The School of Greatness - 788 Take Your Power Back with Amanda Nguyen

Episode Date: April 24, 2019

YOUR MOST POWERFUL TOOL IS YOUR VOICE. We are surrounded by stories of injustice around us. It can be overwhelming. Screaming with anger doesn’t get you very far. Making the other side wrong just makes a war. So how can you make a change? You have to come from a place of compassion. Know the result that you want. Stop leading with emotion and try instead to focus on the concrete change you want to make. We live in a democracy- our voice counts. On today’s episode of The School of Greatness, I discuss how the legislative system works with a powerful sexual assault advocate: Amanda Nguyen. Amanda Nguyen is the founder and CEO of Rise, a non-governmental civil rights organization. She was the power behind the Sexual Assault Survivors' Rights Act, one of 23 bills to pass unanimously through US Congress. She was in Forbes' 2017 "30 Under 30" Law & Policy list and was an invited speaker at the 2017 Women's March on Washington. In 2018, California representatives Mimi Walters and Zoe Lofgren nominated Nguyen for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize. Amanda was raped in college and soon after learned of the injustices surrounding sexual assault survivors. Instead of getting angry, she made a change. So get ready to learn how you can make a difference by taking political action on Episode 788. Some Questions I Ask: How does someone rewrite a law? (5:00) How were you able to raise two million dollars in the last two years? (19:00) What’s your biggest fear? (31:00) How does someone who has been through trauma get a message across without anger? (37:30) What makes you feel the most loved? (53:00) In This Episode You Will Learn: About the Survivor Bill of Rights that Amanda helped get passed (11:30) How to avoid “activism fatigue” (18:30) The process for passing a bill (22:00) About Work/Life Integration vs. Work/Life Balance (33:00) How to transcend party lines when trying to make a change (40:00)

This is episode number 788 with the inspirational Amanda Wynn. Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, a former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin. Ross Perot said,

The activist is not the man who says the river is dirty. The activist is the man who cleans up the river. And Woodrow Wilson said, You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world. Yes, you are, my friends. Welcome to this episode. You are here to make an impact, and it starts with you. It doesn't start by you screaming and shouting at the world. It starts by you doing the

work yourself within and making the impact by doing the work without as well. Amanda Wynn is here. She is someone that came on my radar recently and that I've been inspired to follow. And I'm going to tell you why here in a second. She's the founder and the CEO of RISE, a non-governmental civil rights organization. She was the power behind the Sexual Assault Survivors Rights Act, one of 23 bills to pass unanimously through U.S. Congress. She was a kid who had graduated school and had something unfortunate happen to her personally and said she wanted to make a change and didn't know how to go about changing policies in government. How do you go about these changes?

Should you call your congressman? Should you do marches with signs? What's going to actually change the world? And she's been doing that. We discuss the difference between activism and organizing. We talk about how to get a bill passed in your state and what really grabs political attention. If you want to make a change, is it enough just to post something on social media or what do you really need to do? She

breaks down step by step how politics is all about emotion and not the logical and the facts part of it. Yes, you need to have some facts, but it's an emotional experience. The difference between work-life integration versus work-life balance, how to really build an organization and a movement at such a young age, and so much more. Very excited about this. Make sure to share it with your friends, lewishouse.com slash 788 and tag Amanda Nguyen over on Instagram as well and let her know what you think while you're listening to this episode. I'm super excited about this one.

It's a powerful lesson on what's possible if you have an idea and you want to change the world. With the one and only Amanda Wynn. Welcome everyone to the School of Greatness podcast. We've got Amanda Wynn in the house. So good to see you. Yeah, lovely to be here. Thank you for being here. Excited about everything that you've been up to. You've been really a change agent in helping move forward sexual assault survivors to have more rights and to pass these laws in the U.S. specifically. And you've done some amazing work over the last couple of years. And you have an incredible story of why you got into this in the first place. Can you share why this is so important for you and such a passionate movement for you. Absolutely.

So my background is actually in astrophysics and national security. I'm an Uber nerd. You want to be an astronaut, right? Yes, and I still do. You still do? Yeah. My expertise is in exoplanets. What does that mean?

So exoplanets are, I love this question, exoplanets stand for extrasolar planets. They're planets outside of our solar system. And my party trick is super nerdy. I tell people, do you want to learn how to discover an exoplanet? I can teach you in three minutes. And then I go on a tangent about discovering exoplanets. Okay.

Yeah, yeah. But my nerdiness informed my activism. So I started RISE because I needed civil rights. After I was raped at Harvard, I discovered a broken criminal justice system. So like so many other survivors do, to be quite honest. And in my particular case in Massachusetts, before the laws I wrote passed there, rape kits, which are the evidence that's collected in a rape. Rape kits could be destroyed at six months, even if the statute of limitations for prosecuting rape is 15 years. Wow. Yeah. So wait, so you could deal with rape and then go get a rape kit used on you to collect the evidence. Right. And then what you're saying is after six months they could destroy the evidence.

That's right. Without even testing it. Gotcha. Without testing. They would have it and then be like, oh, we don't want to use this anymore. Throw it in the trash. We just don't care. That's right.

And so the victim would never have the ability to prosecute. That's right. It's much harder. It's a she said, she said type of conversation. That's exactly it. It was just he said, she said type of conversation. That's exactly it. And when I started researching what rights I had, I discovered a patchwork of rights across the United States.

