Meet Emmy Sass of Buckhead, Atlanta

Today we’d like to introduce you to Emmy Sass

Hi Emmy, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I grew up in Litchfield, a very small town in the Northwest corner of Connecticut. I come from a very humble background. I come from a middle to lower class family. We did not have much growing up, but my parents worked so hard to give us everything they could. My childhood was very normal. I was a ballet dancer from the age of 4 to 13, and from there I became a track and cross-country runner. I always had fun doing whatever I was doing, but from a young age I knew I wanted a bigger life. I could not wait to move out of Litchfield and to a bigger city.

I attended Rutgers University for only a semester, because I knew that college was not for me. I wanted to be a hairstylist. After college, I moved back home, and my parents wanted me to learn how to be an adult, so they made me get a job and pay them a small rent.

I started working at a restaurant in southern Connecticut, just over an hour away from Litchfield, and shortly after I started working there I moved in with a friend and started life on my own.

At this time, I was about to turn 19 years old. I made a lot of new friends at the restaurant I served and bartended at. I had been a bit of a partier in highschool, and when I moved out on my own, the partying increased significantly. I got involved with the wrong crowd and started using drugs. At first, I didn’t think much of this. I was young and everyone around me was doing the same thing. But very quickly, things for me got out of control.

Four months after moving to southern Connecticut I became heavily addicted to opiates and cocaine. I never once imagined myself as an addict, however my personality is very addictive, and the substances I was around made it very easy for me to get addicted. I spent the next 2 years in a downward spiral. I knew I had a problem, but I could not stop using. It was all I thought about from the time I woke up until the time I went to bed. I could not function without some sort of substance in my body.

Living away from home and not seeing my parents that much, they had no idea what was going on. I remember one day I went up to visit them for dinner, and I had an oversized sweatshirt on because I didn’t want my mom to see how thin I had gotten. When I started working at the restaurant I weighed around 125 lbs, and I dropped so much weight that I was in the 95 lb range because of how many drugs I was using. My mom saw me, and even through a big sweatshirt, she knew something was wrong.

Over the next few months, my parents started to realize what was going on, and forced me to go to rehab. Unfortunately, this was not the end for my addiction. I continued using for about 10 months until my parents and brother finally took a stand, and said I needed to leave Connecticut and get some help, because they knew I would die if I stayed where I was.

On October 31, 2011, I moved down to Stuart, FL, and moved into a halfway house. I continued to use and drink about 8 more times, and then finally, on February 6, 2012, I had enough. I got sober that day and have not gone back since then.

Adjusting to sobriety at 21 years old was not easy, but I knew if I continued to use and drink, I would not survive. I started to realize that being sober is genuinely fun, and I didn’t need to have any substances to be myself and live a fulfilling life. I stayed in Florida for 3 years and met some of the most amazing people in the world. I am still very close friends with many of the people I got sober with.

I went to hair school in Miami and got my cosmetology license in September of 2014. I knew I wanted to move to Atlanta to be closer to my brother (who had moved there 2 years prior) and my extended family.

I moved to Atlanta in October 2014, and have been here ever since. I started working as a hairstylist at a busy high-end salon in Buckhead for nearly 5 years before taking my career to the next level and becoming a self-employed stylist. I have my own suite, and still work as a part time hairstylist.

The last 10 years in Atlanta have been some of the most incredible and most tragic years of my life. I have met the most amazing friends who have become a part of my family and I am surrounded by so much extended family here. I met and fell in love with my perfect match, who was my fiancé and the love of my life.

It took me a long time to meet Scott. I met him in May 2020, right after the Covid lockdown. When I met Scott, I was not planning on falling in love, but as soon as I met him, I knew I needed him in my life.

Scott and my relationship moved very quickly, but it felt so right. We moved in together right before Christmas of 2020 and got engaged just over a year later on February 25, 2022.

Scott was the most genuine, kind person I have ever known. He was funny, he was sweet, he was caring. He swept me off my feet from the first date. I could not wait to marry him, be his wife and have a family with him. I knew I would love him until the end of time.

Scott and I had both decided we would go on an elopement trip as opposed to doing a traditional wedding and celebrate with friends and family after. Scott lost both of his parents, so he never wanted to have a big wedding, and I had always preferred something intimate and special.

We were set to leave for our elopement trip on April 15, 2024, and have our wedding on April 23, 2023.

Scott decided to go on one last golf trip (he loved golf) with his high school friends before we left for our wedding. They went to Auburn, Alabama to play Robert Trent Jones.

He left on the morning on March 30, 2023. We texted a few times throughout the day while I was at work. That night when I got home, I sent him pictures of each dog individually (we had 4 of them), and I sent him a picture of myself.

