Unlike most funeral directors, Morgan Yarborough was not born into the business. “Nobody in my family has ever wanted to come close to this job,” she says. Despite this, since graduating with a degree in funeral service management in 2016, Yarborough has done just about every job in “death care,” from embalming and cremation to running a funeral home. She now works at Recompose, a Seattle-based funeral home specializing in human composting. The process, which was pioneered by Recompose, mimics natural cycles to transform human remains into soil and is gaining popularity in the US and overseas.

Elle Hunt: What drew you to the job?

Morgan Yarborough: I’ve been told by childhood friends that I’ve always had an interest in death—I used to give pretty good funerals for my goldfish—but my family didn’t like to talk about it. It was seen as this sudden, intense, emotional thing, and often I wasn’t allowed to see my relatives after they died. I think that mystery actually propelled me to look more into it—to overcome my fear and understand it better.

EH: How have you seen the business change over the years?