Today we’d like to introduce you to Michaela Hudson.
Michaela, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
‘Pastor Simmons, Pastor Jones, and Fonda Strong of Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia were my mentors and helped me grow into the person I am today. Pastor Simmons has done so much for me and has been by my side my entire life. I just wanted to express my gratitude to him for everything. My name is Michaela L. Hudson, I’m 23 years old and I’m from Albany, GA. I attended Sherwood Christian Academy in high school and this is where the transition and purpose that God had for me started showing up in my life. I got closer to God and I was high school basketball standout and I had double digits every game and everyone around me knew I had a love for the death care industry and back in 2016 that’s where I began to start working and interning with the Dougherty County Coroner’s office as a junior in high school and I would go on actual live cases such as homicides, suicides, overdoses, drownings, burnings, fatal car accidents, domestic violence cases, hit and runs, it’s nothing that I haven’t seen. I also got the opportunity to see my first autopsy case and it was quite interesting to watch and in 2017, I got the opportunity to walk side by side with Coroner Michael Fowler during the Tornado that hit Albany, GA where a lot of people houses were ruined and going to look and discover bodies and figure out how to move them and in at the moment, it felt surreal because I never seen nothing quite horrific like that.
As the hours turn dark, Mr.Fowler, said ” this is going to determine if this is really what you want to do or not, do you want me to get the officer to take you back and I said absolutely not and we walked and continue to the search for bodies and I prayed for our strength and we did and served our calling on that day. I continued to work with him until I graduated and I signed and went to college to play basketball. While still having love for the funeral industry, I embarked on my college journey and in 2018 of my sophomore year, my grandmother, the lady had so much love for, we never went a day without talking, she was my everything. I got call from my parents one night and she had passed away. I called my coach at 6am that morning screaming and I told him what was going on and I had to go, When she passed, a part of me went into heaven with her and I was never the same person, I fell out after I got the call and I don’t know how I made it home because I screamed and droved home with head down, I don’t know how I made it home, That was the craziest ride I ever had to make and I fell down bad, I left school for about three weeks and I came back down bad, I fell into depression, I failed my classes, I didn’t go to class, I was practicing crying, I started eating to console my grieving and I gained so much weight as a college athlete and I lost myself because it’s like your a new person after this happens, and I was trying to discover the new me. I was angry and mad at God but I knew he still had me I just didn’t completely understand.
One day, as I had suicidal thoughts while I was in my car in the parking lot at the college, I had no gas in my car and I told God to do something that she would do for me and she always gave me gas money and I only had $2.47 in my account and I went to the gas station crying and I put my car in there with $2.47 in my account and I pumped gas and when I was done, I had a full tank of gas in my car. I called my mom and told her and she was like in shock and then I took it to the car shop and asked them to look at it and I told them what happen and they couldn’t find nothing wrong. I Thank God for that miracle because that was the confirmation I needed. That’s when the journey began, Just me and God, on my good days and bad days and I had trouble because a lot of people not there after the funeral and they don’t know what to do or say because it never happened to them. After that summer, I lost over 25 pounds and came back the season was completely different, still hurting but I knocked that weight off and you could see God working on me. I still struggled with my sleeping because I couldn’t still accept that she had passed. I would call my mom for her to stay on the phone to help me kinda of sleep, I couldn’t sleep for two years and I still had some struggles but I endured and I ran into some amazing people at my college that put an everlasting print on my heart that didn’t give up on me. I also worked at the funeral during my junior and senior years of college and that also allowed me to grow and to help others during their time of grieving.
My teachers understood what I was going through and they helped me the way they could and now I am a college graduate, class of 2021, I have an associate’s in general education, a bachelor’s in criminal justice and a minor in psychology and now I’m enrolled at Gupton Jones College of Funeral Service, I am an apprentice at Moss Stovall Neal Funeral Home and I am now a certified grief counselor from the American Institute of Healthcare Professionals. I am just here to remind you that there is life after death and I want people to get their lives back. If I can go through hell and get it back, I’m going to do all I can for someone to get there. You are going to lose yourself, people, friends, and relationships during this process but when you trust God, even when you don’t understand, He will replace with what you need. I am a business owner now and I named it “Gooooood Grief With Michaela”, because my grandmother died on November 6 and that’s where the 6 o’s come from and the two G’s symbolizes that she was my GG. We have to remember like, Tommie Harris said, Death is something that has in life, not to life. I thank God for everything because I wouldn’t be the woman I am today if I didn’t go through all of this.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
We wouldn’t learn if we didn’t experience obstacles and challenges in our lives, especially mine. I struggled a lot with grief, nothing understand why God took my grandmother away from me, not understanding why I never met and had people that are genuine like me and God has to literally separate me to show me that I just can’t be around everyone and God has to literally tell to stop expecting you out of other people and that why I got let down so much because the intentions not all aways right. I also stated that I dealt with depression and going through the stages of grief and that’s pretty to go through, especially when I did, all I wanted to do is play basketball in college this turned my path differently and a lot of times, I was very angry but thank God for having my mom to tell how I felt because we both had a rough time. People from the outside put limitations on grief and that pretty harsh when they treat you that way.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a Funeral Service Apprentice, I am a content creator for TIKTOK (Miss.FuneralHomeLady) and Grief Counselor. Basically, I pretty much do everything. I do administrative work, while supervised, I dress the bodies, embalm the bodies, I got on calls to pick the up the bodies from the hospital or resident or wherever the deceased passed away at. I also go on funerals and whatever else we do here, I am pretty much involved with everything. I want to thank my boss, James A. Neal Jr, for giving me the opportunity to work for this firm because I ran into so many no’s while I was looking for a funeral home to work at and then it happened perfectly when I started working here. I am a funeral home content creator on TIKTOK, I have over 74,000 followers and millions of views on TikTok from where they went viral and I’ve had several celebrities and athletes repost my videos and I had no idea that it would be going viral for posting funny funeral videos. I got MIss.FuneralHomeLady and I stand out because I give laughter to sad industry and I relate people and I am very genuine and everyone that comes across my page knows that. I have a genuine spirit and when you have that, you attract people and I have met people online that I never met, support me more than people I’ve known. I thank God for the exposure because I got a huge opportunity from a TV show and it was just wasn’t the right timing but that alerted me that people are watching and it’s the beginning.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I was definitely a tomboy and I grew up as an only child. I love to eat pizza, pizza will always be my favorite food. I love to go outside and didn’t return into the nighttime. My neighborhood crew were all boys and they considered me as one of them so whatever they did, I did and we would be in wood, fighting, hunting, racing, riding 4wheelers, climbing trees, starting fires, doing everything that you could think of. I was a very outgoing and spontaneous and I love being outside. We played all sports and I always played basketball with the boys and that’s what made me the baller I was, they were really hard on me but all loved and looked out from one another. I was in a pageant my 8th-grade year and I never seen myself with makeup on until that day and my mother did my makeup and I never seen myself as a woman until that day, the tomboy days were over, I started sneaking and wearing makeup and I wanted to discover this new woman I saw and I actually came in second place in that pageant and I learned to walk in heels and I never stop walking in them and that moment creates who I am today.
Pricing:
- Grief Counseling $65 per hour
- Athletic Mentorship $40 per hour
- Venting With Michaela 50$ per hour
Contact Info:
- Website: TheMichaelaHudson.Org
- Instagram: chaehudson
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MichaelaLashaeHudson/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/good-grief-with-michaela-commerce
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@michaelalhudson
Image Credits
Jlaviiphotography (Jasmine)
