Set Boundaries and Find Peace) |
May | Third one-to-one coaching sessions |
June | Open Group Share and Discussion |
July | TBD (Potential Guest Presenter) |
August | LeadHERship Course #3: Practical Self Care and Managing Burnout (Burnout: Secrets to Unlocking the Stress Cycle) |
September | Final one-to-one coaching sessions |
October | LeaderHERship Course #4: Developing Your Personal Mission and Core Beliefs (Book of your choosing) |
November | Presentations, Onsite Group Community Session and Graduation Prior to the Annual Wellness Summit |
December | Year Two Leadership Academy for those enrolled |
Academy Reading List
Book purchases are the responsibility of academy participants.
Cancellation Policy: We understand that plans can change! Cancellations made on or before October 1 will receive a full refund. After October 1, we are unable to offer refunds, but you’re welcome to transfer your registration to another person.
Meet the Dean of the Leadership Academy
Kristen Ernst is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and the Owner and Operator of the Center for Hope and Healing, LLC, a mental health facility dedicated to providing support to individuals navigating grief and traumatic loss. With a deep commitment to fostering healing, Kristen has developed specialized programs aimed at assisting those who have experienced profound loss, including grief from suicide, Covid, opioid addiction, child loss, miscarriage, and more.
Throughout her career, Kristen has been a trailblazer in creating aftercare programs for funeral homes across the country. She has facilitated grief support groups for various types of loss, including Survivors of Suicide Loss, Widow and Widower Support, Heroin and Opioid Loss, and Child and Infant Loss. In addition to facilitating virtual and in-person groups, she has presented Memorial Services for the community, including Holiday Remembrance Programs, Veterans Day Programs, and Seeds of Hope Programs.
Kristen has also served as a keynote speaker and presenter at numerous conferences and events within the funeral service and hospice industries, including the Greater St. Louis Hospice Organization Conference and the Women in Funeral Service Program at Selected Independent Funeral Homes. As a contributor to leading funeral industry blogs and podcasts, Kristen has played a pivotal role in educating and raising awareness about grief and loss.
Her dedication extends to community outreach, where she has spoken at national events such as the National Share Organization for Infant and Pregnancy Loss and served as a retreat director for the Angel Moms Organization. Kristen is also a passionate advocate for suicide prevention and mental health awareness, contributing to podcasts and programs focused on these critical issues.
As an expert in bereavement and trauma recovery, Kristen’s unique blend of clinical expertise and community-based support has made her a trusted leader in grief counseling and mental health advocacy.
In her role as Dean of the Women’s Leadership Academy, Kristen brings her decades of experience to support the development of rising leaders in funeral service. She helps women strengthen their leadership through meaningful learning experiences by sharing insights, tools, and strategies that empower them to lead with empathy, clarity, and resilience. Whether through group workshops, one-on-one coaching, or tailored training sessions, Kristen creates spaces where women can grow both personally and professionally. Her compassionate and practical approach helps others lead with confidence while supporting families and communities through life’s most difficult moments.
Event Highlights
Meet the people coming together to unleash the power of women in the death care and funeral profession. Our team is composed of dedicated advocates from inside and out of the death care profession, who bring decades of experience in their fields to ensure our women get the support they need.
Sign Up
Get on the early-bird list to receive registration information and updates about our Wellness Summit.
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Take the Next Step in Your Leadership Journey
Ready to grow, lead, and make a difference? Join the Funeral Women Lead Leadership Academy and connect with a community of ambitious women dedicated to professional excellence and personal transformation. Register now to secure your place in this transformative program.