Story Teller
Share Your Story
For people aged 75 and over, with those 85 and over invited first. Share your life and wisdom, and approve everything we publish.
Every life, a treasure.
What if every living older person can befriend a younger person and share wisdom and video stories? Treasures Bowl 聚寶盆 connects generations through one-on-one, authentic conversations. Together, they build belonging today and save stories before they are lost.
We start before the window closes
Next 5 years: capture the stories of the under 1%
70M
Alive today, born 1940 or earlier
2 wks
A language disappears
Why Now?
A window closing daily
Fewer than 1% of the world’s people are aged 85 and over. This generation of WWII survivors, witnesses of decolonisation and first generation diaspora holds lived memory that is rarely recorded. We have five years to reach the 70 million who are still here.
We start in Singapore, with Story Tellers aged 75 and over, and those 85 and over invited first. Then we grow to diaspora communities abroad.
What is Treasures Bowl?
Treasures Bowl 聚寶盆 is about connection, not collection: real conversations between generations, not documentary making. One output is a social media platform, with weekly podcasts, reels and commentary, each born from a real conversation.
What We Publish, Every Week
One
A podcast
The conversation, in the Story Teller’s own voice.
Two
A short reel
The story retold on video. AI made scenes are labelled.
Three
A commentary
An older or a younger influencer on what the story means today.
聽
In Chinese, the character for “to listen” joins ear, eyes, undivided attention and heart.
Consent Comes First
The Story Teller is always in charge
Story Keepers are trained and matched to a Story Teller by language for a one hour conversation, and the Teller approves every podcast, reel and story before it is shared. This real connection, not an archive, is why Treasures Bowl is different.
Why Treasures Bowl
Treasures for the Person. Treasures for the World.
Singapore is where we start. Our ambition is to catalyse a worldwide movement that reconnects older and younger generations. Along the way, we aim to co-create the world’s largest archive of authentic stories from the generation that did not grow up online, carried forward with today’s technology.
Where Treasures Bowl Sits
Most tools are an old form of story archive. We focus on new media and human connection.
Positions are our own reading of public product descriptions.
October to December 2026
The Singapore Prototype
An NUS Distinguished Seniors Fellowship Programme (DSFP) Impact Project
Co-created with community members in Queenstown, one of Singapore’s most aged districts, plus one or two other senior communities. Our question: can latent human capital become durable community contributions?
22.6%
Queenstown, Singapore, residents aged 65+
30
Stories in October
226
Stories by end of 2026
Singapore Snapshot
72,800 citizens aged 85 and older call Singapore home, and nearly 6 in 10 speak a Chinese dialect their grandchildren often can’t speak back.
Prototype Timeline
October Record 30 stories and find an older and a younger influencer.
November and December Publish every week and grow toward 226 stories.
January 2027 WEF Week Davos showcase (to be confirmed).
March 2027 DSFP Festival performance.
Dates may change as the prototype progresses.
Join the Singapore Prototype
Help a story live on. Share your experience, listen, connect generations or add your perspective.
Story Keeper
Volunteer to Listen
Listen in a shared language or dialect. Learn active listening and retell a story in a 60-second reel. All ages welcome, including students.
Story Matcher
Help Make a Match
Help connect a Story Teller and Keeper by language or dialect. Community organisers, families and funders sponsoring a match are welcome. We are recruiting 10 Story Matchers.
Story Commentary
Add Your Perspective
An older or younger voice offering commentary on each story and why it matters today.
Partner as an Organisation
Help expand Treasures Bowl through corporate sponsorship, philanthropic funding, technology or community hosting.
Founder
Why I started Treasures Bowl
My mother is 87.
I’ve spent five years trying to finish a book and a film about her and her generation of friends, part of the Chinese diaspora in America. I’m still trying. That effort became the seed for Treasures Bowl, a way to capture these stories before they’re gone, easily, for every family, not just mine.
Read more about April and Treasures Bowl
April’s background
Oldest sister of five · mother of four · Yale University BSc Electrical Engineering · Stanford MBA · Certified Integral Coach · Chair, Yale International Alliance · Founder, Zigen Fund · 5× Edu-Tech Entrepreneur
Origin of the name
I chose Treasures Bowl 聚寶盆 for its folklore. The Jade Emperor kept it in his Heavenly Palace until the mischievous Monkey King kicked it down to Earth, where it multiplies any good thing placed inside it.
Inspiration
“Listen to the reed, how it tells a tale, complaining of separation.”
بشنو از نی چون حکایت میکند · از جداییها شکایت میکند
Rumi, Masnavi, Book I
“Live the questions now.”
Leben Sie jetzt die Fragen.
Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet
A family story in verse
There once was an ahma 阿妈 with tattles,
Of healing food and typhoon rattles,
Her grandkid pressed ‘record’,
Videoed wisdom, not bored,
Now her laughs become family chattels.
Join the founding team
We are recruiting a Founding CEO, a Fractional CFO and a CTO who share the mission.
Advisors
Meet the people advising Treasures Bowl and explore their backgrounds.
Get in touch
Have a story, a question or a way to help? Choose what brings you here.
Thank you for getting in touch.
Your enquiry has been sent to Treasures Bowl.
Prefer email? info@treasuresbowl.com