So in some states, while they destroy rape kits, other states didn't. And I thought this was very unfair. Why is that? Yeah, so we literally have etched above our highest court of the land, the Supreme Court, equality under the law. And that was not happening for rape survivors or sexual violence survivors. Literally two survivors in two different states had two different sets of rights. And I thought to myself, well, I have a choice here. I can accept the injustice or rewrite the law. One of these things is a lot better than the other. And so I rewrote it. How does someone rewrite a law? Yeah. It's actually quite simple. You get on a piece of paper and a pen and you write it up and you say, hey, I want to pass this. Yeah. It's actually,

you know, you're not so far off from the truth. What a lot of people I wish understood now in today's political climate is that everyone not only has agency, but that they have a constitutional right to petition the government. That is in our constitution, which means that our democracy should be accessible after we are a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. It is true that nowadays politics is nearly inaccessible. And what I mean by that is there are profit models in politics of people paying a premium for lobbyists, for consultants, and maybe they'll give you access and connections to politicians, and then maybe they'll yield some results. But if you ask people, you know, how do you actually pass law?

Most people won't be able to tell you that, even though it's your right to. And why is that, right? And so that's why I created a theory of organizing. It's called Hoponomics, and it gamifies the process of passing a law and then adds a diplomacy theory to it. So over the past 21 months, I'm so proud of my team. We've passed 21 laws. Wow.

All unanimously. And it impacts at least 40 million people. Wow. Yeah. So 21 laws would be the same law in 21 states? That's correct. So some of these laws are bifurcated. So it's not in 21 states.

One is a federal law. Another is an international law. And the rest are state laws. They're all called Sexual Assault Survivor Bill of Rights. And in this Bill of Rights, I actually, Senator Grassley had asked to name the law after me. And I said, no. The reason why is because I remember walking into my local area rape crisis center and the waiting room was filled. Wow. And I didn't realize how ubiquitous this issue was. I had cared about this issue before, had no idea how broken the system was and how many lives it impacted and impacts until I walked into that room and became a survivor myself. Wow. Where was this room?

In D.C. or in Boston? It was Boston. So you went in. There's an actual facility. That's right. A rape survivors facility? Yes, rape crisis centers. Really?

Yeah. So all across the United States, there are local nonprofits that work on direct services, helping process rape survivors to have access to counseling. Here's the problem, though. Not all states, not all, well, not all cities have them. I'm very lucky that in Boston, they had one. But I walked in, and it was filled. And I realized at that moment, it was a critical catalyst moment for me,

that, one, my story was not mine alone, It was a critical catalyst moment for me that, one, my story was not mine alone and that if I was having this much difficulty accessing simple information about what I'm supposed to do after my rape and I was at Harvard and my professor at the law school was my attorney, you know, one of the best attorneys in the nation on this, what is other people, what is everybody else doing, right, that doesn't have the access to resources that I have? And that was a huge problem. When I was thinking about where to move, you know, from here after my rape, I called different attorneys. And they had told me, look, rape cases on average take a couple years. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, that's right. It's almost like it's, you don't forget about it, but it's like, oh, time has passed so much that like, I don't want to rehash these emotions. It's a very emotional experience. Absolutely. Do I want to go to court

in two years and try to fight this? That's right. I've tried to move on with my life. Yeah, exactly. So many people choose to do that and there's no right or wrong answer. But what they presented to me at that time, a senior at Harvard about to graduate, and I had a career opportunity that I really wanted to pursue was a choice, and that choice was your career or your justice, one or the other. And that is not a choice that anyone should be ever forced to make. Why did you have to make a choice, essentially? Because you have to spend a lot of time in court? Both. So the job opportunity I was offered was to be a presidential appointee in Barack Obama's administration. And I wanted to serve my country. I wanted to serve my country in this way. And he only had two years left. And if my rape trial was going to take two years, which means that I had to come and appear in court in Massachusetts away from D.C.,

that was going to affect my chances and my job performance. But here's the thing. That's why there are long statute of limitations or no statute of limitations at all for the crime of rape because society has recognized that this crime affects survivors and is trying to give survivors an opportunity to, at a moment in their lives when they're ready, come back. And so I chose my career because Massachusetts has 15 years for me to come back.

Really? Yes. Wow. And so that's when the six-month snag hit for my rape kit because I chose my career. I went to D.C., but then— You did the kit. Yes, that's when the six-month snag hit for my rape kit because I chose my career. I went to D.C., but then— You did the kit. Yes, that's right.

And I found out that at six months it would be destroyed, and I'd have to come back to Massachusetts and fight to hold on to my evidence. So here's the double standard, right? The double standard is that convicted rapists in Massachusetts have the right to hold on to the evidence for the duration of their conviction. that in Massachusetts have the right to hold on to the evidence for the duration of their conviction. And then on top of that, class A felony, other class A felony crimes like murder never has the evidence destroyed. And so, by the way, it makes no sense for anyone in the party. So one of our biggest champions in Massachusetts was the former executive director of the Innocence Project. Having evidence can exonerate the accused. executive director of the Innocence Project, having evidence can exonerate the accused.

And then evidence in standard operating procedures helps law enforcement be able to find the truth. And so the Survivor Bill of Rights, shorthand, is a collection of laws that had already passed around the United States that had legal precedents and that worked to better the criminal justice system for all parties at play. So the things that it includes are the right to hold on to the evidence and not have it be destroyed before the statute of limitations. It's super basic. So 15 years? Is that what you mean? So it depends on every single state because every single state has their own rules. Yeah, but it's supposed to match up to the statute of limitations.

Wow. So another right is the right to not have to pay for your rape kit. So in some states, survivors are still getting charged for it. Wow. It can cost up to $2,000. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, imagine if, oh, and they have creditors calling them if they can't afford to pay it.

