Alenka joined the Guides in 2021 and has proven herself in all roles. In addition to creating ceremonies and speeches with the bereaved, she is dedicated to creating funeral announcements.

She was brought to the team by personal experience, thanks to which she did not have a very positive relationship with death. That's why she decided to participate in changes in the funeral industry, so that they could see the funeral as a celebration of the life of their loved one.

Alenka
is naturally cheerful and empathetic, which she brings to her speeches. She's happy when the bereaved find understanding and comfort in them.

She used to live in Prague, where she worked in office management for large companies after studying human resources. After seven years in the capital, she decided to return to her native Jizera Mountains and now lives in Liberec, where she is trying to spread awareness about the new funeral culture. When she is not helping with funerals, she works in the HR department of a regional hospital.

In addition to creating ceremonies and speeches, Veronika also participates in articles, videos and posts. She insists that speeches reflect the personality of the deceased and the bereaved – some can be deep and heartbreaking, others smiling and light. It just depends on how you want to approach the speech and the ceremony. The greatest compliment for her is when she hears "that's exactly how my mother / grandmother / sister would have written it."

In addition, Veronika is a trained linguist, translator and interpreter, and also works as a lecturer. You can talk to her in Czech, Slovak, English or even Spanish. You may have heard her, for example, at the Book World or in Oktagon. In her free time, she translates poetry, plays video games and does art. If you don't happen to meet her online, she's probably somewhere outside on a motorcycle.

Oleg is the founder of Funeral Guides. "Originally, it was just an experiment and we did things completely differently. But gradually, people told us what they wanted and what they didn't, and we listened to them. Actually, most of what we do today comes from practice, from our clients: we see what really helps them."

You'll often meet Oleg when you first contact us: he answers the phone or replies to messages. But he guides many of our clients throughout the entire process.

He was born in Košice to Czech-German parents, studied in Brno, and has been living in Prague for almost twenty years. Originally, he worked on transformation projects in companies undergoing major changes: he started in telecommunications, then moved to companies like Alza, Česká spořitelna, and PPF.

Besides work, you might find him with his two children, his wife, in the mountains, at a concert, having a beer, or running a marathon.

Bára is from Prague, studied landscape architecture at the Faculty of Environmental Sciences at the Czech University of Life Sciences, and joined Funeral Guides in 2021. She works as a freelance marketer and copywriter. In her free time, she spends time in nature or travels around Europe with her two dogs in a camper van named Sušenka (Biscuit). Her interests also include gastronomy along with an ecological and ethical lifestyle.

Renata is originally a teacher who has been involved in alternative education for a long time.

She became interested in palliative care and the funeral industry after the passing of her grandmother, whom they saw off at home in the family circle. This experience opened up a new dimension of perception of life and death in her and showed her that she can remain in deep calm, clarity, empathy and support for the dying and the bereaved. She felt a desire to further develop this gift, and so she began to volunteer in the palliative care department and joined the Funeral Guides.

Renata loves wandering in nature, dancing, going to the sauna, enjoying time with her family, and listening to authentic human stories.

Adriana comes from the Bohemian Forest, where she returned after almost twenty years of living in Prague. She studied anthropology and remains fascinated by the breadth of possible ways of life on this planet. She considers Indonesia her second home and also has a close relationship with Madagascar. In the Czech Republic, she works in the non-profit sector and currently spends most of her free time with her family.

She was led to Funeral Guides by dissatisfaction with the service of a classic funeral home after the death of her baby and a desire to participate in changes in this industry. In a moment when the bereaved are paralyzed by the death of a loved one, she wants to stand by their side, carefully listen to their wishes and help them realize them. She perceives a good farewell to the deceased as an important ritual that has accompanied humanity since its beginnings and which, according to her, is essential for the beginning of healthy grieving.

Eliška is originally from Mariánské Lázně, but since high school, unless she's abroad, she lives in Prague, which she has fallen in love with.

From a young age, she was drawn to the topic of death and was saddened that she had no one to talk to about it. As an adult, she forgave her parents for forbidding her from attending the funerals of her loved ones as a child, and now she strives to promote a different perspective on funerals.

She has always enjoyed asking philosophical questions, and later her interest expanded into the field of psychology, where she focuses primarily on interpersonal relationships. With her heightened sensitivity and empathy, she is a good listener and tries to guide others towards mutual understanding and acceptance of both others and themselves.

She loves nature, so she is also interested in ecology, and her innovative mind enjoys thinking about what could be done differently and better in the world. For now, she only creates on paper or on the computer. Besides writing, she also takes photos and shoots videos, including at ceremonies.

In her free time, she also enjoys dancing, traveling, and living life to the fullest.

Hana is a young woman with a big heart who brings love for life and people into everything she does. 

Thanks to her natural openness to new opportunities, she moved from her native Brno to Prague, where she began studying business economics. The new environment also allowed her to develop her creative side, through painting and studying fashion design.

Inner peace also plays an important role in her life, which she finds both in nature and, for example, when caring for houseplants. Whether it's anything, she believes that everything needs the right care. Undisturbed attention, the right time and place. She considers compassion to be her life's mission, and it is this deep feeling that led her to work as a funeral guide. She makes sure that the funeral is not only mourning, but also remembering and celebrating life. Because care combined with compassion can transform every moment into something deeply meaningful and human: and Hana will always find a place for that in her heart.

