NonProfit NewsPod: Anh Phoong Teams Up With American Heart Association's Go Red for Women

Jeff Holden: [00:00:00] Welcome to this nonprofit podcast News pod where we amplify the voices of nonprofit leaders making a difference in their communities. I'm joined by Anh Phoong of Phoong Law. Yes, that Anh Phoong. Something wrong. Call Anh Phoong. And you are perfectly correct to question why I have a for-profit business owner On a nonprofit news pod, it's because Anh is representing an organization that is near and dear to me and my imperfect heart, the American Heart Association. She's raising funds for Go Red for Women as a Woman of Impact, and I wanna support her efforts to support the American Heart Association. Anh, how are you?

Anh Phoong: I'm good. How are you? 

Jeff Holden: Great. How was it that you got involved with the American Heart Association? 

Anh Phoong: I was actually [00:01:00] nominated by a friend and they had actually reached out to me and I didn't, you know, know what it was. It was labeled like Go Red for Women. And right around the time, I believe it was last year, around the end of the year, maybe September, October, and when I finally met with the team and realized what it was about, I was like, oh my goodness, 

Jeff Holden: yes, 

Anh Phoong: this is exactly something that I've actually been meaning and wanting to do, given kind of my reason why.

The history that, that, you know, that my family has. And so that's how we got involved. 

Jeff Holden: So you actually have some history in the family of, of heart disease. 

Anh Phoong: Yes. Yes. So my mother, dear mother, in 2022, had a heart attack. I don't, nowhere what we always thought to be fairly healthy, no real issues. I had a knee surgery, but other than that she was fine.

And I think coming from the. Background that we have as far as like being ethnically, you know, [00:02:00] Chinese and like the diet and you know, and just the mentality honestly of checking up by yourself. My parents, my mom, my dad. It's like pulling teeth to get them to go to the doctors. Unless something is very wrong.

They won't go for a checkup, they won't go just, you know, for preventative measures, right. So unfortunately one morning we woke up to a call and she was saying that she was having severe pain. Luckily, you know, we retroed the hospital on time and so she did have to stay for, for, uh, several days and she did have to have a stint place and she's here with us today.

So grateful in that sense. 

Jeff Holden: It is amazing the technology today from where it was even just five years ago, what they're able to do if we catch it soon enough. And to your point, it is important to go to the doctor. It is important to get checkups. It is important to. Act when you think something's wrong.

And that's really what this [00:03:00] whole awareness campaign of Go Red for Women is all about. It's the number one killer of women heart disease in the country. 

Anh Phoong: It's so sad, Jeff. Sorry. Um, 80% of it is preventable and it, it just knowing that, and now thinking back and it, it's reflected the way I start to take care of myself as well.

Jeff Holden: I've already shared that you're a woman of impact working to both raise awareness and funds for the American Heart Association, but what is Go Red for women and what is it you're doing now as a woman of impact? 

Anh Phoong: So we, there's, we have different chapters throughout the nation. This is like a nationwide campaign and the Women of Impact are selected and we are raising money for the American Heart Association.

There are about 20 in our cohort. We represent the Greater Valley area. Sacramento was the nationwide winner and we're talking big cities like Chicago, New York, San Diego. Uh, so last year Cat, cat Holmes was the [00:04:00] 2025, uh, women go red, winner and representing the Sacramento. And so amazing, amazing work. And I believe she had raised her, her and her team had raised, I believe it was 250,000.

Jeff Holden: Oh my goodness. 

Anh Phoong: Alone. Yeah. I mean, talk about like impact just. One woman, one team. 

Jeff Holden: That is an incredible amount of money. In a sense. This thing is a bit of a competition with the other women doing the same things. Is it not? 

Anh Phoong: It is, and it's a fun competition because we're competing and I, and they've chosen highly competitive women too, so, well, 

Jeff Holden: I know there's no doubt about that with you.

Anh Phoong: When we had all of men at the kickoff event. We all stated our why, and at the end it was like, oh yeah, I, I love you. We're, we're here supporting each other. But there is a little bit of this like, I'm gonna win or I'm gonna be, you know, just for fun. I mean, we're all going to raise a lot of money, so there's no winner really.

