Built from experience.
Designed to change
what grief support looks like.
A team that understands grief from the inside out — turning lived experience into care that's accessible, approachable, and lasting.
HOW IT STARTED
A mission, before it became a business.
Empower Change began when Roderick Alemania — a San Francisco-based entrepreneur motivated by the loss of his parents and brother reached out to volunteer at a nonprofit supporting grieving children.
There he connected with Jeff Kimball, a grief support leader who had helped scale four grief-related nonprofits, and was beginning to ask a much bigger question about the future of grief support.
"If you had a blank sheet of paper, what
problem would you want to solve?"
WHAT WE SAW
Three Problems, One Mission.
Jeff had seen these challenges firsthand — through his work scaling nonprofits, and through his own profound losses: his wife, parents, grandparent, best friend, and nine-year-old niece.
Most people never get support
Millions need help navigating grief, but most never receive it. Excellent local nonprofits exist but reach only a small fraction of those searching for support.
The organizations helping are overwhelmed
Hospice professionals are compassionate and skilled — but stretched thin by the scale of need. The system that supports the grieving is itself in need of support.
We don't know how to talk about grief
As a society, we struggle with grief — so people suffer in silence. Most resources apply universal advice to deeply personal experiences, leaving people feeling unseen.
The People Behind Empower Change
Roderick Alemania
Co-Founder
Jeff Kimball
Co-Founder
Jen Shelby
Customer Marketing
Bret
Strategy
Roderick brings experience from 5 Silicon Valley exits, including InfoSeek, IGN, Vudu, Skillz, and Tapjoy.
Co-Founder/CEO of ReadyUp ($7M raised), a UC Davis MBA mentor, and LP at Accumulator and First Momentum Capital.
He combines that expertise with personal grief experience to build accessible support at scale.
Jeff brings 25+ years of experience scaling grief and mission-driven organizations, raising more than $50M across multiple nonprofits.
He served as CEO of United Way of Coastal CT, reversing a 10-year deficit trend, and led organizations including Elizabeth’s Smile and Experience Camps.
Jen brings experience across nonprofit leadership, SaaS, and AI including roles at Apple, CableLabs and The Linux Foundation’s PyTorch Foundation.
A business advisor and mentor who helps keep Empower Change grounded in empathy, accessibility, and meaningful human connection.
Bret blends storytelling, design, and systems thinking to create authentic, scalable content experiences.
His background spans startups, agencies, global nonprofits, and brands like PlayStation, helping organizations build meaningful narratives that connect deeply with people.
Grief Support, Reimagined.
