Managed profile: how to create a digital legacy on behalf of someone else

Some people deserve a digital legacy but cannot create one themselves

Not everyone whose life deserves to be documented is in a position to do so. Some have already passed away. Others are alive but do not use technology. Others died too young to have left any record of their own.

For these situations, Vestigia offers a feature we consider essential: the managed profile. A managed profile is a digital legacy that you create and administer on behalf of someone else. It has the same format, the same visibility, and the same permanence as any other profile, but it is linked to your account as its manager.

Creating a profile on behalf of someone else is not a small act. It is an act of love, respect, and responsibility. You are taking on the task of telling someone's story, and that deserves to be done with care.

In this article, we explain how it works, when it makes sense, and how to do it well.

Case 1: preserving the memory of someone who has passed

This is probably the most common case. A father who died years ago. A mother whose story was never written down. A grandfather of whom only a few photos and scattered memories in the family's mind remain.

Imagine David, who lost his father three years ago. His father was a carpenter for forty years, running a small workshop in a town in upstate New York. He built furniture for half the town. He restored the doors of the local church. He taught the trade to apprentices who now run workshops of their own. David has photos of his father in the workshop, some of his tools that he keeps, and hundreds of memories he would like to put in order.

With a managed profile, David can create a permanent space where all of that information is organized: his father's biography written in third person, photographs sorted by period, professional accomplishments, the stories the family tells at every gathering. A place where anyone, including grandchildren and great-grandchildren who never met him, can discover who he was and what he did with his life.

That profile will not disappear. It will not depend on a social network that might shut down. It will not be lost on a hard drive that no one will ever turn on again. It will be there, accessible, permanently.

Case 2: documenting the life of an elderly person who does not use technology

Not everyone is familiar with the internet, and that should not be required. There are millions of elderly people whose lives are extraordinary and who will never create a digital profile on their own. Not because they do not want to, but because technology feels foreign to them.

Think of Sarah, whose grandmother is ninety-two and lives in a small town in rural Vermont. Her grandmother was a schoolteacher for thirty years, raised four children on her own after her husband passed away, and has a remarkable memory full of stories that the family has never sat down to collect in any organized way.

Sarah can create a managed profile for her grandmother. She can sit with her, record her memories, transcribe them, and turn them into a biography. She can scan the old photographs her grandmother keeps in a cardboard box in the closet. She can document the achievements of a life that, otherwise, will be lost when her grandmother can no longer tell it herself.

This kind of managed profile has a double value. On one hand, it preserves the story of a person who deserves it. On the other, it becomes a gift to that person: the chance to see their life documented, organized, and accessible, to know that their story will not be lost.

Case 3: honoring someone who died young

There is a particular pain in the loss of a young person. Someone who did not have time to complete their story, to achieve what they wanted to achieve, to leave the trail they would have left if they had had more time.

Think of the family of Emily, who died at twenty-five in a car accident. Emily was a marine biologist, freshly graduated, about to start her first research position. She had a boundless passion for coastal ecosystem conservation. Her friends remember her as someone who radiated enthusiasm, who had the ability to make any topic sound fascinating.

Emily's family can create a managed profile where her life is documented, however short it was. Her education, her interests, photos from her field trips, the research project she never got to finish, the memories of those who knew her. It is not an act of resignation: it is an act of affirmation. It says that life mattered, that it left a mark, and that it deserves to be remembered.

If you are going through something similar, creating a digital memorial for a loved one can be a way to channel grief and turn loss into something that endures.

How to create a managed profile: step by step

The process is straightforward and designed so that anyone can do it without technical knowledge.

If you do not have an account yet, the first step is to create a free account. Registration takes less than a minute. You only need an email address.

Step 2: access the managed profile option

From your dashboard, you will find the option to create a managed profile. This option allows you to create a new profile that is linked to your account but belongs to another person.

Step 3: fill in the basic information

Enter the person's name, their relevant dates (birth and, if applicable, death), their place of origin, and their main profession or trade. This information will form the foundation of the profile.

Step 4: write the biography

This is the most important step and the one that requires the most attention. The biography of a managed profile is written in third person, since you are telling someone else's story.

Some tips for writing a good biography:

Start with the essentials: who they were, where they lived, what they did.
Continue with what made them unique: their values, their habits, the way they moved through the world.
Include specific anecdotes. Concrete stories are far more powerful than general descriptions.
Do not try to be exhaustive on the first attempt. You can always come back and add more information at any time.
If you are unsure how to structure a biography, we have a specific guide for writing the biography of a loved one that can help.

Step 5: upload photographs

Photos are a fundamental part of any legacy. Upload whatever you have: photos from their youth, from their work, from family moments, from places that were important to them. They do not need to be high quality. An old photograph scanned with a phone has as much value as a professional shot.

Step 6: publish the profile

Once you have the basic information, the biography, and some photos, publish the profile. It does not need to be perfect: you can always go back and edit it, add information, upload more photos. What matters is that it exists.

Frequently asked questions about managed profiles

Can I manage more than one profile? Yes. You can create as many managed profiles as you need. If you want to document the lives of multiple family members, you can do so from a single account.

Who can see a managed profile? A managed profile has the same visibility as any other profile on Vestigia. It is public and accessible to anyone.

Can I edit a managed profile after publishing it? Yes. As the profile's manager, you can edit it at any time: add information, modify the biography, upload new photos.

Do I need to be a relative of the person to create their profile? Not necessarily. You can create a managed profile for a friend, a neighbor, a mentor, anyone whose story you want to preserve. What matters is that the information is truthful and respectful.

Is it free? Yes. Creating and managing profiles on Vestigia is completely free. There are no hidden costs or paid features.

The responsibility of telling someone else's story

Creating a managed profile carries a responsibility that is worth mentioning. You are telling another person's story, and that requires respect, honesty, and care.

Some considerations:

Tell the truth. Do not idealize or omit relevant aspects of that person's life. An honest profile is more valuable than a perfect one.
Respect their privacy. There are things a person might not have wanted to make public. Use common sense and, if in doubt, consult with other family members or close friends.
Include multiple perspectives. If possible, talk to several people who knew the person whose profile you are creating. Each one will have different memories and viewpoints that will enrich the result.
Revisit it over time. A managed profile does not have to be finished in one day. You can keep adding information as you find it or remember it.

A legacy that transcends generations

The ultimate goal of a managed profile is to ensure that a person's story is not lost with the passage of time. That Emily's grandchildren can know who she was. That the great-grandchildren of Sarah's grandmother can read her biography and see her photos. That David's family can share with anyone the story of the carpenter from upstate New York who built furniture for half the town.

A managed profile is a bridge between generations. An act of generosity toward the people who will come after and will want to know where they come from, who preceded them, and what those people did with their lives.

If you have someone whose story deserves to be told, do not wait. Memory fades with time. Photos deteriorate. Recollections blur. But a managed profile on Vestigia remains.

Create a free managed profile and start preserving the story of someone who deserves it.