Oh, my goodness. But if your car was stolen, right, you would not have to pay for the police to come to your home, like the gas tank, you know, for the police to come and collect evidence. So why do you have to do that in the case of rape? It creates this social economic barrier that disincentivizes survivors from coming forth. And many survivors don't report their rape or sexual violence for many reasons, one of them being that survivors don't report their rape or sexual violence. For many reasons, one of them being that they don't trust the criminal justice system, which is not an unfounded. Or just shame or guilt or insecurity or fear or whatever.

How many people are sexually assaulted every year in the US? Yeah. So there are a ton of statistics on this. The one we quote a lot is that there are at least 25 million rape survivors in the United States. Wow. 25 million survivors total? Total. Not yearly. That's correct. And what that means is that's the entire population of Texas.

Yeah. It's a lot of people. And after the Me Too movement, right, we now know that everyone in our lives, we know at least somebody who has been affected by this rape and sexual violence unfortunately affects all people of all walks of life. Yeah. So another right that's in the Survivor Bill of Rights is the right to be notified of your rights. Very basic. It's kind of like a Miranda rights. It's kind of like a Miranda rights.

But because there are such different resources that vary drastically from not only state to state but county to county, in moments of trauma, it's really important for survivors to get access to information and quickly. So that's one of the other rights. And the right to have a copy of your police report. It sounds so basic. Yeah. But survivors are getting denied it. We put together these basic set of rights and aimed to pass it in the United States Congress. And when we first started out, we were a group of 20-something-year-olds with no money, no connections, no power. And people thought we were a joke.

And we just kept relentlessly organizing, putting our heads together. You used GoFundMe? Is that what you used? Oh, definitely. Yeah, we actually did that. How much did you raise on there? On the original days, I think we raised like $20,000. Yeah, now we're at $2 million. Yeah, we'll talk about that in a second. So what's the $2 million you used for right now?

Yeah, so we ended up passing the bill in Congress. But not only did we pass it in a gridlocked Congress where nothing passed, we passed it unanimously and in seven months. So we hold the record in the past decade for the most efficient legislative reform movement in U.S. history. Because both parties are on board. That's right. It's not like it's, everyone understands this. We became the 21st bill in modern U.S. history to pass unanimously on an on-the-record vote in Congress. Wow. And on-the-record vote means that senators had to come in person and cast their vote.

Wow. Yeah, they did that. So they really got behind it. That's right. Jeff Sessions and Elizabeth Warren stood together for this, and they had never done that, and they never will do that again. Wow. So how do you pass a bill? Yeah.

I mean, how does the process even work? Yeah, I'm so glad you asked that question. As a 20-something with no money. Fundamentally, I want people to know that the most powerful tool we all have is our voice. And that these institutions, these hallowed institutions of Congress may seem scary, but it is our constitutional right to go in and talk to these politicians because they serve the people. They're supposed to serve us. So you can just show up and take a meeting essentially whenever you want. That's correct. With anyone in Congress? So obviously it's helpful to have an appointment. Sure.

But technically, constitutionally, you are supposed to be able to access your representative or your senator, both not only in their D.C. office but in their home office as well. Wow. You're a constituent. You have that right. Wow. But here's how to hack Congress, right? Here's how to pass a law. So this is the part most people don't understand.

It's my pet peeve when people say, call your member of Congress. Because it doesn't really work. They're not picking up. It doesn't really work. It's an answering machine part, right? That's right. So in order to game the system, you need to understand the rules of the system. Let me tell you those rules. When a bill is introduced, it gets assigned to a committee. Most civil rights bills are assigned

to the Judiciary Committee. So right now in Congress, Senator Lindsey Graham is the chairman of the judiciary. What this means, and this is a very powerful position, is that the chairman or chairwoman has agenda-making authority. This is very, very important. Agenda-making authority is just like it sounds. That person is the sole person in the entire Congress who can set the agenda for bills to be voted on. So most bills die because they don't make it on the agenda. Interesting.

Yes. So you can call a senator as much as you want, but it doesn't matter. Unless they are the chairperson of that committee, and they are going to set the agenda. Interesting. Yes. So you can call a senator as much as you want. Right. But it doesn't matter. Unless they are the chairperson of that committee and they are going to set the agenda. How does a bill get introduced? Yeah, that's a great question too. So again, you just take out a piece of paper and pan, you say, here, I want to introduce this to you. So a member of Congress has to introduce it. But just like you said, the way that we were able to pass our laws so efficiently is because we did that work. You did it and said, here it is. That's correct. It's all written up for you. Just sign off on it. Yeah. And then move it forward. Yeah. Yeah. So look, members of

Congress are very busy. Put it that way. Given the benefit of the doubt, they're very busy. They have many things to do. If you have a good idea and you're able to convince them two things, one, that it's the morally right thing to do, and two, it's the politically strategic thing for them to do. It makes them look good. Yeah. Yeah. So one of the things I'm very cognizant of is activism fatigue. A lot of people wake up and there are so many burning trash cans everywhere. And people are like, okay, how do I- Some of the things people want to are so many burning trash cans everywhere. And people are like, okay, how do I… Some of the things people want to be supported with and shared on social media and donations and vote for this and march for this.

And it's like… What do you do? So many things you can care about in a day when you have your own issues and your own problems too. And what most people want to see is a return on investment of their energy. What I mean by that is, okay, if I'm going to march, what is that going to result in? Is there going to be a result? Yeah. Or is it a wasted day?

Exactly. A good photo and a sign that I get to share out. Exactly. And it's more activism and social movements are more than just a fashion trend. And so for us, that's why I gamify the process of passing a law. But more specifically, I think there's a difference between activism and organizing. So activism to me is straight voltage and organizing is directed energy. We need both.

