A pre-Mother’s Day luncheon and conference
honoring our moms — and celebrating 30 years of the book Motherless Daughters.


Please join us for a day of inspiring speakers, group activities, and time to connect with other women.

Hello, Friends,

In 1996, a dedicated group of women who had lost their mothers young came together for the first Motherless Daughters luncheon in New York City.

We wanted to create a space on the weekend before Mother’s Day where we could honor mothers no longer living. We called that Saturday Motherless Daughters Day.

From that event grew a network of luncheons that take place every year at this time, all over the world — bringing daughters together in a shared experience of sisterhood and solidarity.

In 2014, for the 20th anniversary of the book Motherless Daughters, we held a day-long luncheon and conference in Los Angeles that brought together women from all over the world.

This year, Motherless Daughters turns 30! And we’re inviting all of you again to join us in Los Angeles on the Saturday before Mother’s Day, to honor our moms together.

Thirty years! That’s an anniversary worth celebrating.

We’ve planned a full-day, pre-Mother’s Day luncheon and conference for you in Marina del Rey, California. Two hundred women will come together to honor their moms and acknowledge the enduring relationships we share.

You’ll hear from some fabulous speakers, engage in activities to honor your mom, and meet (and reconnect with) other women who share this essential part of your story.

And stay an extra day for a more intimate, immersive experience on Sunday, when you can take part in one of four workshops create just for YOU and led by experts in the field.

The experience of sitting in a room filled with women who understand your deepest challenges, dreams, and fears is truly life-changing. The Circle of Remembrance, when 200 women stand in a circle together and say our names and our mothers’ names out loud, one by one, is a powerful moment to behold.

Please join us in Los Angeles on May 4-5, as we gather for a weekend of learning, growing, bonding, and recognizing our moms’ legacies together.

I can’t wait to see you there!

xo,
Hope

Who Will Be There?

All motherless daughters ages 18 and up are invited to attend, whether you lost your mom 50 years ago or just last week. We have space for 200 women to attend.

You’ll be seated at a table with 10 - 12 other motherless daughters, some of whom you may know from prior programming, and some who you’ll meet for the first time!

Motherless Daughters does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, national origin, disability, neurodivergence, or marital status in any of its activities or operations. We are committed to providing an inclusive and welcoming environment for all participants and, whenever possible, choose retreat sites that are ADA compliant.

Ticket Prices & What’s Included:

SATURDAY ticket is $375.

  • A full day (9:30 am to 5 pm) of programming, with Hope Edelman and a variety of special guests

  • Catered lunch (salad, entree, rolls and butter, choice of a vegetarian option or chicken, dessert)

  • Facilitated discussions and activities at group tables

  • Multiple guest speakers

  • Signed copy of Warrior: My Path to Being Brave, by keynote speaker Lisa Guerrero

  • Hot Beverage Bar with tea and coffee all day

  • Entry to Friday’s informal, pool-side meetup

SUNDAY Pop-Up Workshops are an additional $295 with a Saturday ticket. After April 1, 2024 you may purchase as a stand-alone workshop for $345 if there’s still space.

  • Six hours (10 am to 4 pm) of unique programming from core team members

  • All workshop materials

  • Box lunch (your choice of meat or veggie sandwich, fruit, chips, cookie and a bottle of water)

  • Free signed copy of The AfterGrief

  • Hot Beverage Bar with tea and coffee all day

  • Afternoon snacks

Scholarship requests: We have a limited number of partial scholarships to women in financial need, especially BIPOC, LGBTQ, single parents, students, and anyone in financial hardship due to an adverse health event. Please send a short note explaining your situation, your financial needs, and what you hope to gain from attending the event. We will award scholarships by April 1, and respond to all interested parties either way. Please put MAY EVENT SCHOLARSHIP REQUEST in the subject line and send the email to: jessica@hopeedelman.com

Our Event Will Take Place at the
Hotel MdR in Marina del Rey, California

 

FRIDAY, May 3rd: 6 - 9 pm

We’ll spend an optional, informal evening by the outdoor pool, where attendees who arrive early can meet up with each other until 9 p.m. This evening is for those who have purchased a Saturday ticket. There is no set program — just come and unwind after traveling to the site, order a beverage or app, and enjoy the balmy California evening weather!

