Dr. Kira O’Brien, LSW

Chief Impact Officer

Dr. Kira O’Brien is the Chief Impact Officer at Emma’s Torch, where she leads the organization’s culinary training program and social ventures—including its restaurant, café, and catering enterprises. In this role, she ensures that every facet of the organization advances its mission: to equip refugees with the tools, confidence, and community needed to thrive through meaningful employment and education.

Kira brings over a decade of experience working alongside refugee and immigrant communities in both direct service and systems-level roles. Her journey began in the resettlement sector, where she supported newly arrived individuals and families at the International Rescue Committee. Since then, her work has spanned case management, advocacy, workforce development, and the design of trauma-informed programs that promote dignity, agency, and belonging.

With a doctorate from the Rutgers School of Social Work, Kira’s research explored how experiential education fosters empowerment—how learning by doing can shape identity, resilience, and opportunity. That belief is the through-line of her work and the foundation of her leadership at Emma’s Torch, where she sees theory made tangible every day in the heat of the kitchen and the growth of each graduate.