But in order for social movements to sustain, activism is necessary. Anger can fuel movements, but it cannot sustain movements. Hope does that. Can anger pass a law? I think it can pass a law. Or make a change? I think it certainly can, but it cannot sustain it for decades. Anger is inherently, to me, a surface emotion.

For me, anger comes from somewhere. You're hurt. Whatever it is that's underlying that emotion is fueling that anger, and it's not a lasting emotion. It flames out. That's correct. So what happens after you flame out? How can you sustain the change that you're trying to make? And that's where hope comes in.

To me, there's a difference between a hope and a dream. Dreams are things that you think about, they're nice to have, but in order to have hope, you have to have a plan to get there from point A to point B. And here's where it comes back to gamification. Games have a couple different aspects to them. Good games have a very clear objective, a finish line. They have skills. A next level. That's correct. They have skills building. So you're never given more than you can handle. They have constant feedback loops. So you're playing your plus one life, plus one strength. And then they have community. And so I took those aspects and I applied it to lawmaking.

So when an organizer, we call them a riser, joins the game, they are never given more than they can handle. So it's an easy first step. That's correct. Yes. The first step is that they write what it is that brought them to the table. Why are they there? And along the way, a couple levels down, they transform that into talking to a member of Congress. And then they transform that to testifying in front of the Senate, and then they transform that to passing through the chamber, and then repeating on the next chamber, and then getting it to the governor's desk, right? So these levels make it bite-sizeable and accessible. People, especially, again, in this time of frustration and time of waning faith in our democracy

just want to know that they have agency and what we are providing with Hoponomics and at Rise is a roadmap to that there's never been a better or more vital moment in our history for everyday people to understand that they hold the power. And that's what Hoponomics is about. Wow. Amazing. Incredible. Yeah.

We can go back to passing a law too. I mean, go through that stuff. Yeah. What's the steps to passing a law? Like if I feel like something is unjust and I want to make a change. How do you do that? Yeah. Realistically, can I make that change through passing a law? And how long will it take?

And what are those steps? Well, take it from someone who's done it 21 times. You can absolutely do that. So going back to agenda-making authority, we're going to get wonky for a second. So there are a couple stages to passing a law. First, the bill needs to be introduced into a committee. Then that bill needs to be put onto the agenda to be voted out of that committee if it passes the committee then it goes to the floor of a chamber now congress has both the house and the senate let's say that this is the senate so it passes out of the senate committee goes to the floor of the senate chamber then the head of the senate needs to put it up for a vote agenda making authority is super super important here if it is on to put it up for a vote. Agenda-making authority is super, super important here.

If it is on the agenda and it gets a vote and it passes, then it does and repeats the process on the House. So the process, again, introduce the bill to committee. The committee needs to put it onto the agenda to be voted on. Then it goes to the floor of a chamber, say it's the Senate floor, and then it repeats its process on the House side. Now, integral in this is the catalyst points. If you look at the process, right, the rules, there are only four people in the entire United States Congress who are decision makers. Really? Those people are the people who hold the authority to set the agenda, right? So you need to meet one of those people to get on the agenda.

That's correct. There are 535 members of Congress. And that's why I say it's really important to understand the rules in order to hack the system. You don't need to go to all these other people. Go to the people who make the decision. In today's world, we have platforms that have democratized our voices, social media, but also you can Google literally the emails of everyone because they work for you. These are public servants. Their phone numbers are online, their emails. Yes, they are. Set up a meeting. It is your right to do so. What if the meeting,

what if they say, oh, we're busy for the next six months? Keep on doing it. Really? Yeah. And show up. Just show up at the door. Yeah. So I'll talk about showing up. In Massachusetts, I was told the day before the Massachusetts legislative cycle was going to end that the speaker was not going to bring up my bill and that it was going to die. And I was already in the airport, like about to board this plane to go from DC to Boston. And I went into the bathroom and I cried because I was just like, well, why would I go and watch my own civil rights get slaughtered? And it was other rape survivors who called me and said, just be present in that state house.

Make sure that you stand at the door and let each one of these representatives, as they walk out, see your face. And I was the last person on that plane. And for the next day, when I got there, even our lead sponsors, the lead senators and representatives who worked on this bill, said, I'm so sorry, it's not going to pass this time. And for the next 14 hours, the RISE team and I literally just walked into the decision

makers' offices and said, I'm here. Here's why I care about this issue. Respectfully, please listen to our stories. I asked people to call into the Speaker's office. I witnessed those calls come in, in person. And at the end of those 14 hours, he brought it up for a vote, and it passed unanimously. Wow. Why would they not pass something like this? That's beneficial to all. That's right. Right?

It doesn't hurt a party. It doesn't, like— Yeah, that's right. It makes them look really good, too. Right. Why would they say, ah, we're just not going to pass this? Politics is not about logic or facts. If it was, we'd have a very different climate now.

It's all about emotion. And at the end of the day, when you're talking to these people, it's about convincing them to care and prioritize. Politicians get like a, it's like drinking from a fire hydrant. They have so many people coming at them all the time, talking about all the different issues. So how do you rise above that and make the case that they should do this too? To be very honest with you, this is a very sad reality, but it's true. The way that we have done this is by empathy building, but also specifically

bringing in celebrities. Yeah. The shiny thing that they will. Yeah. I'm so grateful for Terry. So they'll listen to a celebrity. That's right. It's press or celebrity. Really? Yeah. They'll listen to it because it's like more attention. So now they have heat on them. That's right. It's press or celebrity. Really? Yeah. They'll listen to it because it's like more attention, so now they have heat on them. That's right. That's right, yeah. So I had already passed the federal law, the Sexual Assault Survivor Bill of Rights, through the United States Congress when I asked Terry to come and testify with me in the United States Senate. And the reason why I asked him to do that anyways is because even if the federal law passed because of states' rights and federalism, most rape cases are adjudicated in state courts.

