It feels cliché to say, but I didn’t find this work. This work found me.

I grew up around chronic illness. My mom and my sister both lived with constant pain and relied on medication to get through the day, something that, over time, contributed to their deaths.

That experience is what led me to bodywork and curated a desire to help people find relief that feels sustainable—something that works with the body, not against it.

When my mom died in 2010, I saw how unprepared most of us are to support those who are grieving. Since then, I’ve lost my older sister, my dad, and many close friends—including my soul sister in 2025.

After losing so many loved ones, something became clear:

Joy and grief belong together.

That understanding not only shapes my work through Deaducation Academy, where I co-create space for honest, human conversations about death, dying, and grief with my co-founder, Britna Savarese, but my work with in clown as well.

In 2018, I stumbled upon a drop in clown class I became a clown, which is still one of my favorite things to say. What started as a hobby became something deeper; it was a way to be present, connect, and tell the truth in real time. In 2024, I created my methodology, Tepani’s Heartwork, and now produce interactive shows and workshops rooted in that work.

Bodywork. Death. Clown.

On paper, they don’t necessarily go together, but in practice, they’re all the same thing.

They’re all ways of being with people through pain, through grief, and through moments of connection that remind us we’re still here.

This is Whole Human Practice.