Shedding the Shame with Emily Shimwell: Miscarriage, Estrangement, and Healing Through Community

Today I’m joined by Emily Shimwell- experience designer, storyteller, lifelong gatherer, and founder of Dine Wilder.Emily has built her life around human connection. She designs spaces that pull women out from behind their screens and back into real, honest conversation. She skips the small talk and leads with courage.In this episode, Emily shares her experience of miscarriage at 12 weeks. We talk about the grief that followed, the well-intended but unhelpful things people say after pregnancy loss, and how her mother’s own miscarriage shaped the way she approached trying to conceive.We also talk about her estrangement from her father, which began when she was fifteen, and how that decision has impacted her identity, boundaries, and sense of trust.This is a conversation about:Miscarriage and pregnancy lossGrief and the pressure to “have perspective”Family estrangementTrusting yourself after lossBuilding community as a form of healingHolding grief and gratitude at the same timeEmily shares how community has been woven into every chapter of her life; and how gathering women together has helped her process hard things and rebuild.If you’ve experienced miscarriage, estrangement, or any kind of loss that reshaped you, this episode will resonate deeply.