Tracy La is the co-founder and Executive Director of VietRISE. As an organizer, she has spent over a decade empowering working-class Vietnamese Americans and strengthening youth leadership through multiracial and multigenerational organizing. She has spearheaded key campaigns, including the Bring Human Rights Home campaign, the expansion of Santa Ana’s deportation defense fund, the freedom of Vietnamese refugees from ICE detention, and the passage of the Santa Ana rent stabilization ordinance by organizing alongside Vietnamese senior mobile home residents. Her contributions include developing the first county-wide Legal Empowerment initiative in Orange County, set to be launched in 2024, and she currently serves as the advisory council chair.

Tracy holds a dual B.A. in Political Science and Social Policy and Public Service from UC Irvine, and completed the Nonprofit Management Specialized Studies Program through UCI Continuing Education. She serves as the Chair of the Santa Ana Rental Housing Board and on the Orange County Housing & Community Development Commission. Before VietRISE, she led grassroots campaigns to register thousands of young people and immigrants to vote in Orange County and advocated for national immigration reform and immigrant rights statewide. She is obsessed with her two dogs, Stark and Ronin.

Indigo Vu is the Operations and Programs Manager at VietRISE. They lead the organization’s operations and program management systems, streamlining and maximizing our work for greater impact.

Prior to joining VietRISE, Indigo was a high school English educator working in local Orange County schools and was one of VietRISE’s most active volunteers. Indigo initially joined the VietRISE staff team as the Administrative Assistant in 2020, was promoted to Operations Coordinator where they also served as the project lead for our COVID-19 response work.  Indigo is a lifelong Little Saigon resident and currently serves as the Arts and Culture Commission Chair for Ward 1 in the city of Santa Ana. Indigo holds a B.A. in English Education with an emphasis on Literature from CSU Long Beach and a Single Subject Teaching Credential in English.

Vincent Tran is the Organizing Director at VietRISE. Vincent coordinates VietRISE’s community outreach, civic empowerment programs, and research efforts. He was the lead project coordinator for VietRISE’s 2020-2022 Census outreach and Redistricting policy work, which engaged over 6,000 Little Saigon residents in the census and redistricting processes and resulted in key changes made by local and state government jurisdictions.

He is the son of Vietnamese refugees and was born and raised in Orange County, CA. Prior to joining VietRISE, Vincent holds a BA in Political Science from UC Berkeley and currently serves on the research team for the California state Vietnamese American Refugee Experience Model Curriculum initiative.

Niki Nguyen is the Communications Coordinator at VietRISE. Niki coordinates VietRISE’s cultural strategy and communications work, including drafting newsletters, managing our social media accounts, and developing artistic and culturally empowering content for social media.

Prior to joining VietRISE, Niki was the Clinical Social Work Assistant at Mills Legal Clinic at Stanford Law School and the Immigrant Rights Legal Intern at the UC Irvine School of Law. She was also an active volunteer at VietRISE, volunteering to survey local Vietnamese residents on housing affordability and was a volunteer Intake Specialist for our COVID-19 Immigrant Community Relief Fund program. Niki holds an M.A. in Sociology and a B.A. in Political Science, as well as a Minor in Comparative Studies in Race & Ethnicity from Stanford University. Niki is also the co-founder and coordinator of Education Organizers for Racial Equity (EORE), an all-volunteer grassroots group based in Orange County dedicated to advocating for local Ethnic Studies, faculty diversity, and community centered-funding in higher education.

Lisa Nguyen is the Community Engagement Coordinator at VietRISE. Lisa works with the Civic Engagement Team to organize and lead election outreach field programs. Moreover, Lisa conducts community outreach events and campaigns to build community power and leadership among our Vietnamese, immigrant, and working class base. Prior to joining VietRISE, Lisa was an active canvasser and volunteer.

Outside organizing work, Lisa is a sociocultural applied anthropologist. For their thesis, Lisa works alongside the unhoused Vietnamese community in Little Saigon, capturing the untold stories of the most vulnerable community members. Their research interests include urban anthropology, homelessness, critical refugee studies, structural violence, model minority, and the Vietnamese diaspora. Lisa holds a B.A. in Anthropology and M.A. in Applied Anthropology from CSU Long Beach. Lisa is honored to organize alongside fellow community members.

Dwight is the Community Organizer at VietRISE. At VietRISE, he is responsible for leading community outreach, organizing listening sessions and teach-ins, and managing VietRISE’s youth organizing efforts like the Tự Lực School for Organizing. In addition, Dwight supports VietRISE’s civic engagement and election outreach field programs.

Prior to joining the team, he was a student and youth organizer, involved in advocating for student causes in secondary and higher education. Dwight was a part of the campaign for increased institutional support for Southeast Asian students on his university’s campus and supported high school students organizing for educational equity with the National Equity Project. Dwight holds a B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Sociology and Ethnic Studies from Stanford University and has enjoyed doing lion dance for the last 13 years.

Nhien Nguyen is the Immigrant Rights Organizer at VietRISE. In her role, she leads the organization’s Digital Empowerment Workshops, helping Vietnamese immigrant communities gain essential digital skills to stay informed and secure employment. Nhien also works directly with Vietnamese immigrant mobile home residents, advocating for their rights and providing support to help them avoid eviction by connecting them to legal resources and housing assistance programs.

Before joining VietRISE, Nhien worked as a journalist at Nguoi Viet Daily News and later as a PR and Communications specialist at Southland, a nonprofit health center in Garden Grove. She holds a B.A. in Pre-med and Communications from Gwynedd Mercy University in Pennsylvania.

Thi Le is the Administrative Assistant at VietRISE. At VietRISE, Thi is responsible for managing administrative tasks for ongoing campaigns and events and supporting the VietRISE team.

Prior to joining VietRISE, Thi participated in the  VietRISE x Tiffany Le Art Workshop. Thi also worked at the Department of Rehabilitation and the Orange County Employees Association, gaining experience in both administrative and labor centered work. Thi holds a B.A. in Urban Studies from the University of California, Irvine, with a degree specialization in Geographic Information System (GIS). Through this degree specialization, she has done GIS projects focusing on environmental justice, transportation, and public health.