IT STARTED WITH CAREGIVING

This organization was born from two caregivers who refused to accept that exhaustion was the only option.

A Founding Vision

Lumera Heart Project was co-founded by two lifelong friends who each walked their own caregiving journey and saw the same gap: caregivers give everything and receive almost nothing back.

One of our founders, a registered nurse, cared for her mother at home alongside her brother, while working full-time, attending school, and raising her family. She made a promise to keep her mom out of a facility, and she kept it. What she couldn't find along the way was a community that understood the cost of that promise.

One afternoon, exhausted and searching, she called her closest friend: "There has to be something out there for caregivers to get some real rest. Why doesn't this exist?" — a question that would change everything.

That conversation became the seed of what Lumera Heart Project is today.

Read our full story

Lumera Heart Project carries that founding vision forward, that caregivers deserve more than endurance. They deserve rest, community, and a place that sees them.

Dear friends,

I've been a caregiver. That's where this work begins for me.

I walked alongside my grandfather through his final years. I stepped into a steadier role for my teenage nephew after an unexpected family loss. I've done this work the way most caregivers do, while juggling everything else: a career, school, and the daily logistics of a life that doesn't pause just because someone you love needs more.

I've also learned what nobody tells you about caregiving: that loving someone doesn't make it easier. That you can give your whole heart and still feel like you're failing. Those are the moments when you most need someone to just see you, and often, those are the moments when you have the least time to ask.

That's the reason Lumera Heart Project exists.

I co-founded this organization with a lifelong friend, a registered nurse who'd cared for her own mother at home while working full-time, going to school, and raising her family. She made a promise to keep her mother out of a facility, and she kept it. What neither of us could find along the way was a community that actually understood what we were carrying.

We knew that gap had to be filled. So we set out to fill it.

What Lumera Heart Project is today

There are 63 million family caregivers in this country. Most are exhausted. Most are doing this work without training, without a real break, and often without a single person in their daily life who genuinely gets it.

We built Lumera Heart Project for them.

Today, that means free, weekly virtual gatherings through Lumera Table Talks, an open, no-pressure space where caregivers connect with others walking similar paths. It means our monthly Heart Sessions speaker series, launching in Fall 2026, where caregivers gather around a specific theme each month, led by trained facilitators and, when possible, clinicians and experts who actually understand this territory.

And we're building toward something bigger: our first restorative caregiver retreat, designed entirely around rest, peer connection, and the kind of quiet most caregivers haven't had in years.

Everything we offer is free to join and at no cost.

A few things about me

A belief that guides me: people do their best work and live their best lives when they feel seen, supported, and connected to purpose. I've always approached work through a human lens first. Strategy only matters when it aligns with real people and their lived experiences.

A lot of how I see the world comes from how I've lived, through caregiving, through loss, through building a business while juggling everything else. Those experiences taught me resilience, empathy, and the importance of building communities that support the whole person, not just what they can give.

That's why this work matters so much to me. I care about building things that are thoughtful, sustainable, and human-centered. Caregivers deserve exactly that. They deserve to feel seen.