Caitlin Doughty

Caitlin Doughty has dedicated her entire professional life to getting us to rethink—and embrace—death. Her morbid brand includes a website and blog (The Order of the Good Death), YouTube series (Ask a Mortician), and best-selling book (Smoke Gets in Your Eyes). In the fall of 2015, Doughty opened Undertaking L.A., a not-for-profit mortuary that not only conducts cremations and burials but also provides education on alternative funerals. She sees the mortuary not just as a service provider but also as an incubator of ideas that she hopes will disrupt the moribund industry. Doughty is also now at work on her second, as-yet-untitled book, a global examination of how the hiding of corpses doesn’t serve us well, which is due out in 2017.