Nga Vương-Sandoval

Nga Vương-Sandoval is the Founding Executive Director of Refugees + Immigrants United and concurrently leads Colorado Judicial Department’s first and only initiative in the U.S. dedicated to diversifying the bench.

A refugee from Việt Nam, she’s a fierce advocate for forcibly displaced and underrepresented communities. Nga’s journey propelled her onto national and global stages where she advocated to First Lady Dr. Jill Biden in front of Air Force 2, is a TEDx presenter, and a refugee representative at United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva, Switzerland.

She received Colorado Attorney General’s Outstanding Community Service Award, ADL Civil Rights Award, CU Denver’s Mack Easton Award, and a “Five Inspiring Refugee Women” for International Women’s Day by USA for UNHCR.  She was the subject of a public mural by artist Thomas Evans and is honored annually during AAPI Changemakers Month along Colorado Springs Cultural Corridor, honored by the Denver Nuggets with the “First Shot” of the game, and is a founding member/public speaker with Colorado Refugee Speakers Bureau.

Nga spearheaded the work making Lunar New Year an observed Colorado state holiday and authored two historic 2025 proclamations signed by Governor Polis: April 30th as Vietnamese Remembrance and Resilience Day and May as AANHPI Heritage Month.