SATURDAY, May 4th: 9 - 5 pm

Join us for a full day of programming. Keep checking back for updates as we continue to add to the schedule below.

Meet Your Saturday Special Guests…

Award-winning journalist Lisa Guerrero was eight years old when her mother died of cancer. She went on to become a nationally recognized sports reporter before taking on the role of Chief Investigative Correspondent for Inside Edition, where she travels the country covering crimes, scams, cold cases, and consumer reports. She has won eight National Headliner Awards, beating CNN’s Anderson Cooper, and has been honored twice by The National Press Club. In the past year alone, Guerrero’s investigations have racked up an additional 120 million views on YouTube. Her investigations have been profiled in Newsweek, The New York Times and The Washington Post.

Before joining Inside Edition, Lisa spent over a decade as a sports reporter on CBS, Fox, ABC and ESPN, having anchored and reported for dozens of shows including the wildly popular The Best Damn Sports Show Period. She has broadcast from seven Super Bowls, five World Series, and four NBA national championship games, as well as the World Figure Skating championships. In 2003, she was the sideline reporter for ABC’s Monday Night Football–Al Michaels called the ratings increase that season “the Guerrero factor.” She lives in Los Angeles.

Born six weeks before the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, Owen Elliot-Kugell was seven when her mom, iconic singer-songwriter Cass Elliot, died suddenly. Growing up with her aunt and uncle in Los Angeles, she met her husband Jack Kugell at 19. They currently reside with their daughter, Zoe, and son, Noah, in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles.

On May 7th, Elliot-Kugell will release her highly anticipated debut memoir titled My Mama, Cass, published via Hachette Book Group. Featuring intimate family and archival photos as well as interviews and memories from famous friends, fans, and colleagues who loved and respected Cass, My Mama, Cass is both a love story and a mystery, a tale of self-discovery and a daughter’s devotion.

Owen will talk with us about researching her mother’s life, re-discovering her mom through this process, and learning important lessons about herself.

Ariane Price is an alum of the Groundlings Theater Main Company where she continues to perform and teach sketch comedy and improv. Her children’s animated show Lulu & The Help You Crew, which she co wrote with Bridesmaids co-writer Annie Mumolo, has been optioned by international and national animation houses.  You can listen to her new comedic podcast “Multiple Talking Women “ everywhere podcasts can be found. Ariane believes improv can greatly help people in all areas of their lives. She is available to coach workshops for all people, one on one or groups, anywhere in the world. She lives in the Hollywood Hills with her chef husband, 17 year old son and rescue dogs. Stay in touch at arianeprice.com

Jeri Okamoto-Tanaka discovered Motherless Daughters in 1994, two years after the sudden death of her mother Chiyo. The book, the retreats, and the Motherless Daughters community companioned her through grief and launched her on a spiritual quest to better understand the mysteries of life, death, and what comes next.

Jeri holds a Master of Divinity from the Claremont School of Theology and focuses on inclusive and affirming spiritual care, engaged compassion, chaplaincy to animals and their humans, and healing justice through writing, art, and meditative and contemplative practices. As the mother of two daughters and a certified Mother Loss provider, she is grateful for the opportunity to pass forward the wisdom and comfort she receives from this circle of love to other daughters on this journey.

Indie artist Indy Darling from MKE and LA sings in hues of R&B warmth and funk freedom, creating a vibrant atmosphere that invites sensuality. She genre-blends and time-travels in delicious twists that inspire as they soothe, balancing earnestness with a smirk at the absurdity of things. Indy channels a nostalgic sense of artistry homaging Black alternative and pop icons of the past century while rooting her focus in poignantly present longings for self reclamation and authentic connection. Anyone living or craving an embodied life can find themselves in Indy Darling’s sonic universe. Look out for her flavor-packed EP coming this spring!

