About

Helen’s Collective is an amalgamation of strong women’s visions and achievements, and ultimately has become the keeper of their legacies. My name is Tara Mugford Wilson, and Helen Walowiak Mugford was my paternal grandmother.

Born in Wilkes-Barre, May 20, 1908, in a generation when most women stayed home, my grandmother, Helen, worked as a dressmaker and hand finisher at Leslie Fay for more than 30 years. It was how she was able to afford to send my father to Wilkes University and then on to Penn State to receive his degree in Mechanical Engineering, making him the first in his family to attend college.