Amanda Nguyen Is Ready To Take Flight

Karina Hoshikawa Last Updated January 30, 2025, 10:14 AM

Amanda Nguyen is an activist. And a bestselling author. She’s also a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, founder of a nonprofit, and she happens to love makeup. (Oh, and one more thing: She is the first Vietnamese woman to go to space.) A quick scroll on her Instagram feed reveals snippets of her incredible career, which has spanned her groundbreaking aerospace achievements, critically-acclaimed memoir Saving Five, appearances as TIME’s Woman of the Year, and her work with Rise, a non-governmental organization she created to protect sexual assault survivors. (In 2016, the United States Congress passed the Sexual Assault Survivor Bill of Rights after she publicly testified, which guaranteed, for the first time, statutory rights in federal code for survivors of sexual assault and rape.) Point is, she’s already a veritable force for change — but wasn’t too busy to add one more line to her already-impressive CV: Star of e.l.f. Cosmetics’ Show Your(s)e.l.f. campaign.

The editor-beloved makeup brand is known for its accessible, high-quality products, but it is a shared mission of inclusivity and joy of beauty that made this partnership a natural fit for Nguyen. “e.l.f. is all about democratizing beauty,” she tells Refinery29. “And for me what that means is seeing myself reflected in the ways people consume beauty, either through content, film, or advertisements — and I actually do use e.l.f. every day.”

In addition to the campaign film, Nguyen is preparing to literally take flight as she embarks on an upcoming space expedition with Blue Origin, making her the first Vietnamese woman to go to space.

In our latest Power Diaries, the trailblazer candidly speaks about how she stays inspired and empowered, and shares more about her new role as an e.l.f. ambassador.