Stephen Fotopulos

Stephen was named the second Executive Director of TIRRC in June of 2008, and previously served as Policy Director after joining the organization in 2004. He holds a Master’s in public administration from the Cornell Institute for Public Affairs, having completed his thesis work studying the impact of US public policy on English acquisition among immigrants. After graduate school, he served for five years as a logistics officer in the United States Navy, living and working in the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf. Stephen sits on several boards and advisory committees dealing with immigration and integration, including the Mayor's New Americans Advisory Council (Chair) in Nashville, the Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services (Task Force on Immigrants and Refugees), the Tennessee Supreme Court's Access to Justice Commission (Disability & Language Barriers Subcommittee), the DC-based Rights Working Group (Executive Committee), the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (Executive Committee), and the National Partnership for New Americans (Executive Committee).

Email: Stephen@tnimmigrant.org
Phone: 615-833-0384 ext. 110

Kasar Abdulla

Kasar was born in Kurdistan of Iraq. When former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein waged war on the region in 1988, Kasar lost several family members and she was forced to become a refugee. Initially, Kasar and her family lived in the Refugee Camp in Meriden, Turkey until September 1992, where her family was brought to America. Kasar graduated from Tennessee State University with Bachelor's degree in Sociology in 2005. While at TSU, Kasar worked with the TSU Health Research Center, served as a President of Muslim Student Association, and was on various panels. Kasar joined TIRRC in January of 2006. She has served in many interfaith dialogues, on her experience as a refugee, Kurdistan and its people, the role of a Muslim Women, life after September 11 as a Muslim in the United States, and the Next Door Neighbors Documentary Little Kurdistan: USA with Nashville Public Television. In her capacity as an activist, Kasar servers on many boards and is currently the Director of Advocacy & Education. She works in the areas of policy research and advocacy, strategic communications and movement-building, education and training in the area of immigrant integration, leadership development, and advance the issues and campaigns prioritized by the membership. She is fluent in Kurdish and English.

Email: Kasar@tnimmigrant.org
Phone: 615-833-0384 ext.107

Leticia Alvarez

Leticia originates from Jalisco, Mexico. She immigrated to the United States in 1996 to find new opportunities and a better life. She graduated from La Salle Catholic University, earned her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, and developed language mastery in both Spanish and English.

She has a strong background in community organizing and has spent many years collaborating with a variety of progressive social justice organizations nationally and internationally, including founding social justice projects in Mexico and Guatemala. She has worked for Catholic Charities and served in the AMERICACORPS as a Community Organizer.

Leticia has been with TIRRC since February 2006 where she is the Lead Organizer and strengthens membership among immigrants, refugees, and allies across the state. Her specialties include providing trainings to assist immigrants in civic participation, identifying and recruiting coalition members, and maintaining open communication between all immigrant & refugee groups.

She was honored as an official member of the Advisory Board to the Mexican Government through the Institute of Mexicans Abroad for her advocacy work on behalf of Mexicans residing in Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia.

Email: Leticia@tnimmigrant.org
Phone: 615-833-0384 ext.106

Miguel Carpizo-Ituarte

Miguel Carpizo-Ituarte is a student of Society, Culture, and people. He graduated from Tennessee Technological University with a Bachelor of Science in Sociology with a concentration in immigration and cultural diversity. He has been always interested in community development and has traveled to indigenous villages and visited various ethnic groups to learn their language, culture and traditions. He traveled to Malta, and Tunisia were he started to study Islam.

He immigrated to the United States in 2001 to serve as the Hispanic Coordinator for the Upper Cumberland region of the United Methodist Church. A progressive, uncommon leader who was always involved in his local community, he developed a seminar for the non-Latino community called “understanding the Latino/Hispanic Community” and was invited  to speak to various groups across the state.

One of his greatest passion is music, so he promoted Latin music in his home town of Cookeville, TN with nights called “The Colors of rhythm”. He has been involved in social justice, human rights, and the inclusiveness of every person into the flow of this world.

Email: Miguel@tnimmigrant.org

Phone: 865-406-3297

The East TN TIRRC Office is located at 1124 North Broadway Street, Knoxville, TN 37917.

Anahí Gutierrez

Anahí Gutiérrez was born in Mexico City raised in Monterrey, Mexico. Anahi graduated with honors from the Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey  (ITESM) where she received a Bachelor's in Law.

She and her husband moved from Mexico in 2006 to Nashville TN to attend graduate school at Vanderbilt University. She graduated Vanderbilt University Law School with an LL.M degree in 2007.

In Mexico she practiced law for several years before moving to the US; in the US  she worked on research projects from the International Legal Studies Department from Vanderbilt University Law School before joining TIRRC. After establishing Nashville as her new home, Anahí started getting involved more in the community and that is how her work started with TIRRC. 

Currently she is TIRRC’s Community Resource Coordinator. With this position she hopes to be a good source of information, advice and referral for the immigrant community in need. She is fluent in Spanish, English and some French.

 Email: Anahi@tnimmigrant.org

Phone: 615-833-0384 x 109.

For referrals, you can also contact her at TIRRC's hotline number at 615- 414-1030

Rebecca Hall

Bio coming soon.

