What Grief Taught Me About Leadership, Legacy, and Connection | MiAltar Blog
🕯️
🌼
What Grief Taught Me About Leadership, Legacy, and Connection
📅
By Andrea Salinas Vasquez
Leading With Legacy in 2026: A More Human Way Forward
The start of a new year has a way of slowing us down, even if just for a moment. We reflect on where we’ve been, what we’ve learned, and who we’re becoming.
This reflection isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it brings up grief. Sometimes it brings clarity. And sometimes, it reminds us that the people who shaped us, whether they’re still here or not, continue to walk with us in ways we don’t always notice.
Over the past year, a personal loss reminded me just how much our beliefs about love, legacy, and connection shape the way we live, lead, and show up for others. What began as a moment of grief became a deeper lesson about compassion, remembrance, and the impact we can have when we carry our stories, and our people, forward.
This is a story about loss, healing, and the kind of leadership that becomes possible when we choose a more human way forward.
Healing From Grief So We Can Be Present for Others
I was sitting on my bed with tears streaming down my face, holding the grief counselor card the vet handed me the day my cat Bella died.
Within two weeks, life went from normal to heartbreaking. Bella passed from cancer unexpectedly. I adopted her at eight weeks old, and she quickly became the heart of our home. Visitors always commented on her warmth, greeting everyone at the door, curling up beside them, a needy little diva who somehow won everyone over.
Bella wasn’t “just a pet.” She was family. Honestly, she was often the glue.
That night, as I cried, fear crept in. I worried I would fall into a deep depression. How could I be a present mother and wife during this time? Then I remembered a belief that has grounded me for years. A belief that comes from the Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead): our loved ones are not truly gone after they pass.
So I asked Bella for a sign that she was still around.
I didn’t say it out loud, but I was specific. It had to be obvious. Something I couldn’t talk myself out of. A bird came to mind since Bella loved chasing birds, but I asked for something unusual.
Minutes later, my husband opened the door downstairs to take out the trash… and a bird flew into our house.
That had never happened before.
The bird flew upstairs into my bedroom, circled the room, and even played with Miss Brownie, Bella’s sister, a behavior so unexpected it felt intentional. When we guided the bird back outside, it didn’t leave. It sat on the screen door, heart visibly pounding, as if it had been asked to be brave for something important.
And it was.
In that moment, something in me healed. I felt comfort instead of sadness, and I put the grief counselor card away.
Grief didn’t disappear, but it became lighter.
Living with the belief that our loved ones are still near doesn’t erase loss. But it creates space for healing, hope, and meaning. And when we’re healed enough to stay present, we can actually show up for others.
Sharing Skills and Wisdom: Keeping Stories Alive
Hundreds of years ago, people gathered around fires to share stories. That’s how skills, wisdom, and history traveled. That’s how people lived on.
Today, we do the same thing, just a bit differently. We pass down recipes, tell stories, teach lessons, write blogs, mentor others. And in doing that, we keep people alive in the most human way possible.
This kind of remembering also invites reflection:
What am I leaving behind?
This is your gentle nudge to share what you know. Write the blog. Start mentoring. Teach someone the thing you were taught.
Legacy isn’t something reserved for the end of life, it’s something we build every day, often without realizing it.
Leading With Compassion: Legacy as Leadership
So often, work becomes about deadlines, goals, and pushing through. Even when we’re exhausted. Over time, that pressure can chip away at our humanity.
But leadership doesn’t have to be that way.
You can aim high and lead with compassion. You can hold people accountable and ask how they’re really doing. You can create impact without burning yourself, or others, out.
People may forget what you said, but they’ll always remember how you made them feel. And when we remember that our time is meaningful and finite, we lead differently.
With more care. With more intention. With more legacy in mind.
The Community Altar Experience: Legacy in Action
I had the opportunity to share my Bella story and beliefs when I used Mi Altar’s Community Altar at my company, Degreed.
The experience was surprisingly easy and deeply meaningful. Setting it up took very little time, but the impact was immediate. People were able to add photos of loved ones, write descriptions, and contribute in a way that felt natural and personal.
What I loved most was how accessible it was. We are a remote company and the shared link allowed everyone to participate, even if they were not contributing to the altar. The experience was welcoming and intuitive.
Mi Altar’s customer service was quick, thoughtful, and supportive throughout the process. And the result was something I honestly didn’t expect:
Our CEO personally thanked me, calling the presentation and the altar “perfect.” Coworkers reached out afterward to share how meaningful the experience was for them, some opening up about loss in a way they never had at work before.
The Community Altar didn’t just honor people who had passed. It created connection and changed how we showed up for one another.
Stepping Into the New Year, Together
As this new year begins, I invite you to reflect on more than goals and resolutions.
Who are you carrying with you? What stories do you want to keep alive? What kind of legacy are you building: quietly, daily, intentionally?
Tools like MiAltar remind us that remembering isn’t about staying in the past. It’s about letting love, wisdom, and story guide us forward.
Our loved ones don’t disappear. They walk with us into the new year, into new chapters, into who we’re becoming.
Andrea Salinas Vasquez is a speaker, Client Success Director at Degreed, and DIB Chair with over a decade of experience working with leaders across learning, talent, and organizational development. Known for her ability to connect storytelling with strategy, Andrea speaks on leadership, influence, inclusive culture, and the power of legacy in shaping how we live and work.
Originally from Ecuador, Andrea brings a global and culturally grounded perspective to her work. She has spoken at conferences and corporate events and holds a Speaking & Influence Mastery certification from Mindvalley. Andrea lives in Santa Rosa, California with her husband and two daughters.
