Putting Your Oxygen Mask on First: Aimee Kandrac on Divorce, Diagnosis, and Rebuilding After Loss

Season 3: Episode 7

Aug 29, 2026

In this episode of The Space In-Between, Dinine sits down with Aimee Kandrac. Aimee is the co-founder of What Friends Do, host of the What Friends Do: Kitchen Chats podcast, and a fierce advocate for women through her work with Women for Change Indiana. She’s also the first female founder in Indiana to raise over $500,000 in venture capital. Together, Dinine and Aimee talk about what it really means to show up for someone in crisis, and what happens when you’re suddenly the one who needs the help.

Aimee shares the deeply personal story behind What Friends Do. Her mom and sister were coordinating care and information for her sister’s best friend, who was 25 and facing a terminal brain cancer diagnosis. Aimee realized that same structure could help countless other families navigate life’s hardest moments. She and Dinine also talk candidly about the uphill climb of raising venture funding as a woman. Aimee was the first female founder to ever pitch to some Indiana VC groups. They discuss why investing in women-owned businesses, not just donating to them, is the mindset shift that’s needed to close the gap.

Then the conversation turns deeply personal. Over the course of about six weeks, Aimee became an empty nester, was diagnosed with a tumor in her ovary, and learned her marriage was ending. Through it all, she was quietly falling apart behind closed doors. She and Dinine talk honestly about grief without a road map. They cover the friends who became her “oxygen mask,” the journaling that helped her find her way toward a new life and a new home, and the workshop she’s now building, Love Letters, to help people plan ahead of time how they want to be cared for during a crisis.

This episode is a reminder that there are no rules for grief, for rebuilding, or for asking for help. There’s only the people you let in, and the light you find once you stop pretending you’re fine.

Key Takeaways:

• What Friends Do was born out of Aimee’s family coordinating support for a 25-year-old family friend’s terminal cancer diagnosis, and grew into a platform that helps people give and receive meaningful, practical help during life’s hardest moments.
• Aimee was the first female founder in Indiana to close $500,000+ in venture capital funding, pitching to VC groups that had never had a woman pitch to them before.
• Investing in women-owned businesses, not just donating to them, is one of the most powerful ways to shift the structural funding gap for female founders.
• Within about six weeks, Aimee became an empty nester, was diagnosed with an ovarian tumor, and learned her marriage was ending, and found her footing by leaning on a small, trusted circle of people.
• There are no rules for grief or rebuilding, only your own timeline and the “oxygen masks” (people, routines, small joys) that help you breathe again.
• Aimee is developing a new workshop called Love Letters, designed to help people document ahead of time how they want to be supported and cared for during a crisis, right alongside estate and financial planning.

Resources: 

• Dinine’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dinine-sig-917784252/ 
• Dinine’s Website: https://dininesig.com/ 
• Dinine’s Instagram: @dininesig 
• Dinine’s TikTok: @dinine.sig 
• What Friends Do (Aimee Kandrac): https://whatfriendsdo.com 
• What Friends Do: Kitchen Chats podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/whatfriendsdo-kitchen-chats/id1652821261 
• Women for Change Indiana: https://www.women4changeindiana.org/