Audra Degesytė
Founder, Gen Legacy Learning
Heritage & Legacy Strategist for Family Businesses

Identity as competitive advantage? I learned it from my grandparents and the Lithuanian diaspora—a community of displaced people scattered across the world, living outside their homeland yet fiercely committed to keeping it alive. My grandparents arrived in America in 1949 as refugees, carrying nothing but language, culture, and determination. Unable to return to occupied Lithuania, they became proud, contributing members of American society while deliberately preserving what made them distinct—driven by love for both their adopted country and their ancestral homeland. They understood that if they didn't actively pass down their identity, it would fade within a generation. Growing up in this community taught me that knowing who you are is not automatic—it must be built, practiced, and intentionally passed down.

Today, my child is fourth-generation American, yet speaks fluent Lithuanian. Despite growing up in Africa during my diplomatic career—far from Lithuania, far from any Lithuanian community—we maintained Lithuanian language school, folk dance, sports, and cultural traditions. We only recently moved back to the U.S. This is not luck. It is intentional architecture. The same framework I bring to family businesses.

I founded Gen Legacy Learning after nearly two decades as a U.S. diplomat and organizational strategist. Over 16 years overseas, I managed complex, multi-country programs supporting private sector development across vastly different cultural contexts. Working professionally in four languages (Lithuanian, Russian, Arabic, English), I helped businesses increase revenue, secure strategic partnerships, expand into new markets, and navigate cross-border challenges—always centered on one principle: helping organizations understand who they are, align their values, and design systems that turn purpose into sustainable results.

My academic training—degrees in Russian and English (Case Western Reserve University), Conflict Resolution (University of Bradford, UK), Bilingual Education (University of Findlay), and doctoral-level anthropology (Temple University)—deepened my understanding of how heritage, language, and values shape decision-making and competitive advantage. But my most important education came from watching identity deliberately preserved across four generations.

While my early work focused on educational institutions, family business owners increasingly sought me out—drawn to my approach to heritage and legacy as frameworks for competitive advantage. They recognized what I had learned from the diaspora: that identity is the one advantage that cannot be automated.

It is the foundation of trust, differentiation, and meaning. Understanding your heritage gives you clarity about who you are—and that clarity becomes the compass for creating your future. When you know your values, your patterns, your strengths rooted in lived experience across generations, you make decisions with wisdom rather than guesswork. You don't chase trends; you build on bedrock. You don't imitate competitors; you differentiate from a place of authentic strength. Heritage isn't about the past—it's about knowing yourself well enough to design a future that is unmistakably, powerfully yours.

At Gen Legacy Learning, I use the Heritage & Legacy Architecture™ framework to guide family business owners from uncertainty to clarity, from clarity to aligned action. Together, we define your desired future, uncover the heritage that makes you distinct, and build neuroscience-informed systems that honor what you've built while positioning your business for multi-generational success.

Across continents, cultures, and generations, I have learned: legacy is not something you inherit passively. It is something you practice deliberately and pass on with purpose.