So the federal law impacts 25 million people. However, we still need to pass these rights state by state. And state legislation is not as flashy or as people just don't look at as much as federal laws. And so the United States Senate held a hearing to help us amplify. If I just testified, it would not have had the type of world trending impact that Terry Crews came and testified on. And Terry lent his platform in order for us to do so. And it directly resulted in laws getting passed. Wow. So one person being up there made a huge difference. Immense difference. Yeah. Immense. Yeah, absolutely.

And I'm very grateful to him. And he serves as an example of someone being able to tell their story and use it for good. Yeah, and then it was like Gillette Commercial had it in there and everything else. And it spread even more. Yeah. It's amazing. So you went on to raise $20 million now? Oh, no, $2 million. $2 million.

Why did I say $20 million? $2 million. But that is our goal. Now $2 million over the last four years of Delta's been. Yeah. How have you been able to do that, raise that much money? That is absolutely a mental game, if I have to say. Like, I grew up with an immigrant family.

My parents were boat refugees from Vietnam. I remember I had a meeting with a high net worth individual. And it wasn't even that person. It was, like, their person's gatekeeper. And I had calculated, okay, we need $16,000 in order to make it to like survive, you know, for another month or something like that. And I asked him that and I'll never forget his response. He said to me, I'm offended by your request. Right, $16,000 is chump change to me.

And I was just like, I'd not have $16,000 in my life like what and it was at that moment that I realized like my horizons just expanded to understand how much capital there is out there and that if you want something and if you believe in these rights then you need to ask for it. You need to ask really confidently for it. Look, presidential candidates right now are raising multi-millions based on the promise of them. Maybe making it.

Maybe making it and maybe enacting change. And guess what? At Rise, we've already passed 21 laws for 40 million people. We hold the track record for being, again, America's most successful legislative reform movement. And do I believe in these rights? Yes. Do they require capital in order to make sure that our team has the resources to accomplish their goal? Yes.

And if an ex-presidential candidate can raise ideas for the promise of their idea, then I can raise millions of dollars for actual track records. What's the biggest fear you have personally? That's a great question. I think the hardest thing, I think there's like two types. There's a professional one and a personal one. Personal. Yeah.

Speak to the heart. Yeah. In your personal one. Personal. Yeah. So. Speak to the heart. Yeah. In your personal life. I think the hardest thing anyone can do is learn to love themselves. Fully and authentically. Have you done that yet? Yeah. I really do love myself. That's good. But it's a struggle. I don't love myself every day. And I certainly did start off with that. Especially for individuals who are part of marginalized communities and have identities. Marginalized identities are compounded. Society tells you to be a certain way.

Yeah. Of course it's hard to love yourself. That is the greatest challenge that we do when we wake up every single day, which is how do we live our God-given potential and be happy with who we are and thrive and contribute to our own lives and whatever vision it is that we're trying to create. Yeah. And it's so, so hard. How do you practice self-love? It's every day. I don't believe in work-life balance. I believe in work-life integration.

So what I mean by that is I deliberately create choices in my career and in my personal life that spark joy. See how I'm Marie Kondo-ing of my life. But in activism, especially for organizers and activists who work on issues that come from their own personal trauma, there is an incredible danger of performative trauma. What I mean by that is a lot of, even let's say sexual violence survivors, when they go speak on an issue, are expected to talk about the most gruesome details of their rape. And it's kind of a voyeuristic

experience for the person who is, you know, let's say, oh, that's so terrible. When I created Rise, it was deliberately named Rise to recognize that you're coming from a place but going up. And I structured and architected this social movement to have an outlet, right? So it is a journey. People are moving somewhere. And for my personal experience, I found my own form of justice by being able to pen my own civil rights into existence and help other people do that too. Wow. Yeah. And that's the next phase of Rise actually. So over the past eight months, we launched a accelerator for social movements. So in cities across America. Any social movement. That's correct. In cities across America, tech entrepreneurs can apply to umbrella organizations.

And when an entrepreneur has a good idea based on the merit of their idea, they can get seed funding or mentorship. That doesn't exist for civil rights until now. Over the past 21 laws, we've amassed an honest broker reputation between all political parties. between all political parties. And we are using those resources and that knowledge and the roadmap to train the next generation of changemakers. So if actors or organizers have an idea about how to change a law specifically and are relentlessly committed to doing so, they have a lot of grit, They can apply. And if they get

accepted, we will cover their opportunity cost to start up their social movement. So we pay those people seed funding and give them mentors, coaches. The tools and how to pass these laws. Yeah. Our mission is to help everyday people pass their first law. Wow. Interesting. Yeah. What's a law that needs to be passed? There are so many. Really? Yes. But the first incubation that we've done are with the survivors and friends of the Parkland shooting. So eight months ago, their founder, Robert Shentrup, came to me and described a meeting that he had had with a senator where that senator said, I want to work on these issues, but I don't think I can because I'd lose my seat in the primary.

And instead of being mad, Robert, who lost his sister Carmen Shentrup in the shooting, by the way, Robert turned to me and said, I don't care. I just want to make it safe for this guy to vote yes so that I don't lose my other sister to gun violence. And that is what it takes, an understanding of the system and grit and compromise. And so Robert and a group of incredible young people started this organization called Zero USA for zero gun deaths in America. They have been full-time at RISE for the past eight months and have gone through the Hoponomics training. And they are currently in 15 states now. Robert met with President Trump in the Oval Office and met with Democratic House leadership. And last month, he testified in the Colorado State House on a bill that they support. That bill passed and it's on its way to the governor's desk. Wow, that's cool.

