MEET THE LAST HURRAH TEAM
Kimba Griffith
Kimba’s skill-set is broad, having worked across a myriad of creative and deeply human pursuits, but her calling lies in meet grieving families just as they are, and offering a safe container for people to create meaningful farewells that include laughter and authentic remembering, while also gently acknowledging feelings of loss, sadness and confusion.
As an acclaimed jazz vocalist, birth attendant, life cycle celebrant and compassionate companion to the dying, Kimba is able to hold space in a quiet and composed manner, be assertive when advocating for families’ needs and desires, and bring her skills as a writer, ceremony creator and ritualist to craft an authentic ritual, ceremony or last hurrah.
Her work as a death doula, family assistance specialist for Kenyon International, ceremonialist and funeral director have given her a unique skill set to assist families navigate planning a funeral or farewell in a simple and authentic manner.
Kimba has spoken at panels and been a keynote speaker on the topic of death literacy and family-led funerals for the Florida Independent Funeral Directors’ Association, The Wheeler Centre, The Malt House Theatre, SMCT, The Association of Independent Funeral Directors, ABC radio Big Ideas, ABC774 and more.
Nastassia JOnes
A New Zealand native, Nastassia has a deep connection to the concept of ‘Whanau’ or extended family and community. After completing her degree in Psychology, Nastassia worked in funeral administration for a not-for-profit funeral provider in Victoria. It was during this time she began to imagine a model for funeral care that encompassed her views on family-centred care and ‘whanau’, and it is these concepts that underpin what she has created in the Last Hurrah,
Nastassia has also worked as an admin and management guru at a highly successful Forensic Cleaning Company, and has honed her skills in supporting families and being the first contact at a very traumatic and difficult moment. She has a special gift for working with people living with hoarding disorders, being able to build trust, and create the possibility for some healing work in clearing their spaces. Nastassia is also a family assistance specialist for Kenyon International.
In keeping with her deep passion for community and inclusion, Nastassia was the founder of a women’s skateboarding community, which included skateboarding event management and women’s skateboarding advocacy.
Nastassia is committed to providing an authentic service that is representative of the deceased person and their people. She specialises in creating beautiful and intimate vigil spaces where families can really let go and grieve.
OPHELIA THOMAS
Ophelia joined The Last Hurrah in late 2021, She brings with her a multitude of creativity, including an Associate Degree in fashion design and pattern making. She co curated and was one of the artists involved in the Lifting the Lid exhibition at TLH in July 2022.
Ophelia describes her journey into the funeral industry as ‘full circle moment’. Having a keen interest in the world of death and dying since she was a teenager, experimenting with taxidermy and learning anatomical and botanical illustration.
She went onto study fashion Design and Technology with the intent on becoming self-sufficient in making her own clothing. There her final garment was a compostable burial gown made of silk and adorned with preserved insects.
It was during the last 2021 lockdown where Ophelia quit the fashion industry after 8 years and now brings her phenomenal skillset, gentle and calm manner and organisational prowess to The Last Hurrah.
Since working in the funeral industry, Ophelia has found confidence in supporting grieving families and the beauty in death care. The Last Hurrah has opened her eyes to the celebration of death and the benefits of viewing our dead.
MON JONES
Mon joined The Last Hurrah in 2023, drawn to the ethics of their model of care and community. She is Nastassia’s sister and shares the same values, Mon is driven by those values to support whanau in times of grief.
Mon has many years of experience working in hospitality and values helping people as they navigate difficult times. An organisational expert, she also has extensive experience as a logistician with a Diploma in International Freight Forwarding, so she brings attention to detail, ensuring funerals are planned with care.
A career creative, Mon studied jazz piano. She is the founder of Butterjoy Kitchen – a catering business that honours the classic antipodean celebration good. A food adventurer, Mon has walked the Camino de Santiago and travelled extensively across South East Asia, revelling in new flavours and foods. She is currently learning Thai to further this passion.
SUZIE KONSKY
Suzie brings an incredible level of skill, a quiet and calming demeanour and a deep understanding of the importance of how we care for our dead.