He told me he was going out that night. And at midnight, I texted him “Goodnight, bb, I love you” and went to bed.

I woke up to “I love you, bb. Were about to call the uber and head home”. But Scott had decided to stay out later with 2 of his friends.

After about an hour, Scott had gotten separated from his friends. They did not realize he had gone missing and assumed he had just gone back to the hotel.

Scott did not make it back home that night. Scott’s body was found the next morning behind a bar in Aurburn. At 3:38pm on March 31, 2023, I received a phone call from the Lee County Coroner to confirm that the body they found that morning was indeed my fiancé.

I cannot put into words the pain and heartbreak that I felt in that moment. The moment I found out that the person I loved the most in the world, the person I was about to marry, the person I was supposed to have a family with was gone. Everything I loved was gone.

The weeks and months that followed Scott’s passing are still a blur to me. I have never been so overwhelmed in my life. I went from planning a wedding, to planning a funeral, all while trying to figure out what I was supposed to do, and how I was supposed to live with such pain.

6 weeks after his passing, I knew one day I would be able to help other people who have experienced the same tragedy that I have. There was such little help for me and the information and resources on what to do after a sudden loss are so limited, without having to pay for it. It made no sense to me. Unexpected loss happens to people every day, so why is there no help?

In November 2023, the vision of Life Interrupted Foundation came to life. I dreamed of an all-encompassing foundation to help families and individuals navigate the aftermath of unexpected loss. I dreamed of offering grants to help with the cost of a funeral, or monthly expenses so people can take the time they need to grieve without the added stress of finances. I wanted to give those in need a roadmap of the responsibilities that need to be done after someone dies. I wanted to offer a volunteer program where our advocates could connect families to the resources they need, or to walk them through everything that needs to be done.

I never want anyone to spend as much time looking and researching what to do or the steps to take. I want anyone who has the same misfortune as I did, to be able to have the space and time to grieve, and a place to go where they can find hope and help. I want people to focus on helping themselves and their families get to an “okay” place, and not be worried about everything that needs to get done. So, I created Life Interrupted Foundation.

I recruited two of my friends to help me sort through my ideas, and help me put a plan in place. We incorporated in Georgia on December 5, 2023, and spent the next 7 months diligently working on our programs and plans to help others.

Life Interrupted Foundation officially launched on June 13, 2023. As of September 1, 2024, we have been in contact with over 40 families, offering support, connecting them to resources in their area and guiding them with what to do next. We have sent out our first grant to a widow in California to help with her rent for the next 3 months. I never imagined our reach would get so far in such a short amount of time, but the amount of people we have been able to help is incredible and it brings tears to my eyes. I started Life Interrupted to help other people like me, but really these people are helping me just as I am helping them. They have given me a reason for Scott’s passing and a new purpose for my life. As hard as it is for me to read their stories of loss, because I can feel the exact pain and sadness that they feel, it heals my heart knowing that just maybe we were able to take some of that burden away.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has not been a smooth road. I have had so many struggles along the way. I miss Scott all the time and always wish I could go back to my old life. I try my best to stay positive and keep moving forward, but some days, I am stuck, and I want to completely give up. But because of Life Interrupted, that is no longer an option. I have too many people relying on me and the foundation we’ve built, and I refuse to let them down. But it is hard, every day is hard, in so many ways.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am the Founder and CEO of Life Interrupted Foundation. Life Interrupted is a nonprofit organization aimed to helping families and individuals navigate the challenging aftermath of an unexpected loss of a loved one. We offer grants to help with monthly expenses, cost of funeral and grief counseling. We also have a team of volunteers to help guide the bereaved through the responsibilities post loss, and connect them to the resources they may need.

There is no other organization, that I’m aware of, that does what we do. There is no other grant making foundation that offers help to families following unexpected loss without a specific occupation. There are no unpaid services that offer help and guidance through the post-loss process.

I am most proud of the fact that in under a year, we have been able to launch an entire nonprofit, and within 10 weeks of launch, we have helped over 40 families and sent out our first grant. I am so proud that within 2 and a half months, we are touching families across the country, and some in other countries with my story – and that we are giving them hope.

What’s next?
I am excited to continue to grow our foundation and our reach. My goal for the remainder of 2024 is to help over 100 families, and approve over $100,000 in LIFT Essential Needs Grants and IMPACT Grief Counseling Grants. Our goal for 2025 is to approve over $250,000 total in LIFT and IMPACT Grants.

Pricing:

• NA — nonprofit, all of our services we offer to families in need are free of cost

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lifeinterruptedfoundation.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/life_interrupted_foundation/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Life-Interrupted-Foundation/61559365775555/

Image Credits
Madison Victoria Media