Right? Like, is it the, the [00:05:00] organization, you know, is the winner. But yes, it's fun to kind of, 'cause there's these weekly challenges that we do. And, and, and I mean, 'cause we're raising money. It's not just like, Hey, it's up for. A week or two, it's a nine week campaign. So during that process there's tons of challenges and the, you know, they'll throw in things where we'll see which team shows up this week.

And it's actually been very helpful, these challenges. And it makes it fun. Fundraising isn't, isn't easy and it could be definitely difficult. And so this little friendly competition, making it fun. 

Jeff Holden: Well, and I'm gonna say you, you might have a bit of an unfair disadvantage just by your Vs. Visibility. And you've got this momentum behind you with the campaign and the billboards and everything else.

But to your point, it is, everybody's a winner in this case because all that money goes to American Heart Association. So what is it that you're doing in your fundraising efforts at this point in time? 

Anh Phoong: So we're doing a lot of different things. We actually had a Kings event a couple weeks ago where we showed [00:06:00] up with a, a red heart and you know, we gave away our farm law, Kings, slams, and Bears.

We're just trying to spread awareness. We had flyers, you know, something wrong flyer, and uh, we're just trying to do different things in the traditional, just ask. Right? And we are going to have an episode on a couple of the new stations that are gonna feature me and me, you know, obviously asking for fundraising and, and anyone to donate, everyone to donate.

It could even be just $25. It doesn't matter the amount. It does not matter the amount. And then we're also doing something fun. We're doing, um, there's been tons of people, I have great team members. I have such a great team, and one of them in particular, I have to do a shout out 'cause he's, he, he, a boy, a man, Josh, er, has been kicking butt and has raised over $15,000 himself on my team.

So I, wow. Yes. And so one of the things that he's been doing, just. Tangent leverage. He has a pest control company, so any donation of [00:07:00] $500, we'll give them a free year control. You would giving me out games and you know, like a Kings Games, whatever it is that we can try to change it up a little bit. 

Jeff Holden: That is awesome.

So really, when something's wrong. Help Anne Fong help the American Heart Association here. 

Anh Phoong: Yes. Please help us. 

Jeff Holden: So how, how do we support you, Anne? Where do we go to make a contribution to help your particular team and the American Heart Association so that they can do more research and raise awareness of this number one killer of women heart disease.

Anh Phoong: Thank you. We do have a, a, a team page designated for us. It's Ong, E-N-H-P-H-O-O-N-G. And as you just search American Heart Association. Go red for women and type in my name, my fundraising page should come up. 

Jeff Holden: Okay. And I believe we've got a QR code too, that we're gonna stick at the bottom of this episode.

So people can just, if they're listening, they want to catch it, they can just, you know, scan it on their phones and they're good to go. It'll take you to the same site to make [00:08:00] that contribution. Is there anything else you want to add? 

Anh Phoong: No, just, just that I think it's so important for us women to really.

Prioritize ourselves, our health, because we do so much for others. I mean, you know, as a mother and like, you know, as a daughter, like we do so much, and a, a lot of times we put ourselves lost and our health is something that we have to prioritize and put on top so that we can continue doing this great work and taking care of other people and, and, and do all the amazing things that we do.

But it's so important. And so, uh, for me, the message is. Awareness, education and, and let's make it a priority to put our health in heart first. 

Jeff Holden: And I'm going to add one more thing too. Advocate for yourself. If you sense something's wrong, don't wait, move, act on it. And if somebody says, no, everything's fine.

Take it a step further because you know your body better than anybody else. And it's just that important to do something about it because we [00:09:00] don't want to have people who are. Getting in such serious situations because of a health issue that's preventable. 

Anh Phoong: Absolutely. 

Jeff Holden: And thank you for your efforts to make a difference in the health of women in our region, and good luck to you and all the women of impact in raising a substantial amount of money for the cause.

Let's beat the country again. I love that Sacramento's doing that. Do it. 

Anh Phoong: Thank you. 

Jeff Holden: Thanks for listening. If you like our program, please subscribe, follow, give us a positive review and share with someone you know, especially this episode, especially a woman. I'm Jeff Holden and this has been a nonprofit podcast, news pod.