Yeah. That's really cool. How does someone detach the emotional anger from the pain they feel, the injustice that's happened to them, or they see from someone else that they care about or they're in their community? How do they build a movement so that an idea gets passed without this emotional charge. Because you said that Congress making a decision is like an emotional feeling, but I don't think you can do it if you're just like this emotional person crying and screaming

and shouting and pouting all day long. Like it's not going to get a message across. Absolutely. So how does someone who's been through this trauma or pain get a message across with passion, but not this crazy emotional energy? That is perhaps one of the toughest skills we teach at Rise. Because I see these activists online that are just screaming. And I'm like, you're not getting a message across to me. And I'm not even the person you're trying to convince here, right?

Absolutely. The people passing these laws, they're just going to block that off. That's absolutely true. You're exhausting me. And I'm not even the person you're trying to convince here, right? It's like, absolutely. The people passing these laws, they're just going to block that off. That's absolutely true. You're exhausting me. That's absolutely true. So the biggest critique that we get is that we are not radical enough. And I own that criticism, right? For me, I did not. So you pass laws though, without being radical. So I did not have the political luxury of a cathartic performance. I had urgency. My rape kit had a literal timeline to be destroyed. And what that means is that every six months, it was counting down to this Kafkaesque game where my justice would be literally thrown in the trash.

And I needed to work with anyone and everyone within the legislative process in order to pass these laws. That profoundly shaped the way that I negotiated my rights. So here's where the national security side, the diplomacy side of homopneumatics comes in. In just any relationship, even in our personal relationships, the closer that relationship is, the more it can be distorted, right? Maybe you're having an argument with your girlfriend and you yell over something so small. Would you have done

that with a stranger? In international relations, in national security, let's say we are negotiating with a dictator on nuclear disarmament. Maybe that dictator has a lot of other issues that they need to get better on. But for that moment, when you're at the table, you're only working on nuclear disarmament and you're trying to move that ball forward on that one issue, being able to keep your eye on the ball and focus on that and not only detach yourself, right? You're not forgetting all the other things that you're doing, but you are putting that at the door when you walk in because you have a very specific goal and trying to make that change. That set of skills is really important when it comes to domestic policy,

and it's often forgotten. So just like in personal relationships when things are distorted, citizens of a country may have a sort of different relationship with the type of skills and tools and tactics that they use in demanding their rights from their senators. It doesn't mean don't demand them. Again, activism, organizing, both are necessary. But if you want to pass laws. If you want to get results. That's right. Democracy inherently requires its citizens to hash things out. And so when survivors at rise or any organizer enters a room of a senator, they leave their political tribalism at the door. What does that mean? We are in such a partisan time where when you turn on the TV, all we hear are reduced sound bites for retweets. People are just trying to get at each other.

It's theater. We don't really hear steadfast policymaking. Right. And our government can't even keep itself open. And in the meantime, people suffer. And so political tribalism saying, I am right, my party is right, and your party is wrong, and just trying to tear each other down, that can get money for political fundraisers because you're literally rooting for your team. That's what it is. But legislation, true lawmaking, and one that helps people, demands that we sit down and we sit in these uncomfortable spaces. We climb over these

empathy walls and really engage with the other side. And that's really hard to do. But that's what we train our organizers to do. Wow. Yeah. Amazing. So what's next then? What are you most excited about? Every day I wake up and the two burning questions I have are,

what is my place in the universe and what am I going to do about it? I think both civil rights and astrophysics answers that question. But in terms of the civil rights work, this blueprint that we're creating together at RISE is meant to help other people be able to pen their own civil rights into existence. And success to me looks like I'm not needed anymore. Because first of all, I want to go to space. So, you know, I did this out of necessity. And the choices that I've made in creating the social movement was not in building a career out of it or not in putting my identity around it, but what is the fastest exit for me and most efficient way for me to get rights and then also empower other people to get rights because that

was a response that we received after President Obama signed our law. And how can I create modes of thinking that are accessible to bring democracy back to me into the hands of the people and then go to space. Sure, sure. Yeah, yeah. So every day I wake up and I still believe that I have agency to change the world around me. And I'm so grateful for that, not only for my own agency, but the agency to have other people have that empowerment too. That's amazing. How can people get involved or follow the movement? Or if they want to launch their own campaign,

what can they do? Everyone can go to risenow.us and apply. So if you have an idea that you want to enact to change the world, specifically a way, a law that you want to write, you can go and find the application. And if folks want to join other campaigns, that's also available too. So you can volunteer your time. Here's the remarkable part about our first couple of laws. We did this in our spare time. So I ended up choosing my career. I served in the Obama administration.

And on the side did rise. That's pretty cool. Yeah, yeah. It's amazing. Thank you. So it didn't have to be this full-time rise. That's pretty cool. Yeah, yeah. It's amazing. Thank you. So it didn't have to be this full-time thing of activism all day long, screaming and marching. No, there's another way.

There's another way. And that way. Smarter way. There is a way to pass laws in an efficient manner that brings back, well, civility, to be honest. Humanity, yeah. Yeah, that's at the core of what we do. It's recognizing, and sometimes it's very hard to, the humanity in everyone.

