Maile
Navarro
I’m Maile Navarro. I’m a writer, children’s book author, podcast host, advocate, and mom, first and always.
I’m also rebuilding my life after losing my 9 year old son, Kingston. That loss is the center of everything I do now, whether I planned it that way or not.
I host the podcast Honestly, I’m Fine, where I talk about grief the way it actually shows up. Not the version people package into inspiration, but the messy, disorienting, sometimes darkly funny reality of trying to keep going when your life no longer makes sense.
I write across different forms, from children’s books to personal storytelling, and I create music that I bring to life using AI. It started as a way to cope and turned into another way to say the things I don’t always have language for.
I’m also the founder of the Live Like Kingston Foundation, currently pending 501(c)(3) status, where I advocate for and support families navigating pediatric cancer, end of life, and life after caregiving.
Recently, I started a 365-day “manifestation or bust” challenge for myself. Not because I have it all figured out, but because I hit a point where disappearing felt like a real option, and I needed to choose something else.
So… welp, here we are. I have nothing left to lose, which is either very freeing or mildly concerning depending on the day. My social circle has gotten noticeably quieter, which I assume is either because I’ve become too honest or just too weird. Jury’s still out. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to be offended or grateful, but either way, I’m still here and still trying to figure out if this version of my life is something I can actually be happy in.
A lot of my work lives in the space between loss and connection. The moments that don’t feel random. The sense that the people we love might not be as far away as we’ve been told.
I’m not here as an expert. I’m here as someone in it, figuring it out out loud.
