Kira holds a BA in English Literature and Environmental Studies from the University of Michigan and an MA in Asian American Studies from San Francisco State University. Kira's master's thesis, entitled The Claiming of Identity, Agency, and Advocacy in Korean Adoptee Literature explores some of the pressing issues and themes of the Korean adoptee experience that are found in poetry written adult Korean adoptees. In May 2013, she will receive her second master's degree in Ethnic Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. She is currently a PhD student at UC Berkeley in the comparative Ethnic Studies department, where she continues her research in the field of Korean/International Adoption Studies, focusing particularly on the stories of birthmothers, post-reunion family relationships, and cultural productions of adult adoptees and birthmothers.
Kira is an active member of the Korean adoptee community and the Korean American community. She worked as the Executive Director and Programs Coordinator for San Francisco's Korean American Women Artists and Writers Association (KAWAWA) and served as President of the Association of Korean Adoptees-San Francisco (AKASF), one of the largest Korean adoptee organizations in the country. Kira has also co-directed and coordinated San Francisco State University's Korean American Summer Camp for the past three years, and is currently collaborating with the camp's other co-directors to publish a camp curriculum coursebook in the hopes that it will aid other communities worldwide in establishing similar cultural programs for minority youth.

Kira resides in San Francisco with her spouse, Amul Sathe, and her Jack Russell Terrier, Olivia.
Curriculum Vitae