Our Team

Originally from Denver, Colorado, Trisha and her family have lived in Germany for over 18 years. She has been volunteering in refugee camps around the Frankfurt, Germany area since the Fall of 2015. She works closely with organizations and with displaced individuals to assist them in the asylum process and integration into their new home.

Prior to her work with TSOS, Sherianne helped found and served for two years as the president of L3 - Love, Literacy, Life. She works regularly with various international medical foundations, focusing primarily on helping refugees. Her service experiences have been foundational in building her passion to promote communities of diversity and inclusion. Sherianne and her husband have six children, and she enjoys volunteering at her local school library.

Sarah holds an MPH from Boston University and she’s worked for 10 years in applied research and management for international nonprofit organizations. Through professional and volunteer roles, Sarah has had the privilege of working with refugees and others who have been marginalized by society. She’s passionate about the power of storytelling to help build inclusive communities for refugees around the world. Sarah lives in California with her husband and three children and enjoys hiking with her family.

Melissa is an author, poet, essayist, blogger, and public speaker who has lived in Paris, Vienna, Hong Kong, New York City, Munich, Singapore, Geneva and Frankfurt. For years her work has explored the role of community in the face of major personal loss and “globility“ which has connected her in very real ways to the people she met as a volunteer in the camps of Frankfurt. She now uses her talents to tell their stories.

Matthew Longhurst is a recovering attorney with a passion for non-profit work. After practicing law and public accounting for more than six years, he has been employed full-time as a non-profit executive since 2013. Matthew's interest in assisting refugee populations was born on a visit to the Bialik-Rogozin School in Tel Aviv, Israel where he interacted with children bearing the scars of war for the first time. His work for TSOS is motivated by his strong belief in protecting and supporting the vulnerable populations of the world.

Twila has a broadcast news and public affairs background. After she discovered a passion for family history research, she now writes books about ancestors in the near and far past. In 2016, through the influence of her daughter, TSOS president Trisha Leimer, Twila grew to understand the desperate circumstances of Europe's refugees. Now she is committed to telling their stories, which she hopes will touch hearts and encourage others to welcome them to new, safe communities throughout the world.

Noah is a designer with experience working in consultancies, startups, and non-profit organizations. He directs the design and development of the TSOS website. After serving as a volunteer in Peru for two years following high school, he gained an abiding interest in disadvantaged populations and global issues. He has experience volunteering with heavily immigrant/refugee religious congregations and became involved in TSOS as the refugee crisis began to spill over into Europe. Noah has a Global MBA from IE Business School in Madrid, Spain and lives in Seattle, Washington with his wife, 4 kids, and 1 schnauzer. In his downtime he can be found photographing his family hikes or riding his bike.

My name is Hamed and I am from Afghanistan. I have studied Political Science and got my masters degree in International Relations and Diplomacy. I have chosen this field because it is the study of politics and power from domestic, international, and comparative perspectives. It entails understanding political ideas, ideologies, institutions, policies, processes, and behavior, as well as groups, classes, government, diplomacy, law, strategy, and war. At the moment, my family and I live in Switzerland. It is a great pleasure for me to work with Their Story is Our Story (TSOS), a nonprofit organisation which gives voice to refugees and help them to tell their stories to the world. I help them because I am a refugee and had to flee from my home country with my family to survive! I have committed to work with TSOS to help and support them.