Hi, I'm Manoela!

I am Brazilian-born, American by choice and my mother is the reason I moved to the US in 2003. She wanted me to “expand my horizons.” It certainly did!
 

Throughout my school years in Brazil, I was the kid who liked to hang out with older people. I was always the leader of the class and very responsible, which led me to a management career in logistics, hospitality, retail and commercial real estate. These positions weren’t just about the materials; it was more about the people and building strong relationships with each individual to accomplish our daily mission.

​

By 2015, I was 30 years old, already divorced from an abusive partner, and without any hopes of finding love, ever.
Note to self: The Universe had other plans.

​

My best friends at the time introduced me to the absolute love of my life, Lukasz. He lived in Dallas, I lived in Boston. After 2 months dating long distance; I decided to dance in the mystery and resumed my entire life in Boston and moved to Texas. The following year we eloped. Four years later in 2019, our daughter Vivian was born, and the following year, 8.15.2020; Lukasz was lost in a tragic car accident.

​

The impossible happened. Lukasz was 37 years old, I was 35 years old and Vivian was 10 months old. The first year after his death, Vivian was my reason for getting out of bed and functioning through my fog of grief.

​

In September of 2020, I joined an online widows group and found a connection with other sudden loss survivors like me. We all had lost our Person; that one human who makes our world whole.

​

A few months after, the organizers who facilitated the group decided to walk away from the project. While we still had our connections, we lacked leadership so I began developing a new approach to grief support: Kismetology was born.

​

However, it is not just for widows, it is for anyone who is grieving for their Person whether it was their spouse, child, parent, partner, or pal. It isn’t about how you were related; it is about how you valued your relationship.

​

Kismetology is non-denominational. We’ll talk about everything from how to handle the holidays to responding to the “helpful” absurdities that people share after we lose our Person. We’ll talk about self-compassion, moving forward with the grief, managing expectations, and giving ourselves permission to move forward with our grief.

​

We are a safe and sacred community.

​

We have not met by accident, it’s Kismet!