ABOUT US

The people behind our mission.

A small, enthusiastic team of generous, highly-skilled, and values-aligned volunteers is working towards making Earthly Legacy a reality.

Our Team

Teresa Russell

  • Earthly Legacy as a non-profit organisation. She initially trained and practised as a registered nurse and later moved into sales and marketing in the healthcare industry for 15 years, backed up by a Business degree in marketing and international marketing. Teresa has worked in global corporate companies internationally, and in global manufacturing companies locally, as well as for local distributors. On the side over the last three decades, she has been the silent(ish) partner focussing on administration and marketing for three restaurants in Australia and a wine company that exported to the USA. She is a freelance business writer and published her first novel in 2023. She also helped drive the establishment (first as a volunteer and then as founding CEO) of Primary Ethics, a charity that created curriculum and recruited, vetted and trained volunteers to teach philosophical ethics to public primary school kids in NSW who didn’t go to religion classes. There were 2000 volunteers when Teresa left her role in 2016. For the last three years, Teresa has keenly followed the establishment of human body composting in the USA. In early 2024 she decided to embark on making the process available in Australia to as many people as possible using a non-profit social enterprise model. She has recently completed certification (via an online course in the USA) to be a Natural Organic Reduction Operator.

Founder

Gerhard Grasser

  • science-based composting for more than 20 years. Whether in industry consulting roles or presenting workshops to Landcare groups or resourceful farmers and gardeners, Gerhard reverts to the principles of nature where the living is enhanced through the transformation by microbiology of spent life.

Composting Specialist 

Helen Fairweather

Engineering Consultant 
  • fieldwork, education, and accreditation across private companies, government agencies, universities, and associations in Australia and internationally. Helen brings these experiences and her expertise to Earthly Legacy, focusing on optimizing the composting system to minimise costs and mitigate environmental impacts.

Tui Davidson

  • at the end of life. As founder of the Canberra-based non-profit organisation, Earthly Remains, she advocates for human body composting (aka natural organic reduction/NOR/terramation) as a beautiful and dignified way to return to and contribute to the cycle of life. Tui is building a national profile promoting the need for this type of body disposition, leading the government advocacy and public education drive for non-profit human body composting in Australia.

Advocacy Lead

Sam Clowes

  • in Australia. Currently, Sam is the General Manager for Tender Funerals Mid North Coast and the Franchise Development and Compliance Lead for Tender Funerals Australia. With tertiary education in forensic medical sciences specialising in mortuary practices, Sam is a mortician by trade with strong experience in the funeral industry, particularly in mortuary care, funeral practices, research, and training.

Deathcare Specialist 

Janet Elms-Smith

  • Janet's career includes hospitality, teaching and 20 years of senior management in education. Janet has established and operated several small, community-based not-for-profits. She has a keen focus on aligning internal resources to meet strategic objectives.

Business Management 

Zoli Wiseman

  • on sustainable deathcare. Zoli would love to work with Earthly Legacy when we open our doors in Victoria, but has joined the team now as an enthusiastic, smart, young intern.

Intern