Since completing a BA in Psychology and Psychophysiology, Suzie went on to complete her embalming qualification in 2014, winning awards in her studies for her essay-writing skills on the topic of modern mortuary care.
A lifetime learner, Suzie has also studied forensic medicine and Post-mortem DNA analysis, restorative arts and archaeology. she is also a passionate plant lover.
Suzie cares for all our dead with utmost care and respect, and can support both natural mortuary care, home-funerals and the entire suite of mortuary care, including embalming for repatriation.
Hini Hanara
Hini (they/them) is Takātapui (queer), Māori and seeks to reduce the barriers indigenous, LGBTIQA+, POC and other marginalised communities face when seeking culturally sensitive death care. Growing up in Aotearoa, Tangihanga (home funerals) were a cultural norm so offer confident care within vigil spaces.
They host monthly LGBTIQA+ Death Cafes to inform their practice and advocacy work. The ceremonies they craft with families hold to the individual’s expression and interpretation of ritual and change.
Hini carries a highly creative attitude backed with a degree in Fashion design. Since starting with The Last Hurrah they have found a niche in ceremony-making and bring their incredible knack for connection to helping people struggling with their grief - we have dubbed them our Death Daddy / Death Concierge.
Their stories have been shared on 3CR & RRR radio, SBS and more recently in Archer Magazine’s issue #19
SAlly Leithhead
Sally has been with The Last Hurrah since 2020, and has been with us through every iteration of our existence!
Sally is an artist, jewellery-maker, plant guru and hospitality guru, who has worked on hundreds of funerals with us, from tiny micro-funerals to huge sendoffs in rural locales.
Sally is the master of all trades that every funeral home needs to keep the ship sailing straight, and we are thrilled to have her in our corner.
charis white
Charis is an experienced funeral celebrant who found her calling in the funeral space after a journey filled with love, life, and personal loss. With over 1,400 weddings under her belt, Charis has become a trusted source of solace and support for families during their most challenging moments.
Her journey into the world of funerals began after she encountered several tragic deaths in her own family, experiences that profoundly shaped her perspective on loss and grief. She felt she could use her understanding to make a difference in the lives of grieving families.
Charis's has a unique background with 15 years of experience in the wedding and public speaking space as well as being a trained Opera Singer.
Charis brings warmth, compassion, and a soothing presence to every funeral service she conducts.
THE LAST HURRAH STORY
The Last Hurrah Funeral company has been a long time in the making. Its founders, Nastassia Jones and Kimba Griffith had each spent years working in and around the funeral industry, both feeling dismayed at the status quo, the facades and opacity of the providers tasked with one of life’s most important, heartwrenching, and defining moments: the way people farewell their dead.
Both women spent years imagining a different way, working on a model for funerals that was fair, authentic, and cost-effective, but each lacked one special ingredient: a partner who had the skills the other lacked. By some stroke of magic in mid 2018, the pair met in a funeral industry networking group, and almost immediately it was clear that here was the person the other had waited for.
Since that time, the pair have painstakingly worked to create a brand new model of funeral care, based on a model of transparency, flexibility, and deep respect for the journey death tasks each of us with. To farewell someone we love, to grapple with our own grief at a time where so much needs to be done, and to create an offering that makes authentic and beautiful funerals available to all.
Nastassia and Kimba have built this model from the ground-up, with limited resources, and without the huge mechanisms that exist in the traditional corporate structure that sits behind the majority of funeral brands in Australia, and which ultimately drive funeral services to a homogeneous offering that removes families from the centre of the process. The Last Hurrah aims to place families and individuals at the very centre of all we do.
The Last Hurrah Funerals works across Metro Melbourne and across all of Victoria, and are funeral directors to folks in Brunswick, Coburg, Maribyrnong, Thornbury, Northcote, Reservoir, West Heidelberg, Clifton Hill, Fairfield, Castlemaine, Maldon, Bendigo, Hurstbridge and Moorabbin, but of course, we go everywhere.