Indydarling.com

@indy.darling on Tiktok 

@indy.darling on instagram 

Brennan Wood walked through the doors of the Dougy Center: The National Grief Center for Children & Families for the first time in 1987 when her mother, Doris, died three days after Brennan turned 12 years old.

Brennan’s life came full circle when she became Dougy Center’s Executive Director in 2015. She is the author of A Kids Book About Grief, serves on the National Advisory Council for The Children’s Collaborative, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Alliance for Children’s Grief. She was the 2020 Light-a-Fire Award Extraordinary Executive Director and a 2022 Women of Influence Award recipient. As a grieving child herself, Brennan knows firsthand the importance of a community of support, and she has strived to provide the same opportunity she had to other children and families who are grieving everywhere. Brennan loves honoring her mother’s legacy by making every day a celebration! 

Name of presentation:
A Lifetime of Connection: Creating A Legacy of Love

  • Check in at the welcome desk to receive your information and goodies for the day.

  • Join us as Jeri Okamoto-Tanaka guides us through a meditation to begin our day.

  • The author of Motherless Daughters and founder at Motherlessdaughters.com greets attendees and shares the history of our collective movement.

  • The author of the new memoir “My Mama, Cass” shares what she learned when researching the life and death of her mother, Cass Elliot of The Mamas and the Papas

  • 15 minutes of grounding and balancing for self care.

  • Actor Ariane Price, member of the famed LA Groundlings, will lead the group through a series of fun and creative improv exercises. Let your Fun Flag fly!

  • Enjoy your catered lunch (salad, entree, rolls and butter, choice of a vegetarian option or chicken, dessert)

  • Lisa Guerrero, Chief Investigative Reporter at Inside Edition, was 8 when her mother died. She joins us to talk about finding courage after adversity and honoring her mother’s life in her work.

  • Stretch your legs and grab some coffee or tea.

  • Actor Ariane Price, a member of the Los Angeles Groundlings, will guide us through an hour of improv exercises. Because laughter truly IS good medicine. Ariane knows this from experience - she was only three when her mother died.

  • An energizing and nourishing activity as we approach the end of the day.

  • Our signature closing to all Motherless Daughters events, when we stand in a circle and say our names and our mothers’ names out loud. Experience the power of doing this with 199 others!

SUNDAY WORKSHOPS (add-ons), May 5th: 10 am - 4 pm

Want more time together? Register for one of our four Pop-Up Workshop options on Sunday. Choose the one that best fits your interests and needs.

  • Motherless Mothers: An In-Person Circle, with Christine Meyer

  • Fly It Forward (for alumnae of Motherless Daughters Retreats) with Hope Edelman and Zanne Hollingshead

  • Mother Loss, Trauma, and Emotion Regulation Tools, with therapist Angela Schellenberg

Workshop Cost: $295, when purchased with a Saturday ticket.

For those who can’t join us on Saturday….if our workshops still have space, we’ll open up Sunday Only Registrations on April 1, 2024. Starting April 1, space allowing, you can register for a pop-up on its own — but we hope to see you all weekend!

  • Join up to 24 other motherless mothers for a workshop focusing on mothering without our mothers. We will connect through story-sharing, meditation, writing, and small group exercises that will invite us to explore the impact that losing a mother to death has had on our journeys of mothering, and open us to mothering ourselves along the way. This workshop is open to daughters of all ages and stages who are navigating motherhood without their own mother’s support and guidance

    * PRE-REQs: You can be a mother of any age now — with children ranging from newborn to adult.

    * TIME: 10 am - 4 pm with a  one hour break (box lunch included)

    * COST: Regular price is $295.

    * $345 if you attend on Sunday only (registration for just the Pop-Up Workshop will open up after April 1, 2024).