She was drawn to funeral guiding by a desire to compassionately and sensitively accompany people through their final farewell. And it was no coincidence – since childhood, she has witnessed many funerals that respectfully and lovingly honored the uniqueness of each life story. She believes that even though the loss of a loved one is often a lonely and painful journey, we don't have to walk it alone.

Aylani lives in Prague, spent her childhood in Moravia, and studied and worked in the USA for 10 years as a social worker. She regularly encountered death while supporting people with cancer, and later she focused on supporting the education of children from slums in Bangladesh. For the past 10 years, foster care has been an important part of her life. With her husband, as temporary foster parents, they cared for children who could not grow up in their original families. Today, she guides foster parents in their beautiful and challenging role and is dedicated to therapeutic parenting – a healing approach to children with attachment wounds.

She is fulfilled by spending time with children and being kindly present in contact with others. Nature is a source of connection and nourishment for her – she enjoys spending time in it, singing, hiking, sleeping under the stars, and collecting herbs.

Noemi believes that the most precious thing we have in life as people are relationships, and that knowing how to care for them sometimes means knowing how to say goodbye well. Because she wanted to support those going through the final farewell with their loved ones, she joined Funeral Guides. In everything Noemi does in life, she tries to seek God, love, truth, and hope.

She works with the Hisland publishing house, where she has the opportunity to communicate important topics to the younger generation through art. She is also dedicated to the Deaf community and professional interpreting into Czech Sign Language.

In her free time, she runs, does handstands, and sprays canvases.

Sandra values working with Funeral Guides because people trust her enough to share their stories. She appreciates the opportunity to support them in their moments of greatest need. Her personal experience with loss led her to this work, after realizing how deeply societal taboos surrounding death can isolate grieving individuals. This motivates her to help change the way we talk about death – to be more open and understanding.

In her free time, she enjoys reading with her cat on her lap, listening to podcasts, playing games, or laughing at dry British humor. She enjoys improvisation, whether from the stage or the audience, and likes going to cabaret and aerial sports performances. She volunteers in organizations that help people and animals.

She enjoys having deep conversations with people and creating a safe space where they can speak openly – for example, during conversation games with cards that help naturally open up topics that are often kept silent. These include mental health, death, interpersonal relationships, and other questions that touch on meaning and experience.

Adéla comes from Pardubice, and Brno is her second home. She studied Fine and Visual Arts at the Department of Art Education of the Faculty of Education at Masaryk University and taught art at the ZUŠ (Elementary Art School) and is a volunteer at the hospice of St. Elizabeth.

Having been accompanied by contact with death in her family from a young age in varying intensities and waves, she decided to befriend death and accompany those who want and need it - from afar thanks to Podcast Smrtelníka, which is her personal project, and up close through Funeral Guides.

Besides the podcast, Adéla paints and creates in waves, dances contact improvisation, and educates herself within the intergrative approach of TIAMAT, which helps her deepen her sensitivity and interest in others, anchors her in life, and thus balances close contact with death.

Eva came to Funeral Guides through her passion for organizing events. Shortly after her grandmother's funeral in a classic funeral hall, she had the opportunity to experience a ceremony with the Guides. She was surprised at how beautiful a farewell could be and how important it is to involve the bereaved, including children, in the entire process. She sees the role of a guide as an opportunity to help people in the most difficult moments. To show that a funeral doesn't have to mean just black and tears. She likes to talk about farewells as a celebration of life and believes that the right farewell can be very healing.

She most often moderates ceremonies, with the aim of guiding the bereaved through the farewell with sensitivity, humility, and sometimes even a smile. "I wish everyone had the opportunity to say goodbye to their loved ones exactly as they feel."

Magda comes from Pilsen. Her own experience brought her to the team – her grandmother's funeral in the ceremonial hall of the crematorium. The feeling of emptiness after the ceremony and the memory of crying children and the disappearing Coffin became a strong motivation for her to organize a completely different farewell for her sister, and that's how Funeral Guides came her way.

The direct encounter with death led her to want to participate in farewells that are personal, intimate and healing – like the one with her sister. She believes that it is extremely important to be close to people in such moments, to listen, to provide support, not to leave them alone in it. When the time comes, she would like to guide the bereaved on their journey through mourning and reconciliation with the death of a loved one.

Magda most often spends her free time with her family in nature and in motion, whether on foot, by bike or on skis.

​​For twelve years, Petra has been celebrating and exploring the Mexican Day of the Dead, which inspired her to organize a memorial ceremony with Funeral Guides. She sees rituals of remembrance for the deceased not only as an opportunity to remember the deceased and reconcile with them in our inner selves, but also as a means of mental health.

 Petra studied social anthropology and considers Mexico, where she regularly returns, her second home. In the Czech Republic, she works as a researcher in the field of social sciences at the private organization INESAN. What she enjoys most about anthropological research are conversations and working with people.

In her free time, she enjoys traveling, writing about Mexico, learning Spanish, taking photos, and visiting well-known and lesser-known cemeteries.