As an undergraduate intern at Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS), Tram worked in the Asian Outreach Unit with Cyndi Mark, a 1994 graduate of the law school. Cyndi encouraged Tram to apply to Northeastern for law school. Tram took Cyndi’s advice, came to Northeastern and then, as a third-year student successfully partnered with Cyndi on an application for a prestigious Equal Justice Works Fellowship at GBLS devoted to combatting domestic violence in the Vietnamese community. “Domestic violence is a taboo subject among the Vietnamese,” says Tram, who was born in Vietnam. “This fellowship allowed me to spend three years doing both outreach and education as well as direct legal services.”

From GBLS, Tram looked to make a broader impact by running for seat in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. In 2018 and again in 2020, voters from Andover, Boxford, North Andover and Tewksbury elected Tram to represent their interests at the State House. She is the first Vietnamese American woman in elected office in the commonwealth, the first Vietnamese American elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, the first Asian American on the board of directors of the Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators and the first Asian American woman to serve as vice chair of a House committee.