My Story

Stories are nutritious

your guide

April Bell

As a child, I spent my days listening to stories from which ever elder-neighbor would have me. More recently, I’ve crafted my story-mining process into book form with My Life in Paragraphs: Find and Tell Your Stories. As my storytelling focus lends toward the spoken word, people daunted by writing love my approach. I lead engaging story-mining workshops for professoinals and elders alike.

I am the founder at Tree of Life Legacies, a storytelling and wisdom-keeping project based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Since 2008 I’ve been helping people find and tell the origin stories behind their values, often on video. I am co-creator of StoryCatcher® for iPhone.

What’s your story?

Cover of April Bell's book My Life In Paragraphs: Find and Tell Your Stories

April Bell

As a child, I spent my days listening to stories from which ever elder-neighbor would have me. More recently, I’ve crafted my story-mining process into book form with My Life in Paragraphs: Find and Tell Your Stories. As my storytelling focus lends toward the spoken word, people daunted by writing love my approach. I lead engaging story-mining workshops for professoinals and elders.

I am the founder at Tree of Life Legacies, a storytelling and wisdom-keeping project based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Since 2008 I’ve been helping people find and tell the origin stories behind their values, often on video. I am co-creator of StoryCatcher® for iPhone.

What’s your story?

“April gives you permission to play with your story in a safe environment. She invites you into an experience that feels like you can take that little bit of risk, without being judged. She has this magical way of prompting that guides you deeper and deeper and deeper into your story until you’re face-to-face with the values you hold most dear. The real gift in her process is you think you’re telling a story, and then suddenly you’re standing on the frontier of your own values set. That’s when you realize, ‘this story matters to me because these things matter to me!’” —Dan Senter, spiritual leader

“I’d spent a number of times trying to [tell my story for] my book trailer and it wasn’t working. Then April showed up. I couldn’t believe how she was able to get everything out of me the way she did. It went from impossible to beautiful! That’s the miracle in the way I see April, she makes you feel good about yourself, like you have something important to say, and you feel like you’re on top of the world. That is truly priceless.” —Christina Rasmussen, best selling author of Second Firsts

“April holds a strong, safe, empowering container for the hard work of separating storytelling grain from chaff. Her combination of clear, concise, actionable feedback while keeping my feet ever-so-gently to the fire has allowed me to sort and process decades of experience into a coherent narrative. Whenever I get stuck in the story-crafting weeds, April is able to tap into her phenomenal toolbox for just the right implement, from story-wrangling to guiding my structure of an impactful tale.” —Dr. Ann Blake, Environmental Scientist and Changemaker

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Learn how to skillfully use personal storytelling in your leadership roles, whether the head of a large organization or the elder of a close-knit family. Communicating your unique wisdom matters.