Sandy is a compassionate leader, bold entrepreneur, and freedom fighter. She draws her inspiration from her Vietnamese roots, a community of BIPOC and first-generation trailblazers, and all the young people she has educated and mentored. Sandy is a Chicagoan through and through and currently lives on the Southwest side. She enjoys singing karaoke, dancing to every beat, cooking wholesome meals, having deep conversations about equity and justice, practicing self and community care, and hosting gatherings for her loved ones.

Through the Posse Foundation Scholarship, she was given the opportunity to attend DePauw University and earned a bachelor’s degree in Conflict Studies. During her senior year, she won the Walker Cup, a prestigious award presented annually to a student of the Senior Class who has done the most for DePauw during their college course. This award gave her the honor of being the commencement speaker at graduation.

Sandy joined Teach for America (TFA) after college and completed her two-year term on the Big Island of Hawai’i as a middle school English teacher serving hundreds of brilliant and talented students. To increase resources in the community, she used her storytelling and mobilizing skills to secure additional funds to support the professional development of youth workers in Ka’u. Upon completing her TFA Corp experience, she returned home to Chicago and joined the development team at Noble Schools, where she started as a coordinator and eventually worked her way up to become a Director of Development. Her role included raising ~$7M annually, managing the grant writing team, stewarding high-stakes donor relationships, and monitoring federal grants. After 5+ years at Noble, Sandy launched Bold & Write LLC to serve small and mid-sized nonprofits and businesses. She is committed to the mission of ensuring organizations at the grassroots level are connected to funding sources that enable them to scale their impact.

Favorite quote: “If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time, but if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.” - Dr. Lilla Watson