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Meet our Leadership Team
Beth Strano
Co-Founder & Executive Director
Beth Strano is deeply committed to advocating for the rights and welfare of migrants and asylum seekers. Beth's expertise in human rights advocacy is backed by over two decades of community organizing, and a decade spent working directly with asylum seekers. Before her current role, Beth worked for four years at the International Rescue Committee, where she developed the Asylum Seekers & Families Program and founded the first asylum seeker emergency shelter in Phoenix, Arizona, known as the Welcome Center. Her initiatives have since provided critical support and a safe haven for more than 100,000 individuals and families navigating the challenges of forced displacement and migration.
Beth's impact on the sector was highlighted in April 2021, when she testified before the U.S. Senate U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs’ Subcommittee on Government Operations and Border Management. Her testimony underscored the vital importance of informed, compassionate policies that uphold the dignity and rights of migrants arriving at the southwest border.
Residing in Phoenix, Arizona with her husband and their four teenagers, Beth’s vision is to continue fostering partnerships across state and national borders, and work alongside other advocates to make a lasting impact on the lives of asylum seekers.
Tyler Southwell, MD
Co-Founder & Board Member
Dr. Tyler Southwell is a personal physician and family medicine specialist based in Paradise Valley, Arizona, with over 22 years of experience in the medical field.
Dr. Southwell practices at Southwellness Medical, a facility renowned for offering a broad range of medical services including pain management and aesthetic medicine. His approach combines medical expertise with a strong focus on community health needs, ensuring that his patients receive the most effective and compassionate care possible.
Dr. Tyler Southwell played a foundational role in establishing ProtectAZ Health, a medical organization dedicated to providing free medical evaluations, medications, and, during the pandemic, COVID-19 testing, vaccinations, and treatments. This organization established a full service medical clinic offering a vital first point of care for medically vulnerable asylum seekers in Arizona. This clinic is instrumental in providing urgent medical services to a diverse group of patients from around the world, including those with critical conditions such as HIV/AIDS and diabetes, and pregnant women in need of immediate care.
Chelsea Sachau
Board President
Chelsea has been the Managing Attorney of the Border Action Team at the Florence Project since October 2021. The Border Action Team is a unique partnership between the Florence Project and the Kino Border Initiative in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico. As the Managing Attorney, Chelsea has focused on guiding a team of attorneys and legal assistants providing critical legal orientation and education, direct representation, and strategic advocacy to asylum-seekers displaced at the Arizona/Sonora border.
Chelsea graduated from UC Law San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings), where she was the first recipient of the Leo Martinez Award for Distinguished Community Service for her work in establishing an annual detention center advocacy trip.
Chelsea draws inspiration from the countless immigration advocates and human rights activists that have come before her. Chelsea was first inspired to be an immigration attorney based on the experiences of her grandmother (a Holocaust survivor) and her mother-in-law (a Maya former asylee) as she sought to provide similar opportunities for others fleeing persecution. Most of all, Chelsea is inspired every day by her clients and their resiliency in the face of what feels like insurmountable obstacles to seeking protection.
Emily Snyder, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC
Board Member
Emily Snyder is a highly dedicated healthcare professional with a commitment to improving healthcare access for underserved communities. She has played a pivotal role as the Medical Director of ProtectAZ Health, overseeing the medical clinic serving newly arrived asylum seekers within the Phoenix Welcome Center. In February 2024, Emily contributed to an ACLU report detailing how inhumane and ineffective policies are allowing widespread confiscation and trashing of migrants’ personal belongings and medications by the U.S. Border Patrol.
Outside of the clinic, Emily enjoys spending time with her husband, Matthew, and their four children. Emily enjoys the art of cooking and continuously seeks to expand her culinary horizons by learning new recipes from various cultures.