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We are thrilled that four new members have joined the Saint Leonard’s Ministries Board of Directors. They bring a mix of diverse personal and professional experience to our campus and community.
Saint Leonard’s values having a Board reflective of, and inclusive of, the SLM population. Of the 23-member Board:
- 48% People of Color-led
- 43% women-led
- 22% people with direct or family lived incarceration experience
- Overall, 74% of the Board has some form of historical underrepresentation.
Today we welcome Queen Brown, Mary Kathryn Curry, Marshawn Feltus and Mike Tobin.
Queen Brown is an author, public speaker and Grace House alum. She has worked at homeless centers, soup kitchens and in the hospitality, retail and transportation industries.
In 2025, she published “A Cry for Help,” a book about her life and how she found success with what is now 14 years of sobriety. That has led to guest-speaker invitations with the Women’s Justice Institute, the Ignatian Spirituality Project, Northwestern University, Loyola University and Columbia College Chicago. She also assisted with a research project on domestic violence at the University of Illinois Chicago.
“I arrived at Grace House in 2012 and had no idea what I was getting myself into,” she says. “And despite my fears and doubts, that’s where I found Queen Brown. The sincerity and humanity in the programs were beyond my wildest dreams. Saint Leonard’s Ministries desires to help others – individually and collectively.”
Queen lived at Grace House for six months before transitioning to Harvest Commons, our second-stage housing program. She completed our Culinary Skills Training Program and started working at the Chicago Transit Authority.
She looks forward to her time on the Board of Directors to “meet new people and continue learning and growing.”
“If I can help anybody in any kind of way, I can open up a part of what I’ve been blessed with. I just have a passion for people to learn this new way of life.”
Mary Kathryn Curry is an attorney and partner at Honigman LLP, where she focuses on labor and employment law. She works directly with human resources teams to ensure compliance with the laws that govern the workplace and supports clients in matters involving workforce planning, diversity and inclusion programs, workplace policies and training materials. Prior to her private practice, Mary Kathryn spent a decade as a judicial clerk in U.S. District Court and the Cook County Circuit Court.
| She looks forward to joining the board because “you are creating a community for success.” “This idea that housing, education, community, workforce – if you can put all those things together and create an environment where everyone around you supports and understands what you’re going through, how can that not be the best possible path to success? Asked about the need for re-entry support, Mary Kathryn recalls a moment years ago when she saw a young person who didn’t have $5 to buy a train ticket. The man told the ticket rep that he was just released from prison. “I remember watching this scene, and that’s just a kid right there. Nobody is here to help him, and he is just trying to get somewhere. But he can’t do that because he doesn’t have $5. And I remember being blown away by this moment and thinking ‘What should I do?’ Of course I gave him my train card. That story has stuck with me,” she says. She also recalls working with a federal judge who heard criminal matters and seeing young adults being sentenced to prison. “I’m just thinking their whole life has changed right now. I had a lot of thoughts and discomfort with that. Most of the time, nobody is in the courtroom with them. They may end up in prison for a lot of years, and their life will be different before they have a chance again.” “Those experiences shape how I look at this as an opportunity and service to the community. Re-entry doesn’t solve how they got there, but it can maybe solve what the rest of their life looks like.” |
Marshawn Feltus is an entrepreneur, wellness advocate and chef who has forged a path in business and community engagement. As the founder of A.C.T. Yoga (Awareness, Change, Triumph) in the Austin neighborhood, Marshawn seeks to combat stress, build empathy and provide healthy options for conflict-resolution and personal growth.
Running the only brick-and-mortar yoga studio on the West Side, Marshawn has set aside classes for the women of Grace House to find balance and clarity.
His culinary journey began with a desire to expand his palate and create flavorful meals, which led him to complete our Culinary Skills Training Program. He ventured into catering and traveled to Jamaica and Spain to advance his abilities.
He has returned to our campus as a guest speaker and feels a kinship with the organization. He believes re-entry work is the way to pave the path forward for people “who have lost their way for whatever reason.”
“Life happens. People make decisions, as a kid or even as an adult, that they will come to want to redeem. If you don’t have that path, despair can cause people to do worse perhaps. In re-entry, you want to cultivate people who have lost their way – and help them find their way.”
“For those who are committed to re-entry, you pour into people what you hope to get out of them. And sometimes it takes more than one or two times. But it’s the investment that far worse could happen if we don’t,” Marshawn says.
Mike Tobin is a senior advisor at Vantage Leadership Consulting who works with organizations globally to build capability in strategic talent management. He assists with succession planning and leadership development – and has deep experience in the assessment and coaching of CEO candidates. His Strategic Leadership Model and Top Talent Indicators are cornerstones of the firm’s approach.
Mike has served people with school-based counseling, adult psychotherapy, marital therapy and counseling for chemically dependent men and women (inpatient and outpatient treatment). He transitioned from individual therapy to organizational psychology when he joined Vantage in 1994.
Every Wednesday at 7 a.m. for the last two-plus years, Mike has volunteered with Soul Talk on our campus in which program graduates meet with current residents to support each other.
“I really love Saint Leonard’s. When it comes to the men I work with, they do way more for me than I do for them,” Mike says.
“The most striking thing about it is that Soul Talk is made up of people who don’t have to be there. They are there voluntarily. They have 25, 35, 45 years in prison. And here they are sharing coffee, doughnuts and words of wisdom and support with each other. It’s not uncommon for one or two of them to say, ‘There’s no place I would rather be than here.’”
