Amanda Nguyen speaks at WashU (Alex Dering | Photo Editor)

Content warning: This article contains discussion of sexual misconduct. Resources and helplines can be found at the end of the article.

For someone who’s been to space, Amanda Nguyen is incredibly down to earth. Nguyen, a sexual assault advocate and the first Vietnamese woman to go to space, spoke about her journey during a fireside chat on Thursday, April 16. 

The event was sponsored by Cross-Cultural Connections, the Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention (RVSP) Center and the Gender Equity and Title IX Compliance Office for Sexual Assualt Awareness Month. It was hosted in collaboration with the Asian Multicultural Collective and the Vietnamese Student Association. 

Nguyen shared her story of advocacy and hope after she was raped while pursuing her undergraduate degree at Harvard University in 2013. She spoke on how she created the Survivors’ Bill of Rights Act of 2016, advocated for the passage of a United Nations resolution protecting persons who have experienced sexual misconduct globally, and founded Rise, a civil rights nonprofit that advocates for the rights of sexual assault survivors. 

The first step in her journey, Nguyen said, was rage. After completing the sexual assault forensic exam, which took over six hours, she was forced to navigate a Massachusetts law that allowed sexual assault evidence kits, commonly referred to as “rape kits,” to be destroyed after six months if the survivor didn’t file a police report. Nguyen reached out to peers, professors, old bosses, and others in her network for help drafting the Survivors’ Bill of Rights Act. The bill focuses on the protection of “rape kits,” free medical exams, and notifying the survivor of their rights in the legal process. 

“The pain we feel inside of us is power,” Nguyen said. “If we can recognize how powerful it is, our own stories, our own feelings and direct it somewhere, it can change the world.”

Nguyen spoke about feeling that she was an “accidental activist” and explained her dream was always to go to space. However, after the Survivors’ Bill of Rights Act was passed unanimously in Congress, she decided to continue her activism work on the global level. 

“When I passed the federal law, we heard from over a million people saying, ‘Hey, we’re also working on this in our area of the world. How can we grow this movement?’” Nguyen said. “And I saw this unique opportunity and time to keep pushing for survivor rights, because momentum is so ethereal, and it’s so important in coalition building and also in social movements.” 

Senior Sonal Churiwal said she hoped Nguyen’s experience could open a dialogue for students to discuss the issue of sexual assault at WashU, especially during Asian American Heritage Month and Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

“We know that [sexual assault] is an issue at every campus, and that includes WashU,” Churiwal said. “It’s really important for us to recognize how multiple marginalized communities are impacted by sexual violence, and not just Asian American communities. Any communities of color, immigrant communities, queer communities.” 

Beyond her activism work, Nguyen achieved her original dream of becoming an astronaut and traveled to space on the Blue Origin all-women space flight in 2025. She published her story in her memoir “Saving Five” in March of 2025. 

The space journey was a crucial point in Nguyen’s life. She spoke about her decision to bring her hospital band from the day she was raped into space with her, despite it being a reminder of past trauma. She described that when the one-minute buzzer went off, signaling the end of the journey, it sounded just like the heart monitor from the hospital. At that moment, she was brought back to her “survivor self,” Nguyen said. 

“I had struggled with [the hospital band] because I wanted this rocket launch, on the pinnacle of my career, to have the escape velocity so that I wouldn’t be known for the trauma that I have the rest of my life,” Nguyen said. “But in that moment, I realized we don’t have to choose between our pain and our success or joy, that we can embrace all parts of ourselves, and that I could be both an astronaut, a scientist, and an activist and a survivor in that moment.” 

Sometimes activism can feel like a lot of effort and little change, Nguyen said. Yet she still has a sense of hope and that is what sustains her. 

“Anger is fuel and fuel runs out. What’s left when it’s gone? It’s hope. It’s hope that sustains movements. And I get that hope from, it sounds really basic, but from small actions every day where I feel like we still have agency,” Nguyen said. “That’s the greatest blessing that I have, which is to wake up every day and feel like anything is possible. We can absolutely change the world.” 

The Sexual Assault and Rape Anonymous Helpline (S.A.R.A.H) provides confidential and anonymous support and can be reached at 314-935-8080 between 4 p.m. and 8 a.m. during the fall and spring academic semesters.

There are counselors at the Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention (RSVP) Center, located in Seigle Hall, Suite 435, available confidentially to any University student. The office can be reached at 314-935-3445 or by email at [email protected].

The National Sexual Assault Hotline can be reached at 1-800-656-4673 or via online chat at https://hotline.rainn.org/online 24/7.

To reach Title IX, students can contact Title IX Coordinator Jessica Kennedy at 314-935-3118 or go to the Title IX Office in Umrath Hall 001.