Board of Directors
Community thrives with brilliant minds and big hearts.
Meet the amazing people committed to our unhoused neighbors.
Samantha
Pree-Stinson
She/Her
Board Chair
Samantha is a community consultant focused on housing and systems change for micro and small business. Her experience includes municipal and non-profit governance, community organizing, and operational systems change management. She lives in Northeast Minneapolis with her husband and three sons.
Fawn Mason
Ikwe
Board Vice Chair
Waabishka Waabooz (White Rabbit) – “Fawn Rae Mason” – is a Street Outreach Worker specializing in resource coordination and housing assistance for unsheltered individuals.
Fawn became passionate about ending the housing crisis after her own experience with homelessness and addiction. Originally from The Red Lake nation in Red Lake, Minnesota, she now lives in Minneapolis with her five children and one grandchild.
Alex James
She/Her
Board Secretary
Alex is a community facilitator focused on collaborative efforts, resource logistics, and community empowerment primarily in areas of food justice, racial justice, environmental justice, and housing justice via the creation of sustainable long-term solutions.
Alex's projects include edible landscape conversion, food waste recovery, and direct unhoused and volunteer support. Her future intentions focus on a living database of community needs and resources.
Sarah Harris
She/Her
Board Treasurer
Sarah is an entrepreneur. She has worked in the healthcare field, childhood education, and specializes in resources navigation, community engagement, project management and private security operations. Sarah is a mother of two living in Minneapolis. She enjoys listening to music and cooking for loved ones.
Nicque Mabrey
They/Them, She/Her
Board Director
Nicque is a community and cultural organizer, proud to be building power in Minnesota for over 15 years. Mx. Mabrey holds a Bachelor's of Science in Social Work from The College of St. Scholastica. They are passionate about healing work through intersectional, multi-generational, racial justice movements that center youth and families. Nicque grew up in rural Wisconsin and now lives in St. Paul.
Yusra Murad
She/Her
Board Director
Yusra is a writer and director of health care programs at the Health Management Academy, focused on work related to health equity and housing. She is based in DC and Minnesota, where she works on housing advocacy and support through ZACAH - a grassroots organization that supports the multiracial working-class of Minnesota, especially those facing poverty, the threat of eviction and displacement, and unsheltered homelessness.
Katie Drahos
She/They
Board Director
Katie is a Musician and Civic Engagement Organizer. As campaign manager, she was an integral member of Commissioner Angela Conley's campaign team and is passionate about building community.
When she's not organizing first time voters or advocating for those in need, you can typically find her over-analyzing the historic impact of early 2000's reality TV.
Michelle Warneke
She/Her
Founder + Executive Director
Michelle is an operations and project management professional with a community advocacy focus on resource coordination for those experiencing extreme poverty and being unsheltered.
She founded Fresh Start Twin Cities after recognizing large sections of populations being underserved by current systems. Michelle grew up in Minnetonka and now lives in Richfield with her husband and four children.