A woman described as ‘Britain’s most glamorous funeral director’ has revealed how she got into the unlikely career after dropping out of school.
Hollie James, 24, from Radstock, near Bath, has got used to people saying she doesn’t look like a funeral director.
After setting up her own company, she is thought to be the youngest independent funeral director in the country.
She started her career as an apprentice at her local crematorium when she was only 16 because her final-year school exam marks fell short.
‘I didn’t get the grades that I wanted when I did my GCSEs so I was looking for an apprenticeship when I left school.
‘I was offered one by the council and it all went from there,’ she recalled.
Hollie worked at Bath Crematorium for a couple of years before she was approached by a funeral directing company which she went to work at when I was 18.
‘I remember taking my first funeral and I was so nervous I was having heart palpitations.
Hollie James, 24, is the UK’s most glamorous funeral director. She ‘fell into’ the job after she didn’t get the GCSE results she wanted and started working at a local crematorium
After setting up her own company, she is thought to be the youngest independent funeral director in the country
Hollie, of Radstock, near Bath, Somerset has got used to people saying she doesn’t look like a funeral director
‘You don’t get a second go at funerals – it has to be perfect the first time,’ she said.
‘I would be pacing up and down in the office – it’s because I care.
‘It’s become second nature now to me and I can deal with the nerves and responsibility.’
‘A lot of people have said to me, “You don’t look like a funeral director” or, “You’re not what I was expecting. It is quite tricky sometimes,” she said.
‘Clients have the strangest and loveliest reactions.
‘They’re usually slightly taken back to begin with because I am a young woman and I am not usually what people expect.
‘I then always get asked why I wanted to get into this and the truthful answer is I did fall into this job.’
Hollie tragically lost her mother to suicide just when she was 15, just a year before she got into the industry.
‘My GCSE results weren’t what I had hoped for due to this and I looked for an apprenticeship in lieu of my A Levels and ended up at Haycombe Crematorium,’ she said.
‘Working there a year after my mum’s funeral was strange. The company I went on to work for actually had arranged and managed her funeral on behalf of my grandparents.
‘Clients have the strangest and loveliest reactions. They’re usually slightly taken back to begin with because I am a young woman and I am not usually what people expect,’ Hollie said
Hollie has doesn’t have any plans to change careers as the industry is starting to change for the better and no two work days are the same
‘But going into this industry having been through so much bereavement myself at such a young age has given me the experience and empathy to really want to do the same for others.
‘I am really passionate about my job and want to break stigmas for women in the industry and break taboos around death in general.’
Hollie has doesn’t have any plans to change careers as the industry is starting to change for the better and no two work days are the same.
‘Colleagues say it is refreshing to see someone like me involved,’ she said.
‘It’s a privilege to support people at their time of need and we get to meet so many different people.
‘We always say, metaphorically we hold people’s hands through the journey.
‘There’s so much taboo around death and people need to have conversations about death and I hope to help change that.’