Assemblymember Nguyen served as the Executive Director of Asian Resources, Inc. (ARI) to ensure that all communities, especially the low-income, immigrant, refugee, limited English speaking youth, formerly incarcerated and undocumented, have access to support and services to help them get one step closer to self-sufficiency. She was elected to the Elk Grove City Council in 2017 and is the first Asian American woman in this role.

Stephanie Nguyen has lived, worked, and served the Sacramento and Elk Grove communities almost all her life. The daughter of Vietnamese Refugees who fled the Vietnam War by boat, she grew up in Sacramento's Little Saigon district and attended Sacramento schools before graduating from Sacramento State University.