Nao Kabashima is the co-founder and Executive Director of Karen Organization of San Diego (KOSD). She is originally from Japan and first came to the U.S. as a graduate student. After she earned her Master’s degree in Political Science at California State University, Chico, in 2008, she began volunteering for the Refugee Resettlement Program at Jewish Family Service of San Diego and started to meet with many Karen and Karenni refugee families. In 2009, she co-founded KOSD with Karen community leaders to meet the urgent needs of refugees from Burma in San Diego. She served as the Secretary and Chair of the San Diego Refugee Forum in 2012-2013 and is currently serving the Partnership for Advancement of New Americans (PANA) as a Board Chair. She sits on various community advisory boards including San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria’s AAPI Advisor Board.