How do you keep choosing joy when your heart keeps breaking? In this episode of Highly Visible & A Little Misunderstood, I sit down with Mimi Gonzalez—host of griefsense, Gen-Z storyteller, and grief worker—to explore how we carry loss, build legacy, and still find our way back to joy. Mimi shares what it’s like to live with 36 funerals by age 29—and how grief reshaped her relationship with creativity, community, and rest. We talk about the weight of cumulative trauma, the loneliness of being a highly visible griever online, and the radical act of turning grief into art. We also unpack: The moment she walked away from a C-suite job to protect her nervous system Why cooking and creating can feel like “cocoa butter for the soul” The pressure of “healing for content” in a social media world What it means to build legacy instead of chasing a brand How joy still finds its way through the cracks—even if it takes time This isn’t a conversation about “getting over it.” It’s about being with it. And letting your life expand to hold both grief and joy at once.   📤How has grief reshaped your relationship with joy? Send a voice note or message: https://form.smartsuite.com/sszxz4mn/sxwLOAg7ur   🤝🏾 Connect with Mimi Gonzalez LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/mimigonzalez TikTok & YouTube → @griefsense Newsletter “The Sala” (grief + creativity) → https://griefsense.com Grief-Sense podcast → https://linktr.ee/griefsense 📚 Resources & Links HINDZSIGHT on YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/@Hindzsight “Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway” by Susan Jeffers (book)  🔔 Stay Connected & Support the Show Subscribe & Share to keep these conversations alive Join our email list + get free stickers: https://highlyvisiblepod.ck.page/684e1e911f Buy me a Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/highlyvisiblepod Follow on Instagram & TikTok: @HighlyVisiblePod All links: https://linktr.ee/highlyvisiblepod 🎛️ Production Credits Produced & Edited by: Jonathan Dumas Co-Produced & Additional Editing: Reggie Hall Contact: HighlyVisiblePodcast@gmail.com  #Podcast #BlackJoy #HighlyVisiblePodcast #OnJoy #GriefAndJoy #MentalHealth #BlackJoy #GenZCreators #griefsense #LegacyNotBrand #Creativity #PodcastInterview #CreativeProcess #MentalHealth #JoyAsResistance #BlackPodcasts #BlackPodcaster #BlackPodcastCommunity