Biography

Cuong is the President and Founder of Enlightened Initiative, a leadership, cultural competency, and mentorship nonprofit that supports immigrant youth as they become leaders in their families and communities in the United States and Puerto Rico. Cuong’s personal story informs his work in this area. He is the youngest of 10 children in his family. His family arrived in the United States as political refugees from Saigon, Vietnam in 1979. Cuong holds both a law degree (as a Thurgood Marshall Fellow) and a graduate degree in public policy (as a Woodrow Wilson Fellow). He spent 11 years as a senior program analyst and policy analyst at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Cuong came into the federal government through the Presidential Management Fellows Program. He is also a wealth adviser to help immigrant and vulnerable families and youth to reduce wealth inequality in the United States and Puerto Rico.