Our Team

Brett is a cancer survivor, author, speaker, Y Combinator alum, and 2016 Forbes 30 Under 30 Entrepreneur. In 2017, New Story was named by Fast Company as one of the “Most Innovative Companies In The World.” Brett is a Y-Combinator Graduate and, in 2018, was named one of the Top 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs by Goldman Sachs.

For speaking opportunities, contact us.

Alexandria has more than a decade of work, academic, and volunteer experience in domestic and international development. She has taught in inner city D.C., led financial capacity building efforts in rural Central America, and briefed African heads of state on poverty alleviation through land reform.

Alexandria is a Y-Combinator graduate and, in 2016, she was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. For speaking opportunities, contact us.

Matthew is driven to use human-centered design and software to create a remarkable donor experience, maximize impact, and increase team efficiency. He leads the tech side of our innovation initiative by supporting our in-house team of developers.

Matthew is a Y-Combinator graduate, World Economic Forum Global Shaper, University of Georgia alum, and Forbes 30 Under 30 Social Entrepreneur.

Morgan leads and mentors our software engineers, piloting a vision for better tech at New Story — and in the social housing sector. Morgan sees leadership as a choice, not a rank. He strives to make that choice daily and challenges others to do the same.

Morgan is a husband, business owner, software engineer, and adventurer who craves new challenges and desires to live a life that inspires others.

Sarah works to lead the strategy & vision of our brand. She helps engage brand partnerships and key donor relationships to ensure they have full transparency into our process and the on the ground work. She values providing a unique & consistent voice to all things New Story.

Prior to joining New Story, Sarah helped lead a marketing agency in Atlanta where she served as a Partner and the Director of Accounts.

Emma works to get New Story’s housing innovations into the hands of others working to end global homelessness. She also oversees New Story’s impact data program. Previously, Emma worked with social entrepreneurs in Malaysia, seamstresses in Ghana, and has consulted the Ugandan government on WASH program expansion.

Emma is a researcher, inquisitive practitioner and Occidental College alumni devoted to continual learning and improvement.

Geraldine worked with several nonprofits in the business development sector and slowly realized that most nonprofits face many technological challenges. Soon, she learned how to code and discovered that technology can help nonprofits scale and solve their problems.

At New Story, Geraldine works on building external software for donors and also on internal software to maximize our teams’ potential and make our local partners more efficient.

Joanne manages the relationships and logistics of every community we build. She is most passionate about combining her design thinking skills and education in architecture to create sustainable social impact.

In the past, Joanne has worked on various design/construction projects in Haiti, Dominican Republic, and Senegal, with a focus on housing, sanitation infrastructure, and community development.

Hannah believes the best experiences are always human-centered. As a design researcher, she works to teach Participatory Design to local housing partners around the world. Hannah has worked in international development in South Africa, Bolivia, Chile, D.C. and Geneva. She hopes to make participatory design the status quo in the global housing space.

Hannah is a Stanford alum, an immigrant rights’ advocate and a Mainer at heart.

At New Story, Shane works on our software platform and specializes in Rails, testing and APIs. Shane graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology with a degree in Electrical Engineering and has a background in project management and software engineering.

Shane spends her spare time enjoying the outdoors and making music. She is an avid lover of skiing and a certain golden retriever named Livvy.

Annie’s work helps shape the message and story of our brand. Along with the rest of the brand team, Annie communicates the mission and vision of New Story so donors and partners can stay engaged with the work they help support. She also worked closely with Alexandria Lafci to produce the Lean Participatory Design toolkit.

Annie is a Georgetown alum, a yoga teacher, and a lover of well crafted words.

Nathan leads the production and post-production process, ensuring effective communication through creative storytelling. Previously, Nathan held such roles as Video Editor, Motion Graphics Designer, Multimedia Developer, and most recently, Sr. Visual Designer at a regional commercial airline in Atlanta.

When he doesn’t have a camera in his hand, Nathan loves to exercise, spend time with his wife and their dog, Gabriel, and cheer for every Atlanta sports team.

Sam works to build the relationships to take New Story’s impact to the next level. Specifically, Sam is focusing on organizations that provide services outside of homebuilding: sanitation, access to drinking water, community governance and more. Previously, Sam studied cognitive science at the University of Southern California before moving to the Bay Area.

Outside of work, Sam loves live music, dancing, yoga, nature, and spending time with friends and family.

Tim builds software used to help our team and partners end global homelessness. Tim has spent 15 years as a software engineer. He’s worked for startups, small agencies, and launched two of his own companies. He also spent a few years teaching at The Iron Yard, a coding school in Atlanta.

In his free time, he and his wife, Steph, spend most of their time with their son, Landon.

Gary builds relationships with local partners and strengthens the way New Story collaborates with communities. Previously, Gary worked in the impact investing space, focusing on for-profit social enterprises and microfinance institutions serving low-income women entrepreneurs. While completing his graduate studies, Gary taught courses on international development.

In his spare time, Gary enjoys spending time with his family, training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, surfing, practicing yoga, and playing music.

Katie creates impactful and streamlined visual communication to bring New Story’s brand to life. Katie is an Auburn University PR graduate, and most recently finished her graduate degree at Miami Ad School @ Portfolio Center in Atlanta. She loves design’s potential to shape the landscape of the future, align companies with their purpose, and create social change.

Katie lived in Paris for a year after college, and is always on the hunt for the world’s best chocolate chip cookie.

Genna provides support in special projects and research for the Ops team. Genna is passionate about the intersection between technology and development, organization, and finding ways to make New Story as efficient and effective as possible.

Previously, Genna studied Electrical Engineering and Spanish Language and Literature at the University of Notre Dame. She went on to be an engineer at Intel and then an English teacher in Quito, Ecuador.

Wes develops relationships that enable New Story to innovate and expand our mission. After graduating from West Point with a B.S., Wes earned his MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Wes spent 8 years in the army, and has flown over 800+ combat hours, earning an Air Medal with Valor. He also spent time working at Goldman Sachs as a Private Wealth Summer Associate.

Ellen cultivates relationships with New Story’s partners and Builders to ensure they have a transparent, world-class experience. Prior to joining New Story, Ellen was an investment banking associate at Goldman Sachs, where she was a finalist in the 2018 Goldman Sachs Gives Analyst Impact Fund.

In her spare time, Ellen enjoys exercising, exploring the outdoors, and hanging out with her family in Korea and Hawaii.

Christina ensures that our processes run smoothly to make it possible for our team and donors to have an incredible experience of our brand. Prior to joining the New Story team, Christina worked at Passion City Church as the Projects and Events Coordinator for the Children’s Ministry.

In her spare time, Christina enjoys coffee with friends, finding great places to eat, and traveling.