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.

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

"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.