In Conversation with Joyal Mulheron

Joyal Mulheron is a Washington, DC public policy expert with more than 15 years of service to the nation’s governors, the White House, and some of the most distinguished nonprofit ventures. Joyal has served both Republican and Democratic lawmakers and worked with corporate America and advocates alike. Like millions of Americans, Joyal has experienced tragic loss from both her terminally ill infant daughter in 2010 and then her father, a veteran, during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021.

In 2013, Joyal left her position as Chief Strategy Officer with Partnership for a Healthier America, a nonprofit chaired by former First Lady Michelle Obama, to begin understanding grief in America. She began her education in bereavement by walking the streets of Washington, D.C. meeting with families and professionals, each of who had experienced their own tragic deaths. Soon thereafter, her work grew substantially as families from all walks of life began welcoming her into their homes, places of worship, and community centers to share their heartfelt stories of love and loss. During these conversations, Joyal began to uncover chronic and persistent system injustices that children and families faced in the aftermath. Trained as a basic scientist, Joyal began aligning personal stories of loss with evidence-based literature realizing that bereavement was a health, social, and economic crisis hiding in plain sight. Soon thereafter she founded Evermore, a nonprofit dedicated to improving the lives of bereaved children and families.