"Lily Be's storytelling workshop was an amazing experience. Lily's experience and expertise as a storyteller were evident in her care for us as her students and in her support and critique of our work. She uses writing exercises and group discussions to help us mine our memories for great stories--the stuff that makes us human, and she helps us craft that story in the most honest, genuine, and compelling way. We all have stories in us and Lily has an amazing way of bringing them out.”

Whitney Capps

Host - Grown Folks Stories

I was lucky enough to have Lily Be as my instructor for a storytelling class at Second City. Our class had a mixture of men and women of all ages, and Lily was able to coax a story out of all of us. She has a gift for finding the truth in your story and then pushing you to be honest and real in your telling. In return, she was honest in the stories she shared with us. She encouraged everyone, calmed nerves, and gave valuable feedback. If you take a class with her I guarantee you will become a better storyteller.

Professor Chris Himes

Dean, Lewis College of Human Sciences

I first met Lily at a storytelling workshop at Hairpin. I told her I only had one story I wanted to tell and needed help crafting it. I started attending her workshops in Pilsen. I heard various stories from other workshop participants and got to see Lily tell stories, then I realized I have much more than one story. My journey into storytelling through Lily's workshops has been cathartic and healing. Sharing stories I have never told out loud due to shame and embarrassment has brought an emotional release that 10 years of psychotherapy hasn't done. Every workshop is different, sometimes they're heavy and deep and you need tissues, and sometimes you laugh so hard you can't breathe.

Yvette Marie

Student & Storyteller

I taught Personal Branding for After School Matters for 6 weeks to a group of high school students. I asked the amazing Lily Be to come in and teach for a session to help convey the message of owning who you are. She was incredible. She talked to the students as people and help draw out different pieces of themselves that they hadn't thought about. She helped them come up with different logo/motto ideas along with having an overall sense to describe themselves for a project we were working on. The students connected and related to her realness. Lily Be was fantastic and I was honored to have her be there.

Nikki Nigl

Entrepreneur and Educator

I consider Lily Be to be a master of her craft as a storyteller. But what's even more important about her, I think, is the way she serves her community and champions social justice as a creative, and as an orator. She is constantly giving her time and talents to her community, not just through her vulnerable and illustrative testimonies, but through organizing events and actions. Her monthly series, "The Stoop," has brought the community together through story-telling, and also used that organizing power to raise funds for important causes in the community. I was moved by her invitation to make the organization that I work for, Teen Writers and Artists project (T-WAAP), one of the monthly causes that The Stoop supported, after just a handful of times meeting each other. She has given featured performances multiple times for T-WAAP's Wordplay youth open mic, where I have seen her instantly make personal connections with young audiences from a wide diversity of backgrounds and make the room come alive with laughter and tears through the power of truth-speaking. Her dialogue following her performances has also been as generous, raw and real as the stories themselves. I see her finding so many ways to involve everyone in the process of sharing stories: through live events, podcasts with interviews and panels, workshops, etc. In my mind, she carries on the true spirit of the oral tradition and has become the voice of the people.

Adam Gottlieb

Founder & CEO, Teen Artist Writing Project

As a co-curriculum chair for the New Leaders Council Chicago Chapter, an organization that catalyzes and trains the next generation of leaders, it was very important that we found a trainer that represented our progressive values. Lily Be trained our 2018 Fellowship class on the power of storytelling. Lily's training was powerful and transformative for our participants. They received high-quality training from someone who understands the complexity of Chicago politics and encourages others to use the power of storytelling to bring out their true selves. I highly recommend Lily Be as the best Chicago story-telling trainer in Chicago!

Cynthia Brito Milan

Co-curriculum chair for the New Leaders Council

Lily Be’s presence as a storyteller brings out the most inner sense of ourselves because she digs in deep with her personal stories and has no fear whatsoever to show her vulnerability, her courage, and her powerful spirit to overcome life’s challenges. As a scholar on Latinos and education, I know she is a flash of hope for Latino communities to be represented as vivid and complex human beings and not colorful sideshows. Every person in the audience, who has any sense of compassion, is transformed with deep reflection after listening to Lily Be’s stories. Lily Be hosted a workshop on Storytelling at the People’s Education Forum at Roosevelt High School in 2017 and shook the overcrowded classroom with power, pain, and persistence. Her truth reminded educators and students that stories about ourselves should always be at the center as we learn to improve ourselves and our communities.

Gabriel Alejandro Cortez
Associate Professor at Northeastern Illinois University