Why we exist
Most of us avoid talking about death—it can be uncomfortable, confusing, and complicated. But avoiding the conversation doesn’t make it easier. Instead, it leaves families overwhelmed, dealing with financial chaos, unclear wishes, and emotional burdens intensified by complex logistics.
We built Aftermap because everyone deserves clarity and compassion when it matters most.
Who we are
We’re a wife-and-wife team: a project manager and an experience designer. One of us handles logistics, the other focuses on how things feel. We’ve spent our careers building tools and helping people through complex moments.
Even after one of us trained as a death doula, we were surprised by how frustrating end-of-life planning felt—disjointed tools, confusing language, and an impersonal process.
We built Aftermap to change that—for ourselves, and for anyone else trying to plan ahead or manage what’s left behind. Because dealing with death shouldn’t mean sorting through chaos. It should come with clarity, care, and support that actually makes sense.
Our team
Olivia Vagelos, Co-Founder
I am an Experience Designer and Strategist. Along with co-founding Aftermap, I run The Design for Feelings Studio, an agency focused on developing new tools and frameworks for experience design, teaching the craft of experience across industries, and supporting individuals, teams, and communities in using experience design to dream up more just, beautiful, regenerative futures. We work with people hungry for things to feel weirder, wilder, kinder, and more radical. The Studio is where we get to marry the left-brain rigor with the right-brain magic.
Before this, I spent many years at the design firm IDEO, Stanford’s d.school, and in big philanthropy, designing ways for us to make meaning and make beauty for one another. I’ve worked with organizations ranging from billion-dollar entertainment companies to global foundations, community-driven arts non-profits to collectives of educators, AI startups to research labs.
At the heart of all of it, my work is about the people — how we show up, how we hold space for one another, and how we create something unforgettable and unexpected.
“We bring creativity to planning so many things in life—birth, weddings, vacations, the big moments and the small. But death? We’re expected to figure it all out in crisis mode. Planning can be an act of care, and one of beauty.”
Danielle Balderas, Co-Founder
I’m a strategist and producer who loves bringing order to the messy parts of life.
Before building Aftermap I spent the last decade helping teams move big, often complicated, ideas forward. Working with global foundations like the Ford Foundation and UN Foundation, media organizations like The Meteor, education initiatives like XQ Institute, and arts nonprofits, I’ve produced summits, built digital tools, and led campaigns that help people see sticky problems more clearly.
I trained as a death doula with Alua Arthur through Going With Grace, where I was inspired by the many ways people tend to the end. But looking around at friends and family, I was struck by how many still felt like they were reinventing the wheel with every death—no roadmap, no single source of truth, no “here’s what to do next.”
At the heart of my work is a belief that clarity is a form of care—and that end-of-life planning can be both deeply practical and deeply human.
I like untangling hard problems. End-of-life planning is one of them. With Aftermap, we’re trying to make it radically simpler—and a little more kind.
How we’re different
Clarity is care. Most tools make you jump between ten tabs and still leave you confused. We break things down step by step, so you always know what to do next.
We keep it simple—and human. We guide you through digital and real-world decisions without making you upload every detail of your life to yet another app.
You don’t need another platform. We’ve built everything using tools you already use—like Google Sheets—so you’re not stuck with some clunky app you’ll forget about or a platform that might not exist in 20 years.
Who we support
Families in crisis: If someone has just died—or is about to—you’re likely facing a pile of decisions, forms, and questions you didn’t expect. We’re here to help you sort through it, one step at a time.
Caregivers & executors: If you’re managing someone else’s affairs, helping aging parents, or acting as an executor, we offer tools to help you stay organized and supported through it all.
Proactive planners: If you’re getting your own affairs in order—so your family isn’t left with a mess—we guide you through what matters, what to document, and how to make it easier for the people you love.
Professionals: If you’re a death doula, therapist, hospice provider, or estate planner, we offer tools and resources you can share with clients—or use directly in your practice.
Using Aftermap tools professionally?
We offer licenses and tailored packages for death doulas, therapists, estate attorneys, eldercare specialists, and other professionals. Reach out to hello@aftermap.co to learn more about our professional pricing.
Let’s talk
Have questions? Need personalized support? Want to chat? Schedule a free 30-minute call to explore how we can support you.