Our Team

Louisa Saratora serves as the State Refugee Coordinator and has worked with refugees in Tennessee for 25 years. She joined Catholic Charities as a caseworker through the Jesuit Volunteer Program in 1996 and since that time, has welcomed and supported refugees in direct service, program development and coordination, and grant management and oversight. Louisa holds a Master of Arts degree in Intercultural Studies from Union University in Jackson, Tennessee and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Spanish from Fordham University in New York, as well as certification in Teaching English as a Foreign Language.

Nicole DeBaun-Phillips has been serving refugee populations for over a decade. She joined the Tennessee Office for Refugees in 2019 as an Administrative Assistant. Before this, she served refugees as a volunteer teaching ELT and transportation training, setting up apartments for new arrivals, and transporting clients for appointments.

Her prior work includes serving as the Volunteer Coordinator for Campus Kitchens, a food recovery program that partners with local nonprofits, hospitals, and other community businesses to provide those in need with nutritious and well-balanced meals in local shelters. She has also partnered with various local and city leadership teams to compose and deliver grants to increase sustainability efforts for recycling, urban gardening, and clean air both campus and city wide.

Nicole graduated from Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis with a Bachelor of Arts in both Political Science and Sociology with focus on Middle Eastern politics and media influence on social movements. She has served and has been elected to serve on numerous boards that advocate for civic, civil, and human rights.

Frances Anderson is the State Refugee Health Coordinator through the Tennessee Office for Refugees. She is interested in health communication in limited English proficient (LEP) communities, community health programming, and domestic refugee health screening.

Frances has worked on a variety of projects from communicational analysis for LEP communities in Tennessee and Minnesota, to developing educational materials regarding implementing community health strategies for state and local public health workers. Currently, she is working on a data collection and reporting system that aligns with the needs and capacity of local and state systems, developing strategies to support states with minimal data collection capacity.

Frances received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Design Communications from Belmont University and a Master of Public Health from Vanderbilt University. She is on the Association for Refugee Health Coordinators Executive Board and Refugee Medical Screening and Surveillance Committee. In 2019, she received the Human Rights Rising Advocate Award for work with marginalized populations.

Tajah Bohannon, a native of Nashville, Tennessee, has been an employee of Catholic Charities of Tennessee for over 20 years and has been employed with the Tennessee Office for Refugees since 2009. She has many years of experience in social services since joining the Catholic Charities team in 2000 through her roles as Case Management Assistant, Care Coordinator, Case Aide, Refugee Cash Assistance Specialist, and currently as the Refugee Cash Assistance Coordinator.

Tajah has been passionate about assisting others long before her employment with Catholic Charities, but she discovered her interest in refugees and the refugee program during her employment in an unrelated program that shared a space with the refugee resettlement program. While working in that space, she had the opportunity to meet some amazing people and hear their stories. When an opportunity to join the TOR staff in 2009 as Refugee Cash Assistance Specialist arose, she was excited to join a department that provides help to refugees and aides in bettering their lives.

Samantha Elmendorf is the Communications and Grants Specialist for the Tennessee Office for Refugees. She joined the Tennessee Office for Refugees team in 2019 when she moved to Nashville. Samantha holds a Bachelor of Arts for studies in English and Classics at Baylor University and a Master of Arts in Classics from University of Colorado-Boulder. Her studies focused on how ideas and cultural practices crossed geographical and political boarders in the Ancient and Medieval periods. These interests lead her to her work with refugees, where she is deeply committed to helping create a welcoming and safe home in Tennessee where new Tennesseans can thrive and maintain their cultural richness.

Nathaniel Harrison was raised in West Michigan. He graduated from Grand Valley State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology in 2012 and with a Master of Arts in Public Anthropology from American University in 2019. His graduate studies focused on connections between social, economic, and political influences on refugee integration.

In 2012, Nathaniel spent his summer reading with refugee youth for an organization in Grand Rapids, Michigan. From 2012 to 2017, he continued working with the Refugee Education Center. As an intern he taught Peer Support classrooms. He conducted home visits and school enrollments as a Community Worker. As a Family Engagement Coordinator, he strengthened two-generational family programming.

Nathaniel is currently an AmeriCorps VISTA member and started with TOR in October 2020. He is passionate about the Refugee Youth Mentoring program and its ability help people living with refugee status shape their future. Nathaniel is the captain of his adult league hockey team and is a friend to stray cats everywhere.