One of the ways that we were able to coalition build is by bringing unlikely, unsavory allies to the table and saying, look, this is what we want to do, and we want to hear you out, too. Most people, again, it's on an emotional level with other people, which is true with everyone, don't want to be left out. And the issue of sexual violence, as a lot of other contentious issues, doesn't boil down to facts, right? If it was, then we wouldn't have been litigating so many different flashpoints within our culture, within recent memory, from Supreme Court justices to presidential elections, whatever.

You turn on the TV. But the idea here is to have people remember that no one is powerless when we come together. Wow. What happens now with those who are convicted of rape? What happens like with the laws? What is the crime? Yeah. That really varies from state to state. Really? It really, really varies. And it really varies depending on the judge as well. That's a whole other arena of reform waiting to happen. Because it's still kind of like a game of like, well, this is what he said, she said, she said, he said. Yeah.

Unless there's like video evidence maybe. Or a rape kit. Or a rape kit. Yeah. So, again. Even a rape kit, someone could say, well, this was consensual. This person wanted it. They said yes.

They said, you know, I don't know. I'm just making this up. No, no, no. No, totally. So it's all about like, you know, it can be very traumatic for the man as well if he was like, well, I didn't think this was right. Yeah, we are certainly entering into an era where people are being, people are having dialogue on this. What constitutes consent and what constitutes, what are the ramifications for non-consensual. And when do they teach you this? When are you taught the rules, the laws?

There's like a moral rule and then there's like an actual law. And when has anyone ever taught this? Exactly. I think that's an incredibly important conversation to be had right now. The laws that I've written don't even go there. It is literally the first step in reforming a broken criminal justice system at the very start. So there's so much work that's to be done. And one of them starts by recognizing that when we come to the table, everyone needs to have an understanding. And people don to have an understanding, and people don't have an understanding now because we haven't had this conversation before. Yeah. Yeah, that even extends internationally as well, right?

So one of the campaigns that we're doing at RISE is a universal survivor bill of rights where we are asking governments to recognize the humanity in all survivors. The United Nations General Assembly has never passed a resolution that has solely focused on survivors of sexual violence. Rape has always been a subcategory of another issue. And rape happens outside of war. Peace is not the absence of visible conflict. In order for there to be true peace, survivors need to have the opportunity to access justice.

And so our universal Bill of Rights seeks to have governments recognize the full dignity of survivors and have the priority of having criminal justice systems there to be able to be of service for survivors. Yeah, I mean, it's such a big issue. I think the stat that I've heard is one in four women have been sexually abused and one in six men. That's right.

It's just like it's such a big issue that there's two parts to it. There's the healing part of it for the victim. It's like how to heal and forgive or move on or whatever you need to do to heal. And then there's the legal part. It's like, how do you process this legally so this doesn't happen again? Right. Or this person is, you know, brought to justice. Right.

So it's kind of two different issues. Yeah, it is two different issues. How do we teach this in the world so that we have better humanity? Right. And how do we move forward these laws? So it's amazing what you're doing. It's really inspiring. Did I read that you were nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize?

Yes. Someone nominated you? Yes. How does that even work? Yeah. And when will you know if you get it? So I will know October of this year. Come on.

Thank you. Get it. Make it happen. Is this just one person a year? I'm ignorant to this. Like, how many people get nominated? How many people win it a year? So it's actually a secret how many people are nominated, or rather who gets nominated.

They keep it in the Nobel Committee. I let the secret out. Sorry. No, it's okay. This one, my nominator specifically issued a public letter to let the world know that they nominated me specifically because they wanted to uplift the work on the international level that we were doing. And I'm so grateful to my nominators. I actually had the immense honor of attending, thanks to the invitation of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee,

the Nobel Prize ceremony last year. Wow, what was that like? It's in Oslo. It is literally the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Wow. I don't want a wedding ceremony. I want a Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. Oh, my goodness.

I mean, it was so wholesome. It was magical. And the prize is for goodness. It's for humanity. Licking people up. That's right. And it was history. And to be able to witness Nadia and Dennis, the two who won last year, who are in my field, by the way, they're both sexual violence activists.

Wow. Yes. Was such an immense honor. Yeah. So the room holds about maybe 200 to 300 people. Small. Yeah. And the royal family comes.

And there's this whole procession. The past winners come probably, some of the past winners. Actually, they don't. So it's actually, and nominees don't get to go either. So it was really special that the committee extended this invitation for me. And it was because I work in the field. So it depends. Every year it's based on the committee and how much they, who they want to award.

Wow. So this past year there were two people that were awarded. And so the invitees are split between them. Nadia is a member of the Yazidi community, and Dennis is from the DRC Congo. And so, I mean, the pride, the immense pride, deservedly so, of these two communities, just when they spoke, I mean, these flags were flying, people were crying. I mean, I wish it was a bigger thing in America because it really is based on a shared belief in our common humanity. It was, it was so delightful. Yeah. It just makes you remember maybe everything's going to be okay. Yeah. And it also shows the ripple effects of what we're able to do together.

Yeah. One person can make a huge ripple. Yeah. Just by starting an idea, starting a movement. Yeah. Planting a seed. Yeah, and speaking up. That's it. You know?

What makes you feel the most loved? Oh, that's a great question. I'm so lucky to feel that love, but it hasn't always been that way. So when I first started advocating for my rights, the first time was in the Massachusetts State House. It was six hours of me telling politicians who just straight up did not care. I remember one of them being like, oh, my constituents just don't know me for this, but I'm sympathetic. Or somebody else would be like, oh, I have a campaign to run. I don't know how well this would go. And I was like, thanks for your brutal honesty. But also, I watched these politicians debate the feasibility of my own

human rights in front of my face. And I went home and I cried. I was just like, I just need one person to tell me that they love me. I'm a pathological optimist. It is sort of required to be an astronaut. Certainly required to be an activist. And so the next day I got up and I did the same thing this time to the United States Senate. And I got into my lunch break because I was working. And I got into this Uber ride where the driver was this kind of stoic, intimidating guy. He didn't really talk to me, but as we were going to the Senate, he saw that I was going there and he asked me why. And so I told him and this once intimidating man just started tearing up.

