Thuy-Mai Nguyen graduated from Brown University in 2012 with honors in Ethnic Studies. For her senior thesis, she wrote a memoir dedicated to the manifestations of transgenerational trauma in the body and home; after graduation, she served as an AmeriCorps at the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence leading a GED program for gang-affiliated young adults. Currently, she works as a college adviser in the National College Advising Corps, based at Tolman High School in Pawtucket.