Lam: What kind of training and license do you need to be a mortician?

Doughty: There’s no easy answer because death care and funeral regulations are run state-by-state. For example, I went to mortuary school in California, but just to get the funeral director’s license I didn’t really have to do that. I could have just taken the licensing exam and poof!—funeral director. Usually there is some manner of apprenticeship followed by big tests, followed by a certain number of "cases" (which is industry lingo for the individual dead bodies).

Lam: What was your day-to-day like when you worked as a mortician?

Doughty: There’s no typical day-to-day. I’ve done everything from cremate bodies, to drive a van carrying eleven bodies at once, to fill out death certificates with families, to sit on the phone with the coroner for hours trying to get a body released. Much of the work is preparing and transporting dead bodies, but most people would be surprised how much bureaucracy is involved. In Los Angeles, where I work, just filing the paperwork is a nightmare of different agencies that don’t work very well together. It’s not a well-oiled machine by any means.

Lam: How popular is cremation nowadays in the death industry? And why?

Doughty: Hugely popular, nearing 50 percent, especially in urban areas. It’s yet to break 15 percent in many places in the South. The traditional funeral industry is always terrified of the “cremation problem” wolf at their door.

As to why it’s so popular, it was branded incredibly well, starting in the 1960s. Many of the baby boomers will say that cremation is the “simple, cost effective, environmentally friendly” option. Which is a party line that has grown and now dominates people’s thoughts when they think about what they want done with their dead body.

The history of how we got to where we are with death is so fascinating, and most people don’t know, they just think that the way we “do” death is how we “do” death. We have a very short cultural memory when it comes to death rituals in and methods in this country.

Lam: How did your career as a mortician take a turn from tradition?

Doughty: I knew almost immediately after I started working in the industry that I wanted the public to see what I was seeing behind the scenes. The environment was so industrial, so removed from families, so behind the black curtain. But the thought of putting myself out there to say it was terrifying, because being a woman on the internet is not always the warm and fuzziest place. It was early 2011 when I couldn’t stand it anymore and felt I was ready, so I started putting things up online.

My boss at my funeral home knew I was doing it, but I don’t think he totally understood what I was doing. He was in a “this darn email!” place, as an old school funeral director. The idea of YouTube videos was not in his wheelhouse.