Amanda Nguyen

Biography

Amanda is the CEO and founder of Rise, a national nonprofit working to implement a Sexual Assault Survivor Bill of Rights. After Nguyen’s rape kit was on the verge of destruction after only six months of retention, she decided to create a Sexual Assault Bill of Rights, not just for her own circumstances, but for the over 25 million survivors across the country who face the daunting, confusing and broken justice system after an assault.

Rise, under Nguyen’s leadership, wrote and unanimously passed through the U.S. Congress–in only seven months–the Sexual Assault Survivors' Bill of Rights, which was signed into law last October by President Obama. The Rise movement is now active in 38 states and four countries (the United States, Japan, Mexico, and Canada). In addition to the U.S. federal law, Rise has passed similar legislation in multiple states (Idaho, Maryland, Massachusetts, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington).

Amanda’s start in public service began at NASA headquarters in the Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs, Communications and Chief Technologist teams where she worked on the last space shuttle launch, public-private partnerships, and the Asteroid Redirect Grand Challenge Mission.

Previously, Amanda held several roles during the Obama Administration including the was the Deputy White House Liaison at the U.S. Department of State. Before this role, she served in the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons as a speechwriter. She also held roles at the Obama White House in the Office of Public Engagement and the Chief of Staff’s office, at Morgan Stanley in public finance investment banking, and at the Harvard-Smithsonian Astrophysics Center as an Origins of Life fellow analyzing the Kepler exoplanet mission.

During college, Amanda created the first student-written course on modern slavery and co-founded Wema Children, an orphanage in Kenya. Amanda graduated from Harvard University in 2013.