Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Roseanne Lazarus De Romero. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Roseanne, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
At first, I almost answered a different question: “Where do you get your resilience from?” But as I reflected, I realized the two are deeply connected. My purpose is what fuels my resilience.
Like many people, I was asked at a very young age, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” At five, my answer was clear: “I want to be a teacher.” And I did it—I studied education, earned my credentials, and taught fifth grade. But after just three years, I burned out. I stepped away, went back to school, and began searching for my next “title.”
With a master’s degree in Career & Human Resource Development in hand, I spent 12 years advising students at two universities. Then came a career-defining pivot. While hosting a career fair, I struck up a conversation with a recruiter from a high-tech company struggling with high turnover. As I explained my background, she suddenly asked, “Would you ever consider working for us? I think our employees could benefit from some career counseling.”
My first thought was, “I’m not sure I’m qualified for that.” But then I realized she was seeing what I did, not the title I carried. That recognition was the first spark of confidence I needed to begin uncovering my true purpose.
It also made me wonder: what if, instead of asking children “What do you want to be?” we asked, “What do you want to do?” My five-year-old self might have answered, “I want to teach”, a calling, not a job title.
From that first corporate leap forward, my career became a journey of exploration. I went on to hold nine more roles, often ones that had never existed before, across seven unique industries. Each one stretched my skills, broadened my perspective, and built my confidence. I discovered that, regardless of industry, I could influence, teach, and guide organizations and people through transformational change.
Not every transition was voluntary. Half the companies I worked for were acquired or restructured, and my roles were eliminated. But each time, I landed quickly in the next opportunity—proof that my skills were valued and transferable.
Friends sometimes asked why I didn’t just retire after the last big shift. After all, I had “paid my dues.” But my life didn’t follow the conventional script. I married at the age of 43. At 50, we adopted two beautiful children, siblings, ages four and five, from the foster care system. Supporting my family, later in life and in a different order than most, kept me motivated to keep working.
Then came the greatest tragedy of my life: the sudden loss of our son in an accident at the age of 22. Losing him forced me to confront the fragility of life. But in that heartbreak, I also found clarity. He had lived fully, trusted himself, taken chances, and stretched into new opportunities because he believed he could. In many ways, he was just like me.
To honor him, I faced three realities:
• Finding another job at my age would be difficult, if not unlikely.
• I still had more to give helping companies and people intentionally design positive work environments/cultures
• I had always dreamed of starting my own consulting company, but fear had held me back.
That’s when my purpose crystallized. My purpose is to share, to teach, to influence, to develop organizations and the people within them.
This year, I finally took the leap and created my own company—Culture by Design—to live that purpose. Not tied to a single employer, but free to bring my talents to many. To invest in myself. To trust myself. And to make my purpose real by helping organizations create cultures that are conducive to growth.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I’m the founder of Culture by Design, a consulting firm that helps organizations intentionally create the culture they want, rather than leaving it to chance.
Over my career, I’ve seen companies proudly display their mission, vision, and values, yet the lived culture told a different story. Inconsistencies showed up everywhere: microcultures within the same company, behaviors at the top that didn’t align with stated values, and a reliance on expensive engagement surveys that only revealed problems after culture had already gone off track.
Too often, culture gets handed to HR to “own,” but the truth is that culture belongs to every leader, and ultimately every employee. That’s why I created the Culture by Design Blueprint: a framework that equips leaders to become culture architects, building organizations that attract top talent, inspire pride, and drive extraordinary results.
What excites me most is seeing leaders realize that culture isn’t soft or abstract. It’s a powerful driver of strategy, performance, and growth. This year I’m publishing my first book, Becoming a Culture Architect, and launching an executive certification program for HR leaders and senior executives who want to shape culture as a strategic advantage.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Three qualities I believe drove my journey…
1. Remain open to new opportunities: Plan As don’t always work out – at least not as planned. I wish I could tell you my career has followed a logical and intentional plan – it would make me look really smart! However, my career has taken me on an unexpected journey that only happened because I was open to opportunities when they were presented.
2. Strive for Good, Better, Best… not perfection: One of those concepts keeps you stuck, the other keeps you moving forward.
3. Trust yourself: you have a 100% track record of making it through everything that you thought you couldn’t!
What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can develop or improve those:
Never lose your thirst for growth and development – keep an open mind, learn from mistakes, and stretch yourself outside of your comfort zone.
Ask for help. Many of us believe that when we are in leadership positions, we need to know it all. Trust me, we don’t know it all and letting pride stand in the way of asking for help will only hurt you in the end. Help can be in many ways – it could be through networking, or learning a new skill, or simply asking for feedback from a mentor or trusted advisor.
Create a personal “Board of Directors” – people you can trust, who will be honest with you, who you can bounce ideas off of, people you respect and who can mentor you. These will be your “go-tos” throughout your journey. Stay in regular contact with your Board of Directors and don’t let those relationships slide.
Who is your ideal client or what sort of characteristics would make someone an ideal client for you?
My ideal client is a CHRO, HR Leader, or Senior Executive of a high growth business that doesn’t want to wait for an engagement survey to tell them their culture has cracks. These leaders should recognize and value culture as a strategic driver of business strategy and want to intentionally design culture rather than waiting for it to take hold on its own.
Contact Info:
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roseannelazarusderomero
- Other: Schedule a free 45-minute Culture Strategy Session: https://calendly.com/roseanne-culture-bydesign/45min
https://www.linkedin.com/company/culture-bydesign/
Image Credits
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pixaday
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