Interview with Kira O´Brien | Longer Tables Fund x MAD

{When we look at some of the people that arrive in the United} {States with a dream and a hope and just the desperation to thrive,} {the idea that we're closing doors to them doesn't even make sense.} Hi, {I'm Dr. Kira O'Brien from New York City and I} {am the Chief Impact Officer at Emma's Torch.} {Coming to New York and DC and the United} {States is an incredibly daunting task.} {Housing and food and getting your kids into school,} {a lot of vitriol against who you are just} {because you want to be given a chance.} {It doesn't align with our values as a country.} {How do we turn that on its head?} {And I think that hospitality does a really great job} {of that by opening its doors and opening its kitchens.} {Emma's Torch is a non-profit social venture that focuses} {on refugee empowerment through culinary education.} {We have an 11-week fully paid culinary} {training program for our newest neighbors,} {where our students do four and a half weeks of classroom} {training and then transition to our operations,} {which are social ventures in New York and DC,} {where they get real live on the line experience.} {I've worked with refugees for over a decade.} {It's like we put them on a conveyor belt.} {The value of hospitality goes a lot deeper than that.} {So we want to bring people into our cafes and our classrooms} {and our kitchens and make a commitment to them that} {they are welcome and they are celebrated in our spaces.} {We then support them for the next two years.} {We want to be walking alongside them to} {provide that safety net just in case.} {What we want to do is build a longer table.} {We want to come up with a framework for employment that means that} {everybody is equal and everybody is welcome to join us in hospitality.} {Isn't that the meaning of hospitality, right?} {We want to create a world that reflects our} {values as restaurant and industry professionals.} Good? Good. Great. {That's a wrap.} Yeah. Yeah.