    * FACILITATOR: Christine Meyer is the Founder of She Climbs Mountains, a non-profit organization serving women and girls who have experienced mother loss. She is also the facilitator of Hope Edelman’s Motherless Mothers Circles, a series of virtual 8-week groups that run several times a year. 

  • Do you have a difficult time regulating your emotions?

    Have you ever been told you need to calm down?

    Or do you have a hard time expressing your emotions because you bottle things up?

    Many of these symptoms develop as a coping mechanism after a traumatic event — in our case, mother loss — to protect "little-you" from what you were experiencing at the time. And all of these coping mechanisms are a result of the trauma, grief, and loss that your body and nervous system have experienced. It can make it difficult — sometimes, impossible — for you to regulate your emotions.

    This is emotional DYSREGULATION.

    But so many of us don’t know what emotion REGULATION is or how to create it within ourselves. We weren’t taught anything about this. 

    Come on a journey packed with lots of ah-ha moments, psychoeducation on trauma, emotion regulation tips, and distress tolerance tools. Together, we will begin to recognize and identify the number of ways your mother’s loss and early childhood trauma may be showing up in your present life and how we can begin to make changes…

    We will learn tips and tools to recognize your triggers and begin to help you learn to regulate your emotions!

    PRE-REQ’s: None.

    ITEMS NEEDED FOR WORKSHOP: Bring your laptop, journal, pen, and paper.

    * TIME: 10 am - 4 pm with a  one hour break (box lunch included)

    * COST: Regular price is $295.

    FACILITATOR: Angela Schellenberg, LMHC, Trauma, EMDR, Grief, and LOSS PSYCHOTHERAPIST.

  • Your Motherless Daughters Retreat was about inner exploration and emotional processing, as we revisited and revised our stories of loss.

    Our focus at that retreat was on the past. This time, we turn our gaze toward the future. Our one-day Fly It Forward workshop has been designed as your post-retreat Next Step. It will help answer questions like, How might you take what you learned at the first retreat and apply it forward? Where might your specific experiences and knowledge be put to good use for others?

    The first half of this workshop focuses on Visioning and Big Dreams. The afternoon explores how to transform Vision into Action. Because while personal growth and ideas are valuable on their own, they’re even more fulfilling when made actionable.

    Join us for a day when we imagine ourselves into futures of our own design!

    This workshop is open to alumnae of any Motherless Daughters Retreat, in-person or virtual. If you already attended the 2019 Fly It Forward workshop in Los Angeles, you can register for this workshop, too!

    * PRE-REQs: You must have attended a Motherless Daughters Retreat in person or online to register for this workshop.

    * ITEMS NEEDED FOR WORKSHOP: Journal and pen. You may also want to bring your own sketchpad and markers.

    * TIME: 10 am - 4 pm with a  one hour break (box lunch included)

    * COST: Regular price is $295.

    YOUR CO-FACILITATORS:

    Hope Edelman is the author of eight nonfiction books, including the bestsellers Motherless Daughters and Motherless Mothers. In 2016 she co-founded Motherless Daughters Retreats with Claire Bidwell Smith. To date, more than 450 women have attended 23 four-day retreats, with four more scheduled for 2024. Hope is the founder motherlessdaughters.com, which offers online support, in-person workshops and retreats, and writing courses for women all over the world. She is a certified life coach through Martha Beck Life Coach Training. Read more about Hope at www.hopeedelman.com

    Zanne Hollingshead lost her mom to brain cancer when she was 10 years old. She is a wellness advocate, life coach and group facilitator, dedicated to using her experience of mother loss, sibling loss, close friend loss and learnings from many therapeutic avenues to walk alongside others through life's great challenges. She completed a renowned life coaching training program in 2023 and specializes in coaching women who are navigating loss, change and healing.

