Growing up in Dunedin, Jodie Hope never felt any pressure to join the family profession.
Not that the business of dying fazed her; it was something she was very comfortable with as she knew no different.
Hope & Sons was established by her great-great-grandfather in 1887 and had been run by successive generations of the Hope family.
But the funeral industry was not necessarily going to be her own choice of career.
The pivotal moment came when Ms Hope (29) headed to Europe for an OE after completing her tertiary studies and spending time working at the family business.
People often asked what she did for a job. Explaining she worked in a funeral home might not be considered particularly normal for someone in their early 20s, but they found the young woman approachable.
"I liked to call it ‘death chat’ — a lot of death chat. I found people, especially younger people, still had questions ... some people haven’t had any experience with death.
"The more I talked about it, the more I realised how much I enjoyed imparting my knowledge and answering questions and taking away people’s fears and dispelling myths," she said.
Returning home, Ms Hope told her parents, Mike and Jet, she wanted to "give it a go".
Always very supportive of whatever she wanted to do — there had never been pressure to join the business — they just wanted their children to be happy.
"It just happened to be what made me happy was that," she said.
Growing up, her parents had always sheltered their children a little from the business, although they knew what they did and were used to their father getting up in the middle of the night and going to work.
"Because they worked together, there were conversations over dinner.
"Work didn’t just quite stop at the door," she recalled.
During school holidays, Ms Hope — a 2011 Otago Daily Times Class Act recipient while at Bayfield High School — started doing odd jobs at Hope & Sons, such as painting fences.
As she got older, the jobs changed to the likes of putting the satin linings in the caskets.
But she still had not really been introduced to the death side of the business.
Health and safety, coupled with the caring, close-knit team at Hope & Sons — who became and remained like a family — meant there was never any nervousness being there.
At university, Ms Hope completed a diploma in business and a bachelor of applied management with a double major in HR management and event management.
At that time she did not really think it was leading her into the funeral profession, rather she was thinking business.
"I like management. I’ve always been really good at bossing people about. It was kind of leaning towards that."
While at university she worked part-time at Frames Footwear for several years, which might have also inadvertently started a shoe obsession.
Bubbly and outgoing, and a self-described people-person, she enjoyed customer service and "looking after people".
In her last year at university in 2014, she did an internship with Ali Copeman at akB Conference Management.
Needing some more flexibility in her schedule, her parents suggested she work for them.
And that was when she first stepped into the funeral world.
Ms Hope joined the mortuary team, working as part of that close-knit team who guided her through looking after the deceased, making sure their dignity was upheld and that families’ wishes were followed.
When she finished her degree, she continued working at Hope & Sons full-time before her four month OE.
On her return she completed a diploma of embalming run by the Wellington Institute of Technology (WelTec).
That course had not run for the last few years but she was delighted that it had recently found a new provider.
After graduating in Wellington, she worked as an embalmer for about six months at Hope & Sons before moving to learn more about the management side of the business.
After about another six months, she started training as a funeral director.
Moving from working with the deceased to working with grieving families was quite a difference and it took her some time to feel confident enough to have open conversations with them.
With the wealth of experience available from her own family and the wider business, she realised there was always someone on hand to answer a question that she was unsure of.
That was a turning point; families did not need an answer immediately as long as their query was checked with someone.
"After that point, I felt happy in myself I could look after families by being me."
And "being me" was a bubbly and personable personality with strong communication skills which involved listening to what people wanted and, either facilitating that, or providing options or ways to make that happen.
She was also driven and resilient — an important trait in a profession that was "not easy but it is rewarding".
Surrounded by her family and a wider team that was also like family and "have your back" also made it easier.
Ms Hope loved her role as a funeral director and estimated she looked after more than 500 families in that role, helping them through difficult times.
People often asked what was normal when it came to funerals.
But there was no normal, and there was no right or wrong.
The job was about listening to what people wanted, to show their respect and love, and facilitating that.
While people often commented it must be so sad dealing with so much death — "that’s not our grief to feel".
It was her job to be a pillar for the family to lean on so they could process it.
Ms Hope’s "outlet" had always been basketball.
She played school and representative basketball for most of her childhood and travelled to Australia with the New Zealand Koru team.
While knee surgery in November last year has curtailed playing at the moment, she is president of the Andy Bay Falcons Club — which has six men’s and three women’s teams — and on the board of Basketball Otago.
A busy person, Ms Hope liked to be "doing things" and she got energy from being with people.
By being social, playing sport and having friends around — even if it had been a hard or heavy day — that all helped keep her balanced.
She was grateful to have always felt very supported by her friends and she had also helped some of them through loss.
In 2018, Hope & Sons was sold to InvoCare New Zealand and, in January this year, Ms Hope took the role of New Zealand operations co-ordinator.
Having been looking into some personal development or growth, the role ticked all her boxes.
Potentially making a larger impact through improving the environment in which other funeral directors were working — so they could provide really good services to families — was appealing.
InvoCare New Zealand had a network of about 30 funeral homes throughout New Zealand and she continued to be based in Dunedin, travelling to visit those homes.
While her parents initially worried she would miss the people aspect, Ms Hope was still getting that.
Instead of relationships with families, she now had relationships with funeral directors.
And she reckoned her background was very beneficial in her new role.
Having worked for four years for her family-owned funeral home and then for four years for a larger network, she was able to "pull the positives" from both to help create a great environment.
She was recently voted in as treasurer of the New Zealand Embalmers Association and was excited about the opportunity to provide support to embalmers throughout the country.
Sometimes the funeral industry could be like the "forgotten industry" and that was why it was important to have national organisations like the Funeral Directors Association of New Zealand and the New Zealand Embalmers Association.
Ms Hope felt it was important for young people to keep it in mind when they were considering career options.
There was a change in the industry with the realisation that younger people also had merit and there had been some "really cool ideas" that had come from that younger generation in the industry.
There was still the tradition to look back on and learn from the profession’s history while also being nimble, progressive and flexible.
The skills gained through her tertiary studies — not that she had thought about that at the time — had also come together.
"It’s all worked in really well. I have quite a unique perspective and I like the idea of being able to help make sure the profession is served for the future."