Email: Rebecca@tnimmigrant.org

Phone: 605-833-0384 ext. 105

Lindsey Harris

Lindsey is a Nashville native. She was a Generation Change intern in the summer of 2008, and then came on staff as the Project Manager in August of 2008 before transitioning to become the Donor Relations Manager in the Spring of 2011. Lindsey coordinates TIRRC's major events, the website and data management and nonfoundation fundraising efforts. She has her bachelor’s degree in Spanish Teaching from Lipscomb University and her Masters Degree from Belmont University in Nonprofit Leadership. She is fluent in English and Spanish, has studied and travelled extensively in Central and South America.

Email: Lindsey@tnimmigrant.org
Phone: 615-833-0384 ext. 102

Megan Macaraeg

Megan Macaraeg was born in the Philippines in Lingayen, Pangsinan.  She emigrated with her family to the United States in 1974 during the period of the Marcos dictatorship and martial law in the Philippines.  After graduating with degrees in Political Science and Philosophy from Eastern Illinois University, she went on to pursue graduate studies at the University of Illinois in Chicago.  There, she became engaged in social change work in the Pilipino community, working on issues such as the abuse of immigrant domestic workers, the mail-order-bride industry, and the militarization of the Philippines.  Megan is a graduate of the Center for Third World Organizing’s Movement Activist Apprenticeship Program in 1999. Before coming to TIRRC, she served for almost 3 years as the Director of Mid-Tennessee Jobs with Justice, and has been a union organizer with the Laborers’ International Union of North America.  Megan speaks English, some Spanish, and some Tagalog. Megan is the Organizing Director at TIRRC and works statewide with leaders to build power in their communities for immigration reform and other issues relevant to the immigrant and refugee community in Tennessee.

Email: Megan@tnimmigrant.org

Phone: 615-833-0384 ext. 104

Gaby Marquez-Benitez

Gabriela Marquez-Benitez was born in Chihuahua, Mexico and immigrated with her family to Memphis, TN at the age of 6. Gaby has been very active in her community and has worked specifically with the youth in the Greater Memphis Area. She obtained her Associate’s degree in Sociology and General Studies from Southwest TN Community College in December 2008. She is now working on her Bachelor’s degree in Sociology with Spanish and Non-profit Management minors at the University of Memphis.

Her work with TIRRC began in the Fall of 2010 as West TN organizer in Memphis. Her goals include strengthening our relationship with immigrant and refugee groups in the region, recruiting a grassroots, dues-paying membership, and coordinating local advocacy work.

Email: Gaby@tnimmigrant.org

Phone: 901-692-2933

The West TN TIRRC Office is located at 1000 South Cooper Street, Memphis, TN 38104.

Priscilla Norman

Priscilla is originally from Manchester, TN.  She came to TIRRC in the spring of 2011 and is the Finance and Human Resource Manager.  She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Management and a Master’s in Organizational Management

Email: Priscilla@tnimmigrant.org

Phone: 615-833-0384 ext. 103

Amelia Post

Amelia is a native of the Bay Area in California who first made her way to TIRRC as a Generation Change Intern in 2007. In 2008 she returned to TIRRC as the Civic Engagement Coordinator. She is a graduate of School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, with her Bachelor’s in Culture and Politics. She has worked with community organizations in the Bay Area, Washington, D.C., Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, and Tennessee. She is fluent in Spanish.

Email: Amelia@tnimmigrant.org
Phone: 615-833-0384 ext. 108

Sara Jane Saliba

Sara Jane is the organizational development and financial management leader at TIRRC, and has been with the organization since 2003. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies and Development Studies and a Master’s in Social Work with a Concentration in Management and Community Practice. She has considerable experience in nonprofit management with organizations that serve immigrants and refugees, including previously serving as the programs manager for the Somali Community Center. Sara Jane speaks French and Maghrebi Arabic.

Email: Sara@tnimmigrant.org
Phone: 615-833-0384 ext.101

Stephanie Teatro

Stephanie Teatro joined the TIRRC staff in January 2012 as the Policy and Civic Engagement Coordinator. Prior to joining the staff of TIRRC, Stephanie was a union organizer with AFSCME, organizing public employees in Alaska, Florida, and Wisconsin. Stephanie spent two years in Thailand working for an alternative study abroad program that worked in solidarity with people’s movements in Northeast Thailand. Stephanie graduated from the University of Washington in Seattle in 2009, where she earned her BA in history with a focus on labor studies. While in Seattle, Stephanie supported the movement for immigrant rights through her activism within Jobs with Justice, the Washington Immigrant Rights Action Coalition, and El Comite Pro-Reforma Migratoria y Justicia Social.  

Email: Stephanie@tnimmigrant.org

Phone: 615-833-0384 ext. 118

Eben Cathey - Communications Coordinator

Eben joined the TIRRC staff as the Communications Coordinator in January of 2012. He was born and raised in Smyrna, Tennessee and graduated in 2006 from Rhodes College in Memphis, with a Bachelor’s in Political Science and the Classics. He was awarded a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship to study in South Africa for a year where he earned a Master’s degree in Political and International Studies.

In 2009 he returned to Tennessee and began work as a Field Organizer for My Global Voice, a non-profit committed to ending the production of nuclear weapons in Tennessee. Over the past two years, Eben has worked with many local community organizations like the Worker’s Dignity Project, Nashville Cares and the UN Foundation. Before joining TIRRC, Eben worked for the Association of Hole in the Wall Camps' Global Partnership Initiative in Ethiopia where he trained young leaders to run summer camps for children living with HIV.

He has lived in Scotland, France and South Africa and speaks French and some Spanish.

E-mail: eben@tnimmigrant.org

Phone: 615-775-1069