Krish O’Mara Vignarajah was just nine months old when she and her family escaped persecution and civil war in Sri Lanka. Now, she is the president and CEO of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, having previously served as policy director for former first lady Michelle Obama and as a senior adviser in the State Department.
“America embraced our family when we were most in need,” Vignarajah said. “The warm welcome gave my parents the opportunity to plant roots, become teachers and open paths for me to get a world class education and become policy director, and now to lead a national organization fighting everyday to ensure stories like mine are not just part of the past.”
After arriving in the U.S., Vignarajah and her family lived briefly with relatives before settling down in Baltimore County in Maryland. Her parents became public school teachers, and the family began to view Baltimore as their home, she said.
But growing up in the county was not all easy. Being the only brown girl in the room was difficult at the time, Vignarajah said, but she grew to embrace diversity and recognize its strengths. In all, reflecting on her time growing up in Baltimore county, Vignarajah is grateful for the rich education she was able to receive, a privilege she knows not every child or immigrant is afforded.
After graduating from high school, Vignarajah went to Yale College, and was a Marshall Scholar at Oxford University before returning to Yale Law School. She has also practiced law, worked as a clerk and taught at Georgetown University as an adjunct professor. For four years, Vignarajah worked at the State Department as senior adviser under then secretaries of state Hillary Clinton and John Kerry. It was while she was working there that she received an email in her spam folder for the job of policy director for Michelle Obama.
Vignarajah delivers remarks as part of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service’s “World Refugee Day” briefing for Congressional staffers 
Vignarajah and first lady Michelle Obama speak at a roundtable of young women leaders in 2016
“I ignored it, but I mentioned it to my husband. He [said], maybe take a closer look at it. So I responded and ended up going through interviews and getting the job,” Vignarajah said.
“[Michelle Obama] was incredible and inspiring. She’s one of the best communicators of our generation and taught me a lot about not just how to hone your message, but also how to make sure your messages get to the audiences that need it.”
At the White House, Vignarajah led the First Lady’s Let Girls Learn initiative, which aimed to empower adolescent girls around the world through helping them get a quality education. She said the experience was “uplifting” and she enjoyed getting to know the girls in the program.
Reflecting on her time leading the initiative, Vignarajah said one of the most powerful conversations she had with the girls was “trying to push them to think ambitiously.”
“We were about to introduce them to different women serving in executive roles, and my point was: see it, be it,” she said. “You’re about to meet these incredible women who have pioneered in science and human rights and development and politics, and they’re just like you — they had humble beginnings, yet they never took a no [for an answer}. They dreamed big dreams for themselves, and that’s what it takes.”
And that’s what Vignarajah did as well. Just three months after giving birth to her daughter, she launched her campaign to become the first woman of color to be governor of Maryland.
Although people told her to stay at home and take care of her baby, Vignarajah decided to “throw [her] hat in the ring.” Instead of viewing her daughter as the reason she should not run, Vignarajah concluded that was the reason she should run.
“Representation matters so much. Whether it’s politics or policy, our elected need to look more like our electors,” she said. “I loved sharing my unique perspectives… it was an incredible experience.”
Although Vignarajah did not win, her campaign was powerful. In a sea of Maryland’s 62 past governors, all male and white, Vignarajah was a symbol of hope, something she says she is proud of.
Now, Vignarajah is the president and CEO of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, the largest faith-based nonprofit organization helping to resettle and support refugees.
“Our work really boils down to three key pillars: resettle refugees, reunite families and rekindle dreams. We welcome refugees not because they are American, but because we are American,” she explained. “Through this work of welcome, we’ve seen that just a little support and compassion can help Americans become vital members of their community — it’s really an inspiring and beautiful circle of welcome we see time and again.”
While the organization has seen immense success, especially during the recent Afghani refugee crisis, Vignarajah acknowledges that there have been challenges. She said that when she first started, it felt like “a war on immigrants and immigration,” but that changed with a new administration in place this year. Still, there is a long way to go, she said.
Vignarajah said she chooses to view the challenges ahead of her as a silver lining, saying that this “makes us stronger” and “reminds us of who we are as a nation” — that is, a nation of immigrants, aside from Native Americans and those forced through slavery to come to the U.S.
Another defining characteristic of Vignarajah’s role is that she is the only woman of color leading a refugee resettlement organization. The White House Project Report Benchmarking Women’s Leadership reported that 73% of all nonprofit employees are women, but Vignarajah said it’s disappointing to her to see how few of those women get to be CEOs.
“It’s deeply troubling, but it makes me even more focused on empowering women,” she said. “Because whether it’s nonprofits or politics, you just look at the statistics, and they show how far we still have to go.”
Ultimately, Vignarajah said she has been shaped by her identity as a Sri Lankan immigrant woman, something she is immensely proud of. She said her experience coming to America and the opportunities her family got here are what motivate her to continue her career in public service.“Because I’m a woman of color, because I’m a South Asian, it’s made me sensitive to representing the underrepresented and opening up opportunities for all,” Vignarajah said. “My career will always center around public service — that I can say with 100% complete confidence.”
