About Monique

Monique Tu Nguyen is a passionate change-maker on the leading edge of social justice. Since becoming the Executive Director of Matahari Women Workers’ Center in 2012, under her leadership, Matahari has become a vibrant, political community organization making strides in advancing the rights and protections for domestic workers, women, immigrants, and their families. Monique helped spearhead the successful passage of the Massachusetts Domestic Workers Bill of Rights in 2014.

She is a skilled facilitator, strategist, and community organizer. She has spoken on women’s leadership and empowerment, community base-building, domestic workers’ rights, racial justice, and immigrant rights at events and campuses across the country. Monique has appeared in the Boston Globe, Feministing.org, Wall Street Journal, and Huffington Post Live. She has recently received the 2021 Immigrant Hero Award from Immigrant Learning Center for her leadership in creating the MassUndocuFund - a $1 million COVID-19 cash relief fund for undocumented immigrant workers, selected as a 2020 Roddenberry Foundation Fellow, a 2018 Move to End Violence Movement Maker, Smith College Activist in Residence in 2018, and received other awards such as May Takayanagi Making Waves Award’ from the Asian American Resource Workshop in 2014; the ‘Salt of the Earth Award’ from Community Labor United in 2013 and 2021; and the ‘Horace Seldon Emerging Leader Award’ from Community Change, Inc. in 2011.

Monique’s drive for social justice is rooted in her own personal experience as a former undocumented immigrant and daughter of Vietnam War refugees and a deep belief that all people deserve dignity. She loves to cook, dance, hike, and dream and scheme about community building. She currently serves on the board of the National Domestic Workers Alliance and in the past served on the board of United for a Fair Economy and the Student Immigrant Movement. She is based in Boston, MA, and also calls Vancouver, Canada, and Houston, TX home.