Sherokee Ilse

Sherokee Ilse, a Mpls author, has written/co-written over 17 books and booklets on infant loss and bereavement as the result of her miscarriages and the fullterm stillbirth of her son. Her first and most popular book, Empty Arms: Coping with Miscarriage, Stillbirth, and Infant Death has over 300,000 copies in print, and has recently been revised. Ms. Ilse has been a guest on Oprah and Donahue and many local, regional, and national radio and tv shows. As a respected international speaker/trainer on grief and loss, she has given thousands of talks during the last almost 3 decades. Her practical, friendly speaking style earns her comments like this one, "I feel like we spent the day having tea together." With a background as a teacher, a founder of both a private school and a national non-profit pregnancy and infant loss organization, and a parent advocate, she has inspired and learned from many. "Traveling to New Zealand, Australia, Scotland, England, and Japan to speak to international audiences lately, has shown me how universal parenthood and grief are. It doesn't matter what our cultures are, we who have had babies die are intimately connected and understand each others' heartache and love...a love that goes on forever." Sherokee's personal experiences and her philosophy to leave the world a better place, continue to motivate her to reach out to others in need. She is a bereaved mother (miscarriage-Marama, stillbirth-Brennan, ectopic pregnancy-Bryna)and is also (gratefully) the mother of two living sons. Ms. Ilse also has business experience consulting on communication and team-building and enjoys the creativity of making things for others (beading, arts, crafts, needle-work, and sewing.)