In her presentation for the PEN DIY, “How to Use Death as Your Life Coach,” graphic novelist and The New Yorker cartoonist Marisa Marchetto discusses how coming face to face with Death refocused her life. With humor and insight, Marchetto muses on life B.C.—before cancer—and details how she went from being concerned with the S.S.S. (“superficial stupid shit”) to realizing that Death had given her an opportunity to seriously review her life and negotiate a new way to live. Drawing on her experiences as a woman in the male-dominated industries of advertising and cartooning, Marchetto illustrates five key steps that led her from being a “cancer victim” to the author of the bestselling graphic memoir Cancer Vixen.

Marisa’s DIY talk is linked below, here, she speaks with PEN DIY host Angela Ledgerwood, and answers audience questions.