TREGER
STRASBERG

In 2009, a chance encounter changed her life forever. She was new to Detroit, and her friend confided in her that she and her two kids were homeless. The excitement of helping them find a new space quickly ended when she realized that they would be sleeping on the floor in their new home. She could not shake the image of her friend and her children sleeping on the floor while tucking her children into their big, beautiful beds. She decided to take that empathy and turn it into action. She began collecting her own items and then asking others if they had extra to donate. She ended up furnishing the entire place with love, dignity, and kindness.  She discovered that design and beauty make a difference in someone’s world and that a personalized space can change the trajectory of a life. She had inadvertently started an adventure that would birth a national nonprofit and a worldwide movement embracing empathy for others.

 

To date, Humble Design has furnished over 3,500 homes for over 10,000 hard-working moms, dads, kids, and veterans exiting homeless shelters.  Families who have benefited from the home furnishings from Humble Design have had a 99 percent success rate of remaining in their homes. Humble Design was born out of the belief that families emerging from homelessness deserve to come home each day to a clean, friendly, and dignified home. Many of these families have left behind all personal items upon escaping and entering an emergency shelter. Most have no beds, books, toys, or furniture to call their own. Today, up to 13 homes a week in 4 cities across the country are furnished and decorated with the same care, love, and empathy that her very first client received. 

 

She is honored to have been nominated for two Emmys for the TV show “Welcome Home,” which follows Treger and her husband Rob through the process of changing a family's life through design. She has been awarded ABC World News Person of the Week, Volunteer of the Year in Michigan, Woman of Distinction in California, IIDA Business Innovator, TCH Diversity Award, the Lighthouse Salute America Award, Optimist Club's Ruby Award, Girl Scout of America's One Tough Cookie Award, Make your Marc award by Marc Fisher, and Oakland County Executive's Elite 40 Under 40, and others.

 

While she will always be the organization's founder, she has realized that her greatest strength and gifts are her ability to tell the story and envelope people in the mission. She has represented Humble Design on national talk-show appearances, news articles, and in-depth studies about the impact that they have had. She has been a guest multiple times on the Kelly Clarkson Show, the Rachael Ray Show, ABC, Upworthy, CNN, Today Show, Fast Company, New York Times, Ford Go Further, Meredith Vieira Show, LADBible, Inside Edition, Motor City Rising, the Radiant Project, and many others. Her speaking engagements include International Women’s Day in Seattle, the CUSP Conference, IIDA keynote, Maria Shriver's guest on Agents of Change, IHFA Keynote, Be Bold Now, and One Girl Revolution, to name a few. She has secured lasting partnerships with Progressive Insurance, Fruit of the Loom, CB2, Clorox, and many more. Treger decided to expand her education from the marketing BFA from the School of Visual Arts and received a Master's Degree in the Field of Management from Harvard Extension School.

 

She understands the notion that empathy can change someone's world and guide us to a better appreciation of what it is to be human.  “It will be my job to alleviate other’s suffering and create pathways for others to join me. We should be showing families who need our kindness that we are not different at all; we are all one moment away from a disaster, and we need to be kind to one another.”