Civil Rights Astronaut | Founder of RISE | Nobel Peace Prize Nominee
Amanda Nguyen is a civil rights pioneer, astronaut, and cultural icon whose work is redefining justice, science, and what it means to rise from adversity. As the founder and CEO of RISE, she has authored and helped pass more than 114 laws protecting the rights of sexual-assault survivors worldwide — a movement that earned her a Nobel Peace Prize nomination and cemented her place among the most influential voices of her generation.
But Amanda’s impact reaches far beyond policy. A survivor turned visionary, she transforms trauma into collective awakening, merging activism with artistry and science with soul. Her historic 2024 Blue Origin spaceflight made her the first Vietnamese and Southeast Asian woman to travel to space, a milestone she honored by carrying with her the hospital band from the night she was assaulted — a symbol of reclamation and rebirth.
“I realized I didn’t have to choose between the different parts of myself. I can be an astronaut, a survivor, and a changemaker — all at once.”
A poet at heart and a scientist by training, Amanda continues to use her platform to advocate for women’s health research, exploring space-based studies on menstruation and pioneering early breast-cancer-detection technology. Her memoir, Rising: My Story, became a New York Times bestseller, offering a roadmap for turning pain into purpose.
Through her courage, compassion, and cosmic vision, Amanda Nguyen reminds the world that love is the ultimate act of revolution, and that even in the darkest night, it is possible to chart a course by the light of our own becoming.
The Woman Who Rewrote the Laws of the Universe
There are moments in history when a single voice becomes the echo of millions. For Amanda Nguyen, that voice began as a whisper for justice — and became a movement that reshaped laws, culture, and the collective consciousness of humanity.
A civil rights activist, astronaut, and poet, Amanda is the founder and CEO of Rise, a global nonprofit that has passed 114 laws expanding the rights of sexual assault survivors across the world. Her work has touched nearly every corner of the globe, earning her a Nobel Peace Prize nomination and transforming her into one of the most influential leaders of her generation.
But beyond her accolades, Amanda is a living embodiment of rebirth — a woman who transformed her own pain into planetary impact.
“I want a free world — a world where women can walk down the street and be safe, free from the taxation of fear, and free to dream.”
Her words carry the resonance of someone who has faced darkness and emerged luminous. When she speaks of freedom, it isn’t idealism — it’s survival transmuted into power.
The Moment She Chose to Rise
In 2024, Amanda made history as the first Vietnamese and Southeast Asian woman to travel to space aboard Blue Origin’s first all-female crew. That moment was more than scientific achievement — it was a symbolic resurrection. Among her carefully selected personal items was a small hospital band from the night she was assaulted. She wasn’t sure if she’d bring it out — until intuition spoke.
“When the one-minute buzzer sounded, I knew. My intuition was right all along. I brought it out to show the survivor self who changed the world, the world that she changed.”
It was an act of defiance and healing. The object that once marked her trauma became the emblem of her triumph — a message to every survivor that they, too, can reclaim their story.
“I realized I didn’t have to choose between the different parts of myself,” she reflects. “I can be an astronaut, a survivor, and a changemaker — all at once.”
The Power of Radical Empathy
Amanda’s legacy doesn’t stop with law or science — it lies in her capacity to unite worlds that rarely touch: government and art, activism and intuition, rage and grace. As she describes it, the foundation of every breakthrough she’s achieved comes down to one thing — radical empathy.
“Stories are empathy machines,” she says. “At Rise, we practice radical empathy — the ability to sit in front of someone who may not see your humanity, and still find the humanity in them. That’s how we’ve changed laws. That’s how we’ve changed the world.”
Her belief in empathy is matched only by her faith in intuition. It’s how she’s navigated rooms of power — from the United Nations to NASA — and found her way through impossible doors. “Even when I’m negotiating laws or votes, I focus on connecting human to human,” she explains. “That’s how real change happens.”
The Beauty of Reclamation
Amanda’s femininity is not separate from her activism — it’s central to it. In a world that often frames power in masculine terms, she redefines what leadership looks like.
“For so long, I thought I had to emulate those who held power — and most of them were men,” she recalls. “But there’s immense strength in showing up exactly as we are. Lipstick, heels, glam — it’s not superficial, it’s sacred.” For survivors, reclaiming beauty and self-expression can be a profound act of healing. “Sexual violence takes away your autonomy,” she shares. “Reclaiming your body, your joy, your style — that’s part of recovery. It’s saying, ‘I am mine again.’”
From Earth to the Stars
When Amanda looks back at her journey — from refugee roots to orbiting Earth — her story feels like poetry written by the universe itself. “When Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, bombs were falling over Vietnam,” she recalls. “Fifty years later, when my family looked up at the sky, instead of bombs, they saw the first Vietnamese woman in space.”
That single image — of a family once fleeing war now watching their daughter soar among the stars — captures the essence of Amanda’s legacy. She is living proof that the human spirit can transcend history, pain, and even gravity. Her ongoing research in bioastronautics focuses on women’s health in space — from menstruation studies to breast cancer detection using wearable ultrasound technology. “Numbers can be the basis of a code for peace,” she says. “Science is a tool for diplomacy.”
The Myth and the Message
Amanda lives her life as a hero’s journey — but one guided by love, not conquest. Love for her survivor sisters, for her community, for humanity itself. “Love has been the guiding compass of everything I do,” she says. “It’s my love for justice that keeps me believing the world can change.”
“Every woman knows what justice is. It lives within us. When we join hands, that’s how justice happens.” When she closes her eyes and envisions the woman she’s still becoming, Amanda smiles. “She knows what rest feels like. She knows what the birds sound like when they sing in the morning. She knows what it means to just be — fully, completely alive.” And that is Amanda Nguyen — a woman who turned her pain into poetry, her trauma into transformation, and her dreams into a map for humanity’s future. She didn’t just reach the stars. She rewrote the laws of the universe.
All Photography by Lindy Lin
