In 2013, the trajectory of Amanda Nguyen’s life was changed forever when she was raped at Harvard.

Determined to not let her assault derail her goal of joining NASA after graduation, Nguyen opted for her rape kit to be filed under “Jane Doe.” But she was shocked to learn her choice to stay anonymous gave her only six months to take action before the state destroyed her kit, rendering any future legal action impossible. Nguyen knew then that she had two options: surrender to a law that effectively denied her justice, or fight for a change―not only for herself but for survivors everywhere.

She comes to Commonwealth Club World Affairs to discuss the issues raised in her memoir of survival and hope, Saving Five, which braids the story of Nguyen’s activism―which resulted in Congress’s unanimous passage of the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Rights Act in 2016―with a second imagined adventure, of Nguyen's younger selves as they―at ages 5, 15, 22, and 30―navigate through dramatic incarnations of the emotional stages of her path toward healing, not only from her rape but from the violent turmoil of her childhood.

Nguyen did go on to work at NASA and other scientific institutions, and in 2024, private space company Blue Origin announced that Nguyen would be the first Vietnamese woman to fly into space on one of its upcoming missions.

Additionally, Nguyen ignited the Stop Asian Hate movement and continues to help others through Rise, her civil rights accelerator. For her groundbreaking contributions she was nominated for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize and is a 2022 Time Woman of the Year.