In 2013, the Women’s Intergenerational Living Legacy Organization (WILLO) was founded in Tacoma. Conceptualized by local resident Seong Shin, the purpose of WILLO was to facilitate storytelling between generations of women spanning all ages, races, sexual orientations, and cultures. Shin gathered a group of local women to actualize this vision and, on October 12, 2014, the first Annual WILLO Storytelling Festival was held. The festival featured speakers Lea Armstrong, Eva and Allie Brooks, Elaine Grinnell, Theresa Pan Hosley, Melissa Jorgensen, Griselda “Babe” Lehrer, Dawn Lucien, Maxine Mimms, Cindy Niemi, and Seong Shin. Between 2014 and 2019, WILLO has hosted six annual storytelling festivals. Storytellers have included Puyallup tribal elders Ramona Bennett and Connie McCloud, Senator Rosa Franklin, writer Tamiko Nimura, Representative Marilyn Strickland, Superintendent Carla Santorno, and many more. In addition to sharing their own stories, these women have also reflected on the importance of passing down stories through generations.
Last year, WILLO founder Seong Shin partnered with the Northwest Room's Community Archives Center project to ensure that these stories are preserved and available for future generations.
