A native of Northeast Detroit, Rebecca “Bucky” Willis holds a Master of Architecture from the University of Detroit Mercy. Bucky has volunteered and worked for a number of non-profit organizations in Detroit, including the Foundation for Agricultural Resources in Michigan (F.A.R.M), Habitat for Humanity, the Detroit Collaborative Design Center, and Detroit Future City.

Bucky has a passion for community activism and believes that artists, designers and architects should seek to improve humanity and solve social issues through design. People who do this are what she likes to call "design superheroes".

The heart of her design career and research lies at the point where architecture and design meet social issues and emotional impact. This career and research focus inspired her to create Bleeding Heart Design - a design process and organization that inspires altruism.