    Zanne is a seeker and supporter who leads with her heart, and believes that healing and transformation is possible through courageous, intentional, exploratory inner work coupled with peer support. The greater MD Community has been of immeasurable value to Zanne, from participation in childhood mother loss retreats and traveling to Peru for 2022 Motherless Daughters service trip, to co-facilitating and coordinating the new Motherless Daughters Support Circle Training Program, she is captivated by the power of peer support and a huge advocate of its contribution to healing.

COVID-19 POLICY:

We strongly suggest a vaccination and boosters. We will not be testing or requiring tests of any participant. Each person assumes their own risk if they choose to attend this event, and everyone is encouraged to do what feels right in terms of masking. We are not able to give refunds outside of our normal cancellation policy (see below) for any sickness, so travel insurance is highly recommended.

CANCELLATION POLICY

Cancel anytime before 4/15 for a full refund, minus a non-refundable $100 fee. After 4/15, $185 of your registration is non-refundable.

Workshop tuition follows the same cancellation policy and is treated as a separate transaction: fully refundable until 4/15 with a $100 fee. After 4/15, $185 of your registration is non-refundable.

Note: Organizers reserve the right to cancel any workshops that do not meet the minimum registrations (10 attendees). In that case, you will receive a full refund of the workshop add-on payment.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

  • Tell me more about Hotel MdR? This hotel was chosen by our Events Team for its location, customer service, cozy feel, and proximity to the beach and airport (LAX). A large shopping center just across the street has plenty of restaurants and shops. The hotel also has a restaurant on site that serves breakfast. When you arrive, you will be greeted by the hotel staff and given warm cookies. There is a beautiful pool with a deck (where we will gather on Friday), a fitness room, and free wifi.

  • How much is a room at Hotel MdR? We have secured a block of rooms for a discounted rate of $209/night. There is an additional room tax of 16.43%.

  • How do I book a room? Click the link here.

  • What if I have to cancel my room? You will need to contact the hotel directly or cancel via the Hilton link. You may cancel up to 11:59 pm on May 2, 2024 to get a full refund. All of this is handled directly with the hotel. Please do not contact Motherless Daughters about room reservations or cancellations.

  • How far is the airport? LAX is a 10- to 15-minute Uber or Lyft ride away. There is no hotel shuttle to or from the airport. Click here to find out how close the hotel is to other favorite beaches and attractions.

  • What if I have to cancel my registration to the event? The event cancellation is separate from hotel reservations, and is handled directly with us. Please send a note of cancellation to our Events Coordinator at jessica@hopeedelman.com. Our cancellation policy is listed below.

  • Is parking included? No. Parking is charged by the hotel at a rate of $28/per day for the self-parking lot.

  • Can I just come to Friday by the pool? To attend the informal gathering on Friday evening, you will need to be registered for Saturday’s event.

  • Can I just come on Sunday’s pop-up? Those who purchase tickets on Saturday will have first option to register for the limited number of slots for each of the pop-up workshops. We will release any extra workshops spaces after April 1st.

  • I want to rent an AirBnb. Fabulous! We can’t be involved in helping you procure this, but go for it!

  • My friends and I want to come together. Can we share a room or get adjoining rooms? Please check directly with the hotel for any rooming requests. If you’d like to share a room with someone, one of you will need to make the reservation and you will need to handle payment between the two of you.

  • On Saturday, I want to make sure I sit at the same table as my friends. This event is a great chance to reconnect in person…. we get it! If you attended a Motherless Daughters Retreat, we will try to seat you with your fellow retreat sisters. This may not be possible in all instances. More likely, you will be seated at a table of 10 - 12 other motherless daughters, some of whom may have been involved in the same programming as you, and some of whom may have not! There will be ample opportunities throughout the day to connect informally with other women you know.

  • I can’t come to Los Angeles in person. Is there a way to attend online? We now have a live streaming option, click here to register for the livestream.

  • When does registration close? Register for the live event by 5 pm Pacific on Tuesday April 30. You can register for the livestream up until the event starts, please register by 8:30 am Pacific on Saturday May 4.