“I lost a dear friend several years ago. Now, my goal is to create a loving community of people who know what it’s like to grieve a friend. It’s a specific, unique type of loss, and I think it’s important that we come together and talk about it. If you’re grieving or missing a friend, I’m here for you. I understand.”

— Hannah Rumsey, Host/Producer

So…why make a podcast about missing friends?

  •  “Societal norms make clear that a friend’s grief must not compete with, overshadow, or complicate the grief of the deceased’s family."

    -Harold Ivan Smith, in book Grieving the Death of a Friend

  • "Grief is a family affair, at least in American society. The distraught close friend of someone who dies has virtually no legitimate, public grief and mourning channels.”

    -Harold Ivan Smith, in book Grieving the Death of a Friend

  • "[A best friend's death is] idiosyncratic, eccentric, contained between the two. It's not something publicly acknkowledged or understood."

    -Jackson Rainer, in book Life after Loss: Contemporary Grief Counseling and Therapy

  • "People rally around family members who lose someone...A friend is often seen as replaceable."

    -Natasha Josefowitz, in book Living Without the One You Cannot Live Without

Meet the Team

  • Hannah Rumsey (she/her)

    HOST/PRODUCER

    Hannah is a writer, performer and editor based in Chicago. After the death of her close friend, she is passionate about normalizing friend-grief, building a community, and connecting with others so they feel less alone.

    Visit Website

  • Erik Siegling (he/they)

    MUSIC COMPOSER/SOUND ENGINEER

    Erik is a traveling artist who roams the country with his K9 companion, Cedar. He has worked and performed in live theatre and music venues for more than 10 years. An advocate for healing toxic masculinity, Erik plans to study to become a counselor and social worker alongside his artistic passions.

  • Corinne Chapman (she/her)

    VIDEO EDITOR

    Corinne is a freelance filmmaker and co-founder of Aggressively Compassionate, an impact-driven production company that specializes in making films for good causes. She prioritizes accessibility in her filmmaking, and utilizes tools such as creative captioning in her work.

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  • Sydney Bauer (she/her)

    CO-PRODUCER

    Sydney is a Chicagoland area native and a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She currently works in the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion space as a Client Partner at Catalyst, a non-profit working to make the workplace better for women. She also freelances as a documentary filmmaker, focusing on impact campaigns and in 2018, was a Member of the Obama Foundation’s Community Leadership Corps. She is an avid reader and podcast listener and can frequently be found at your local concert venue!