In 2013, Nguyen was raped while she was in college in Massachusetts. Nguyen chose not to press charges immediately since she did not feel she had the necessary time and resources to participate in a trial that could potentially last for years. After police officers informed her there was a 15-year statute of limitations for rape in Massachusetts, she decided she would press charges at a later date when she was ready. She had a rape kit performed and discovered that, if she did not report the crime to law enforcement, her rape kit would be destroyed after 6 months if an extension request was not filed. She was also not given official instructions on how to file for an extension. Nguyen considered this system to be broken, partially because the extension request would be an unnecessary reminder of a traumatizing experience. Nguyen met other survivors with similar stories and concluded that the current legal protections were insufficient.
Rise
In November 2014, Nguyen founded Rise, a nonprofit organisation which is aimed to protect the civil rights of sexual assault and rape survivors. Nguyen headed the organisation in her spare time until September 2016. Everyone who works with Rise is a volunteer, and the organisation has raised money through GoFundMe. Nguyen explained that the organisation was named Rise to "remind us that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can rise up and change the world." Nguyen's aim is for Rise to pass a Sexual Assault Survivor Bill of Rights in all 50 U.S. states as well as on the national level. She has also travelled to Japan where a similar bill was presented.
In July 2015, Nguyen met with New HampshireSenator Jeanne Shaheen to discuss legislation that would protect survivor rights on the federal level. Legislation that Nguyen had helped draft was introduced to Congress in February 2016 by Shaheen. Nguyen collaborated with Change.org and comedy website Funny or Die to draw attention to the legislation and encourage voters to support it. Nguyen launched a Change.org petition that called on Congress to pass the legislation. The Funny or Die video and Change.org petition received support from Judd Apatow and Patricia Arquette on Twitter. As of 28 February 2016, the Change.org petition gained 60,000 of the 75,000 requested signatures. By October 2016, there were more than 100,000 signatures. The bill passed through the Senate in May and the House of Representatives in September. It passed unanimously in both chambers of Congress, and was signed into law in October 2016 by President Barack Obama. The new law protects, among other rights, the right to have the evidence of a rape kit preserved without charge for the duration of the statute of limitations. On October 12, 2017, California governor Jerry Brown approved a bill titled "Sexual assault victims: rights".
''We the Future'' Portrait
In 2018, Shepard Fairey created a portrait of Amanda Nguyen for Amplifier's "We the Future" campaign, a series of commissioned art pieces that were sent to 20,000 middle and high schools around the United States to teach about various grassroots movements.
