Nguyen was born in
Saigon, Vietnam. At a very young age, she and her parents fled Vietnam as refugees. After two days, two nights and a Thai pirate attack on the open ocean, their boat landed on the coast of
Malaysia, where Nguyen and her family stayed in a refugee camp for 10 months. Nguyen immigrated to the United States in 1980. A family in
Eugene, Oregon sponsored her family to America. She spent most of her childhood in
San Jose and
Santa Rosa, and became a
U.S. citizen at age 10. She went to elementary school at Santee Elementary in San Jose. Nguyen went on to attend college at the
University of San Francisco on an academic scholarship. During her time at the university, Nguyen was a member of the cheer squad and served as president of her student body. In 2000, she graduated as
valedictorian of her class with a degree in communications and a minor in biology. ==Professional career==