About Us
At Be a Tree Cremation, we believe that our final interaction with the earth should be meaningful and gentle.
Our mission is to provide simple, environmentally-friendly cremation services, returning people to the earth, honoring our loved ones and giving back to the planet.
Our Values
Love Every Family
Love each family as our own as they go through the difficult season of life associated with losing a loved one or considering their own final wishes.
Love the Planet
Consider our planet in all aspects of the business.
Do the Right Thing
Above all else, do the right thing.
Our Team
Emily Nelson (she/her) | Founder & CEO
The existence of Be a Tree can be attributed to two very important women. The first is my mother, Jill, who was my earliest and most significant death. She passed when I was a little over a year old, leaving me with a lifelong curiosity and fascination with death and eventually, access to the financial means to create something larger than myself. The second is the woman who would eventually marry my father and legally adopt me, my mom, Robin. After a conversation with my mom about the possibilities for our bodies after death, I asked her what she wanted, and she simply told me, “I want to be a tree.”
Through the time I spent working in the corporate death care industry and my experience with branding and marketing, I knew that the best way to honor both my mother and my mom's legacies was to make the possibility of living on through nature a reality with water cremation.
As a Colorado native, I know the importance nature plays in our lives and saw the need to lessen our environmental impact as we leave this life for whatever is next, something that is not the reality with fire cremation and traditional burial.
Now, my team and I are wholly committed to serving our community with greener end-of-life alternatives and a way to live on through nature after death.
Sherèe Browne (she/her) |
Chief Community Officer & Director of Pre Planning
As a natural facilitator of tough conversations and having experienced the loss of loved ones several times throughout life, when the calling came to step into death care I knew it was meant to be my life’s work. Living in a society where death is often a taboo topic, avoided due to fear and a variety of uncomfortable feelings, it’s extremely important to me to help educate and empower people so that they know all of their options, are remembered exactly as they want to be, and can break free from some of the fear associated with death; allowing them to live more fulfilling, enriching lives.
My life’s passion is to help you plan your final wishes so that your life is more abundant, filled with love, and exciting than ever!
Summer Downs (she/they) | Arrangement & Ceremony Specialist
I have a lifelong background engaging in community care work in different capacities around the world, and I am now devoting my attention to providing care at the time of death. The unexpected death of my beloved sister, and my journey with grief that followed, led me to discover my deep and abiding passion for holistic deathcare. As a trained death doula, I consider it a true honor to offer intentional, compassionate care to families and their loved ones at Be A Tree.
My greatest desire is that every departed loved one is treated with the utmost dignity, and that you are filled with the peaceful knowledge that your loved one is being cared for in a personalized, intimate way. I will speak your loved one’s name, light a candle for them, play their favorite music, sing to them, hang their picture up, or read their favorite poems while they are in our care, so that their final journey is unique and sacred.
Brenna McLaughlin (she/her) | Operations Manager
I graduated from Arapahoe Community College in 2020 with a degree in Mortuary Science with the intention of helping others and bettering the Earth for those left behind. I am driven by my love for the outdoors and helping my family, friends, the community and beyond. After spending time in the corporate funeral service industry, I knew my true calling was to guide others through the death care industry in the most green and environmentally friendly way possible.
When I'm not at Be A Tree Cremation assisting families, you can find me hiking, spending time with my SoulMutt (my dog) Tate, as well as family and friends and tending to my houseplants.
News & Job Openings
We believe in providing the community with high-quality, up-to-date, and safe cremation practices. All staff members who will be handling the cremation process have completed the The CANA Crematory Operations Certification Program™.
Be a Tree Cremation, a nature-centric Water Cremation facility in Denver, now offers full-electric transportation from people’s place of death and into the care of Be a Tree.