Anh Phoong Named a 2026 Women Who Mean Business Honoree

Some recognition arrives with fanfare. Some arrives quietly, in the pages of a business journal, and says something that a billboard never could. This spring, the Sacramento Business Journal named Anh Phoong, founder of Phoong Law Corp., one of its 2026 Women Who Mean Business honorees. She stands among 19 women leaders recognized this year for shaping business, leadership, and community impact across the Sacramento region.

For Anh, and for everyone at Phoong Law, this honor hits different. It comes from her hometown.

What the Women Who Mean Business Award Recognizes

Each year, the Sacramento Business Journal honors a select group of women who lead at the highest levels of their organizations. The 2026 class, announced on March 16, 2026, includes founders, executive directors, and CEOs from across the region’s industries: health care, public policy, nonprofits, education, and law.

The award is not about visibility alone. It recognizes women who have built something real, who lead teams, serve communities, and open doors for the people coming up behind them. That is what makes this honoree class meaningful, and it is why we took a moment earlier this year to celebrate what this recognition means for women in Sacramento business as a whole.

Now we get to say the rest of it plainly: Anh Phoong is one of those 19 women, and her story belongs in that company.

From a Spare Bedroom to One of California’s Most Recognized Firms

Anh’s journey did not start in a courtroom. It started in Sacramento, in a family that arrived from Vietnam in 1978 with almost nothing. She grew up here, graduated from Center High School, started at American River College, and earned her degree from Sacramento State in 2005. She went on to Lincoln Law School, where she graduated as valedictorian of her class.

When budget cuts closed the door on her plans to become a public defender, she opened her own. Phoong Law began with Anh as a solo practitioner working out of a spare bedroom. No staff. No name recognition. Just a belief that people going through the worst moments of their lives deserved a lawyer who would actually fight for them.

Today, Phoong Law employs roughly 90 people across offices in Sacramento, the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas. The firm has recovered more than $300 million for injured clients. And the woman on the billboards is the same person who built all of it, case by case, client by client.

The Billboard Is Only Part of the Story

If you live in California, you know the slogan: Something wrong? Call Anh Phoong. It is on freeways, on buses, on social media, and, as of this summer, on the back of every Sacramento Republic FC kit. The brand is confident, memorable, and unmistakably hers.

But recognition like Women Who Mean Business looks past the marketing. It asks what a leader has actually done with her platform. That is where Anh’s story gets its weight.

She built a firm in one of the most competitive corners of the legal industry, as a woman and a daughter of immigrants, in a field where the most visible names have rarely looked like hers. She turned a solo practice into a multi-state operation without losing the thing that made it work in the first place: clients who feel seen, heard, and fought for. And she has used every bit of that visibility to pull the community up with her.

Leadership That Shows Up in the Community

Anyone who has followed Phoong Law this year knows the recognition has not slowed her down. In 2026 alone, Anh was named a National Woman of Impact by the American Heart Association, partnered with the Sacramento Kings in a deal that supports Single Mom Strong and My Sister’s House, and lent her billboards to Bream, a new community helping women build friendships.

That is on top of years of quiet support for organizations like GiGi’s Playhouse, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and Miracle University. Growing up, Anh’s family relied on public assistance to get by. She has never forgotten it, and the firm’s giving reflects it.

This is the pattern the Sacramento Business Journal’s recognition captures: success that circles back. A platform used for more than promotion. Leadership measured not just in growth, but in what that growth makes possible for other people.

What This Honor Means for Our Clients

Awards do not win cases. Preparation, experience, and persistence do. But honors like this one say something about how a firm operates when nobody is watching.

The same qualities the Business Journal recognized in Anh, discipline, resilience, and accountability, are the qualities our clients count on every day. When someone calls Phoong Law after a car accident, a serious injury, or a loss, they are not calling a billboard. They are calling a team built by a founder who knows what it feels like to have the odds stacked against you, and who built her career on refusing to accept that.

That is the standard Anh set from the spare bedroom, and it is the standard she holds the firm to now, at 90 people and counting.

Congratulations to the Entire 2026 Class

Phoong Law congratulates every one of the Sacramento Business Journal’s 2026 Women Who Mean Business honorees. Sacramento is stronger because of the women leading its companies, hospitals, nonprofits, chambers, and civic institutions. We are proud that Anh’s name stands among them, and prouder still of what that name has come to mean to the clients and communities we serve.

To our clients, our team, and the Sacramento community that raised Anh and this firm: thank you. This recognition belongs to you too.

If something goes wrong and you need someone in your corner, we are here. Call Phoong Law at 866-GOT-PAIN or reach us through our contact page for a free consultation.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading this post does not create an attorney-client relationship. Prior results, including total amounts recovered, do not guarantee a similar outcome in any future matter. Award recognitions reflect the opinions of the granting organizations and are not an endorsement by any state bar.