As Kira grew, it was obvious that she was a bright child, quickly learning both languages with ease. However, everything in her young life was about to change. When Kira was only four years old, her mother was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer. Despite best efforts by doctors and Camila and Kenneth, she was not going to make it. Shortly after Kira’s fifth birthday, she sat in a hospital room with her mother as she took her dying breath. Kira was cuddled up next to her mother, unable to understand why her mother had been taken away from her so soon. The grief that Kenneth felt over losing his wife was extraordinary; he went into a state of drinking too much and leaving nannies to raise his young daughter. Kenneth, however, insisted that his daughter continue to learn Spanish, as a way to honor her mother and she did, becoming bilingual before she even reached the first grade.

Her father’s grief lasted a year before he met a young model named Angela, who he would later marry. She was young, like her mother had been, but she was a blonde hair, blue eyed girl, which was the exact opposite of her mother. It took Kira a moment to adjust to having a new mother, though she would refuse to call her mom, instead calling her Angie. With a new marriage came new children and suddenly Kira was the older sibling to half siblings who looked absolutely nothing like her. When the whole family went out together, everyone assumed that Kira was either a friend or an adopted sibling of her other siblings. Considering everything in her life was drastically changing, Kenneth decided to send his daughter away to Miss Porter’s School for high school, a bordering school in Connecticut. She excelled in a new environment and used her curiosity in studies to keep her mind off her home life. Angie did pull her stepdaughter out of school for a few days a month to pursue a career in modeling, considering the girl’s exotic looks and naturally thin frame. It was interesting work, however Kira was never full satisfied by it. Her stepmother wanted her to continue on in modeling post high school but Kira had completely different plans. She wanted to continue her education and do something with her life that had meaning and purpose. Her fascination in Greek mythology and literature led her to applying for and later being accepted into Yale University. As was the case in high school, Kira’s intelligence was noticeable to all of her professor’s and she excelled tremendously. Her advisor had told her that she was destined to be a professor but Kira wasn’t sure education was the way she wanted to go.

After graduation, she had briefly considered going into more schooling to become a teacher but later decided against it. Instead, she wanted to focus on giving back to the Philadelphia community and got herself involved in a lot of charitable causes, including research for breast cancer and helping children, specifically those in the foster system. It was her own experience with losing her mother at a young age that inspired her and, to this day, she is heavily involved, not only monetarily but also on the volunteer front. She’s doing work that she thinks would make her mother proud but also work that is important to her.

Currently, she’s found herself getting involved with more charities and has a trip planned to go to the Dominican Republic to find her mother’s family, hopefully working with displaced children while she is there. The trip is still in the planning stages but Kira is always looking to lend a hand to those who are in need.