Willa knew at an early age that she was destined to be of service to others. Wanting to be a teacher since the age of six, Willa attended Lincoln University in Jefferson City Missouri, where she majored in Elementary Education. Willa furthered her desire to teach others by receiving a M.S.E. in Reading Diagnosis and Remediation where she remediated the reading difficulties of children, and provided remedial instruction helping them to improve their reading skills and test scores. Willa furthered her desire to educate by becoming certified to teach children who were diagnosed with Learning Disabilities. Additionally, Willa worked as homebound teacher for autistic children.

After having children of her own, Willa decided she did not want her children to experience being latchkey children as she experienced as a child, and was blessed to stay at home to raise her children. During that time, Willa invested in the lives of her children by being very involved in their schools, the programs, and activities of which they were involved.

After Willa’s children graduated high school and attended college, Willa's desire to teach led her down a different path. As a result of experiencing health challenges, and overcoming those challenges through God’s healing, dietary and lifestyle changes, Willa enrolled in the Institute Of Integrative Nutrition and became a Certified Health and Wellness Coach where she taught people how to eat to live and not live to eat through A Healthy F.R.E.S.H Start, Inc. (Food, Rest, Exercise, Sunshine and Healing) the ministry of which God blessed her. A Healthy F.R.E.S.H. Start for Children was birthed out of this endeavor where Willa educated children in a Chicago inner-city school about the importance of making healthier food choices.

While living in Chicago, Willa was part of Living Word Christian Center’s evangelism team, where the team went out on the streets every Saturday from May to October, sharing the word of God, and saving souls. After moving to Florida in 2016, Willa became involved with the Justice Ministry at her church, Bible-Based Fellowship Church. Pre-COVID, Willa was involved with the Salvation Army Ministry at Bible-Based Fellowship Church where she assisted with providing food both spiritually and physically for the people who came from the Salvation Army. 

Willa is enthusiastic about encouraging others through words of inspiration and prayer. She is passionate about the calling on her life to start Sheltering The Unsheltered, Incorporated and is thankful to God for using her in this way; to make life different for the unsheltered, one compassionate act at a time.