Cristy Lee

Board Vice President

Cristy is the Manager of Residential Services at Willow Domestic Violence Center, where she leads and supports the team responsible for providing trauma-informed care within the agency's 49-bed emergency shelter. With a professional background in mental health services, extensive case management, crisis intervention, and victim advocacy, she has dedicated her career to helping individuals navigate trauma, rebuild stability, and move toward healing.

A Rochester native with an unwavering commitment to justice, Cristy's interest in human trafficking prevention began early in her career while living in California and working for a nationally recognized children's website. Through that role, she received training in identifying human trafficking and online exploitation and participated in initiatives alongside community advocates and federal law enforcement focused on recognizing and disrupting online grooming tactics targeting women and children. Those experiences sparked a lifelong commitment to preventing exploitation and supporting survivors of both human trafficking and domestic violence.

Her work in mental health services, combined with extensive case management experience and her current role serving survivors of domestic violence, has deepened her understanding of trauma, resilience, and the complex barriers survivors face. She has also served as a crisis chat counselor for The Trevor Project and other national crisis lines, providing real-time emotional support to individuals in crisis, and volunteers annually for the Point-in-Time Count to help ensure Rochester's unhoused community is counted, seen, and connected with vital resources.

Cristy's dedication to this work is informed not only by her professional experience but also by her own lived experiences with trauma. She believes that prevention, education, and survivor-centered advocacy have the power to change lives and is committed to building communities where exploitation is recognized, prevented, and ultimately ended.