Murphy was born in 1978 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, before leaving the country with her family in 1979. After growing up in Northern Virginia, Murphy attended undergraduate at the College of William & Mary before enrolling in the MSFS program at Georgetown University. Before becoming a member of Congress, she worked as a national security specialist at the United States Department of Defense, an executive at Sungate Capital, and a professor of business at Rollins College. In the 2016 election, Murphy won against 12-term incumbent Republican congressman John Mica, becoming the first Vietnamese-American woman to be elected to the US Congress. Murphy was one of seven Democrats appointed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the United States House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
The congresswoman has maintained strong ties to Georgetown after graduation, having involved with the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security and most recently serving as keynote speaker for the graduation ceremony of the MSFS class of 2020. In her address, Congresswoman Murphy said:
“More than a decade-and-a-half after my own graduation, I still feel tremendous pride in having gone to Georgetown, and I hope you do too. I don’t know any of you personally, but I feel a sense of kinship with each of you.
Whatever you choose to do with your careers, you’re bound to have what I call “Georgetown moments” or “MSFS moments” along the way. It happens to me rather often.”
