Letter from Our Founder
Welcome.
Truly, welcome. If you've found your way here, it's not by accident. You were meant to be in this room.
In the Room with Legacy was born out of love, loss, and a real need. A need for a space that honors and empowers the family, both related and chosen. A space that offers tools, resources, and frameworks that not only create generational value within a family, but also sow unity, healing, and love.
A space that encourages and uplifts us, that highlights our stories and reminds us that legacy is intentional and alive. That it's something we live and breathe every day.
It was also born out of the need to redefine our power. Because one of our greatest weapons against systemic and economic challenges is stronger families; families moving with unity, cohesion, and intention.
Families are indeed the first institutions within civilization.
I created In the Room with Legacy as an offering. A labor of love.
It's the fruit of everything I was taught, everything I've witnessed, and everything I now feel called to carry forward.
This work is dedicated to my father. The man whose life and example shaped so much of who I am, especially at the end of his life.
My father, my teacher, my anchor.
In hindsight, I can see now that my father's illness, though heartbreaking, was a divine part of my path. At the time, I couldn't understand it. I was 26, young, building my dreams, and suddenly life said, "Nah, you're about to go through the wringer."
His request, "help me live as long as possible to get you and your siblings ready for my departure."
I was devastated. Angry, even. It felt unfair. I entered a season of sacrifice, unconditional love, heartbreak, and exhaustion. But looking back, I realize it was preparation that positioned me to carry this message in a way I never could have otherwise.
My father was a changemaker, a pioneer, a history maker, a man who helped shape Atlanta's story. A son of farmers & landowners, who rose to serve under Mayor Maynard Jackson, Atlanta's first Black mayor, helped to open doors of economic opportunity that had been closed for generations. A builder and business owner, who lived a deeply impactful life, and sowed into his lineage with intention.
When he fell ill, what began as caregiving became stewardship and succession. I wasn't just taking care of my dad; I was helping preserve his legacy, ensuring the business he built endured, and making sure he could leave this world with his dignity and vision intact. It was mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausting.
It broke me, but it also built me.
Through it all, I learned so much. About so much. From the 4 year experience but also because my Dad was actively teaching and training me up. I was a matriarch in the making you could say. Learning in real time about the healthcare system, how to navigate it, it's inefficiencies and what it really means to advocate and care for someone you love. I learned about stewardship, about end-of-life care and planning, about family tradition & values, about inherited responsibility, about all the moving parts that make up both legacy building and preservation.
Learning from my father's story, the things he had in place and the things he didn't. The areas where we had time to prepare and the ones where we didn't. The stories that needed to be preserved, the lessons that needed to be written down. The shoulda, coulda, woulda's and regrets and apologies. Every detail, every moment, every conversation became a masterclass in legacy.
Family Legacy
As he'd tell our family's history, I started to see the bigger picture, not just of my father's life, but of my family's lineage. I began noticing the through-line of stewardship in our story: the land we've owned for generations, how every era had someone who tilled, someone who planted, someone who carried the weight of keeping it all alive.
Farming isn't just part of our history, it's society's teacher. Watching how the land has been cared for over 150 years taught me what generational legacy really is: sowing, nurturing, protecting, harvesting, and trusting that what you plant will feed generations you'll never meet.
That perspective awakened a deeper passion in me.
A hunger to study, to learn, to teach, to build community.
To study family, both enterprising and not. To explore economic empowerment through the lens of family and the systems that shape opportunity.
To learn how culture, values, and heritage contribute to the growth and sustainability of a family.
To develop and teach frameworks and infrastructure that help guide us forward.
But In the Room with Legacy isn't all about what I've learned, it's about what we can learn together.
This is a collective effort. A living, breathing hub of knowledge, experience, and expertise.
We'll be learning from elders, advisors, builders, scholars, and everyday people who've done the work, people who are living this in real time.
It's a community rooted in collaboration because legacy is a shared practice. None of us can build it alone.
So that's what this is.
A home for those of us building with heart.
A movement for those who understand that family is the foundation of everything.
A gathering place for the dreamers, the doers, the descendants, and the builders.
We're creating this slowly, brick by brick, because love doesn't rush, and legacy takes its time.
Every story shared, every program offered, every tool created is made with care.
My hope is that you feel held here. That something in these words reminds you of home. Of your people, your purpose, your power.
Thank you for being here, for believing in what's possible, and for joining me in this sacred work of remembering and becoming.
With love and legacy,
Lauren Rosa
Founder, In the Room with Legacy™