06/12/2026
In her final semester at Harvard, Amanda Nguyen was r***d.
She did everything survivors are told to do. Then she discovered that the physical evidence collected from her own body would be destroyed in 6 months — unless she filed paperwork to stop it.
And then filed it again. Every 6 months. Forever. She was 22 years old. She decided to change federal law instead.
Amanda Nguyen had spent years building toward a future she dreamed about. She had interned at NASA, excelled academically, and envisioned a career that reached far beyond the classroom.
Then, in an instant, everything changed.
She reported the assault to law enforcement. She went through the forensic examination process. She followed every step survivors are encouraged to take.
But what she discovered afterward was almost as shocking as the crime itself.
Because she chose to file her r**e kit anonymously, Massachusetts law gave her only six months before that evidence could be destroyed.
Not fifteen years, which was the state's statute of limitations.
Six months.
There was no simple process. No clear roadmap. No official guidance. To preserve her evidence, she had to repeatedly submit requests every six months, forcing herself to revisit her trauma again and again.
The more she researched, the worse the picture became.
She began studying r**e kit policies across all fifty states and uncovered a system filled with inconsistencies. Some states preserved evidence for years. Others destroyed it within weeks. Some charged survivors for their own forensic exams. Others failed to notify survivors about what happened to their evidence.
The protections available depended largely on where someone lived.
As Amanda later said, “Justice should not depend on geography.”
Yet it often did.
Rather than accept that reality, she decided to challenge it.
In November 2014, she founded Rise, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting the rights of survivors. The organization operated entirely through volunteers and grassroots fundraising efforts.
Many people told her the goal was unrealistic.
She pursued it anyway.
Amanda traveled to Washington, met with lawmakers, and shared her story directly. Some questioned her. Others dismissed the issue as unimportant.
She kept showing up.
Working alongside Jeanne Shaheen, she helped draft the Sexual Assault Survivors' Rights Act, legislation designed to guarantee basic protections for survivors, including preservation of evidence, notification requirements, and freedom from being charged for r**e kit collection.
In 2016, the bill was introduced.
It passed the Senate unanimously.
It passed the House unanimously.
Not a single vote opposed it.
On October 7, 2016, Barack Obama signed it into law.
Amanda Nguyen was only twenty-four years old.
The work didn't stop there.
Rise continued pushing reforms across the country, helping pass dozens of laws that expanded protections for millions of survivors.
At the same time, Amanda never abandoned her childhood dream of space exploration.
In 2024, Blue Origin announced that she would become the first Vietnamese woman selected to fly to space.
The young woman who once feared that seeking justice might cost her future proved that advocacy and ambition could coexist.
She was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, recognized among influential global leaders, and authored the book Saving Five.
Yet perhaps the most remarkable part of her story is not any award or title.
It is that a college student encountered a broken system, refused to accept it, and helped change it for millions of people she would never meet.
When the system failed her, she didn't walk away.
She rebuilt part of it herself.
At just twenty-four years old.