And he turned to me and he said, my daughter is a rape survivor and what you went through, she went through too. And when he stopped the car, he said, can I shake your hand? Thank you so much for fighting for my daughter. Has anyone told you that they love you today? I love you. And I'll never forget that dad. So one of the greatest things that I tell people is when you're doing this work, it's not in isolation. Even though you may feel lonely, the change that you're creating in that vision impacts more than directly the people you're trying to help. It impacts their loved ones as well. That's amazing. There's so much love out there. Yeah. Well, you feel it then, right? Yeah. That's good. That's good. This is a question I

ask at the end. It's called the three truths. So I want you to imagine a far time away that it's your last day on earth. And you can live as long as you want to live. Maybe you've extended your life to 300 years because you've got some crazy astronaut space stuff that you've added to your life or something.

But it's the last day. And you've got to it's been a beautiful life. You've achieved everything you want. You've passed every bill that you could possibly think of. You've moved humanity forward. You've got the family of your dreams, everything. But you've got to turn the lights off and you have to take everything with you. So all of your work has to go with you, your messages, your writings, your books, your videos, your audio, it's all going to come with you, your message.

But you get to leave behind three things you know to be true about everything you've learned in life. These would be the three lessons, or we like to call it three truths, that you would just share with the world. What would you say are yours? All right. My first one is that no one is invisible when we demand to be seen. My second one is, I said this earlier, no one is powerless when we come together.

The third one requires a little bit of explaining and a little bit of space nerddom. So when astronauts go to space for the first time, many of them experience this thing called the overview effect. It's a psychological cognitive shift that happens and it's seeing every living being that's ever lived or died on a pale blue dot. Crazy. And what it does is it inspires awe in the full definition of awe, like fear, but also amazingness. People who go to space and come back say that we are all in this spaceship earth together. Why are we fighting over such trivial things? You can't see man-made borders in space.

What you can see is that we are all one humanity. You can't see man-made borders in space. What you can see is that we are all one humanity. So the last thing that I would hope to leave behind is this idea that we are one and that our brother and sisters across the world are all in this together. The overview effect. I love that. Well, I want to acknowledge you, Amanda, for your courage to take action because it's not an easy thing to do.

You know, to take action when you were going through an emotionally challenging, probably the hardest challenging time emotionally for yourself and to say, I want to stand up for myself and try to make change and do this just after graduating college, figuring it out on your free time. I mean, it's really inspiring. So I acknowledge you for sticking it out and making an impact and getting results

because most people have lots of money and they try to make a change. They can't do it. And you're showing us that we can if we're just willing to stick it out and come from a place of, it sounds like compassion. Of course, you had a lot of pain and anger and frustration, but you learned how to emotionally shift and get results. That's a great example of what's possible for anyone. So I acknowledge you for everything you're doing,

for helping people that want to make a change as well. Where can we follow you personally? Instagram is where I update most of my life. And so you can find me. My full name is Amanda, N-G-O-C-N-G-U-Y-E-N. That's my handle. And then on Twitter, my last name is N-G-U-Y-E-N underscore Amanda. Okay.

And the website is Rise? RiseNow.us. RiseNow.us. RiseNow.us. Yeah. This is the last question, and it's what's your definition of greatness? Oh. Oh, that's a good one. Why did I anticipate that question?

It's to love who you are. Yeah. love who you are. Yeah. Because that, that definition can change based on each individual and based on every generation. It's up to every generation to define for itself. Um, so ultimately it's, uh, to love who you are. Yeah. Amanda Wynn. Thank you so much. Thank you. Appreciate it. There you have it, my friends. I hope you enjoyed this episode with Amanda Nguyen. Loved everything she talked about in terms of building a movement and building a team around you to help support this movement that you have.

If you feel like something is frustrating in you in your life or with government policy or the laws, you can make a change. She is living proof that you can and you don't need to have all the money in the world. You don't need to have all these things for you right now. You can just have a voice and start going down the process of making it happen. I'm not saying it's going to be super easy, but there's definitely a way to make any of this happen. If you enjoyed it, share this with your friends.

Tag a girlfriend of yours that you know has some big ideas but needs that extra kick and inspiration. Show her what's possible through Amanda Wynn's story. A girlfriend of yours that you know has some big ideas but needs that extra kick and inspiration. Show her what's possible through Amanda Wynn's story. Again, lewishouse.com slash 788. Big thank you to Amanda. Make sure to tag her on Instagram. Let her know you enjoyed this and listen to it as well and send her some love over there.

I'm sure she'd love to hear from you. Thank you guys so very much. You have the power to make your voice be heard. And it's not through shouting. It's not through screaming. It's not through anything that's going to piss people off necessarily. You might make some noise, but will you be heard? You'll be heard when you build an emotional connection through a story and move people emotionally.

Think about that the next time you're trying to communicate to a friend, a business partner, a colleague, a family member. Move them emotionally and connect with them. Make a change that lasts. And as Woodrow Wilson said, you are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world.

Ask yourself, what am I doing today to enrich the lives around me? Am I lifting people up or am I hurting them through my negative energy? You have the power to make a change in every moment of your life. Thank you all so very much. And you know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great. Outro Music