In January, Ming-Ming Tung-Edelman officially parted ways with the Refugee Artisan Initiative (RAI), the Seattle-based nonprofit she founded in 2017 and worked for as executive director.
But the circumstances of her departure, and what she describes as the worst three months of her life, started last September.
RAI provides training and employment for some 50 immigrant and refugee women, who create household products, jewelry, and more using upcycled material like burlap coffee bags and billboard vinyl that would otherwise be thrown into landfill. The organization trains the women to become independent entrepreneurs. Separately, it employs a staff of 13, and is governed by a board of directors.
Tung-Edelman is an immigrant from Taiwan and daughter of a father who fled China’s Communist Revolution as a refugee. She founded RAI after working for over 20 years as a pharmacist; a job she left, to work fulltime at RAI in 2022. From scrappy beginnings, Tung-Edelman grew RAI into a multimillion dollar organization. RAI recently came close to securing enough funding to acquire its headquarters in Lake City Way, with plans to upgrade, repair, and open as a new Maker Space & Cultural Center.
In September last year, Tung-Edelman was working with an employee over concerns about work performance and behavior, with the possibility they would be fired. A meeting was scheduled with the employee, Tung-Edelman, and Amy Higgins, an independent HR advisor who is also a friendly acquaintance of Tung-Edelman’s. The day before the scheduled meeting, the employee emailed RAI’s board with a formal complaint accusing Tung-Edelman of retaliation and a hostile work environment.
RAI’s board hired the HR consulting firm Reverb to evaluate the allegations. In a statement dated January 21, RAI’s board claimed it was an impartial investigation with an investigator who “did not know Ming-Ming, the Board, or any staff members, to conduct the interviews.” Tung-Edelman believes the choice to hire Reverb could be a conflict of interest because the firm was started by a former RAI board member, Mikaela Kiner. When the International Examiner asked RAI’s board about this potential conflict of interest as part of an emailed list of specific questions, RAI’s board sent two written statements, neither of which acknowledged or answered the question about consulting firm Reverb.
The HR investigator found that Tung-Edelman’s behavior did not violate any workplace harassment laws, RAI’s board said in a statement. According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s definition of workplace harassment: “To be unlawful, the conduct must create a work environment that would be intimidating, hostile, or offensive to reasonable people.”
However, based on their findings, the investigator recommended that Tung-Edelman no longer supervise staff at RAI. RAI’s board said in a statement that it could not share details about these findings for the protection of the women who participated in the investigation but “we can say that the findings compelled the Board to act.”
Tung-Edelman said she was not informed of the exact nature or scope of the investigation, or its findings. In a statement, the board maintains it shared the “scope and summary” of the findings with her.
The board also said in a statement that over the years, multiple staff members raised “concerns related to Ming-Ming’s conduct and behavior towards them.” With regard to the most recent investigation, the board said: “RAI staff who participated in the investigation, some of whom started with us as artisans and are immigrants and refugees themselves, shared their truths and details about their work environment and their difficult relationship with Ming-Ming. It took courage for them to speak up, just as it took courage for them to come to America.”
Tung-Edelman believes that cultural differences may have played a role in her management style and the way it was received. “I have a great reputation. I also come from a different culture – I can be more stern, and the way I express [myself] can be interpreted as aggressive, but I’m not aggressive,” Tung-Edelman said. “I care about all the people I work with.”
She believes the board’s response has been unfair and disproportionate. “If there’s areas I need to improve, sit down, talk to me, I’m coachable,” Tung-Edelman said.
In the past, Tung-Edelman said that RAI’s board chair Kathi Lentzsch claimed to be offering leadership coaching to her, but the coaching was unclear and informal. She also said Lentzsch told her that her accent as a non-native English speaker was creating problems with her leadership.
The International Examiner asked RAI’s board to respond to Tung-Edelman’s recollection that Lenzsch made this comment. The two statements RAI’s board provided did not acknowledge or respond to the incident.
On November 9, the board presented a plan for the restructuring of RAI, without consulting Tung-Edelman beforehand, she said. “[T]he Board crafted a new role for Ming-Ming that would allow her to continue her work with RAI, but without an internal supervisory role,” RAI’s board said in a statement.
Tung-Edelman was offered the role of “founder,” tasked with being the public face of the organization for networking and fundraising, but with no supervisory or operational power. Board member Beth Halvorsen was appointed as the new CEO on an interim basis.
“A way to drive me out of the organization”
“I was shocked, and felt completely blindsided,” Tung-Edelman said. “It doesn’t add up, it was never clear about what the finding was, but using that as a way to drive me out of the organization.”
At the time, Tung-Edelman said she was not told that the decision to remove her supervisory role was based on the HR investigation. “There’s no toxic work environment, there’s no retaliation,” she said. “But they still go fishing. Maybe you find things as a way to remove [someone] without any specific examples. If I have such a hostile environment, I need to know why, the specifics — and they never told me.”
Tung-Edelman was also unclear whether or not the change was intended to be permanent.
Tung-Edelman said she was informed of these changes during a meeting at a coffee shop on November 10 with the new interim CEO Beth Halvorsen, and Hayden Bixby, who at the time was a RAI board member and has since left.
After informing her of the changes, Tung-Edelman said Halvorsen grabbed both her arms, exclaiming “Ming-Ming, I love you.”
“I consider this to demeaning, triggering, and inappropriate behavior particularly from someone who had just informed me that they would be my ‘new boss,’” Tung-Edelman said in a statement.
When asked to respond to the claim about Halvorsen’s behavior in the coffee shop and Tung-Edelman’s characterization of it as demeaning as part of a list of questions, the RAI board’s only response was the two written statements it provided. Neither of the statements acknowledged or responded to the incident.
Tung-Edelman believes Halvorsen, the new CEO, does not have the cultural competence and sensitivity to lead RAI, noting that Halvorsen comes from a corporate and real estate background, has no nonprofit leadership experience, and lives in Clyde Hill, one of the wealthiest parts of the state.
“They just wanted me to be the figurehead,” Tung-Edelman said. “You have a Caucasian lady who has never [worked in the nonprofit] sector and coming in without lived experience, telling how we should be operating. … I’ve been in the community for over nine years doing this work. And my character is valued in my community.”
According to Tung-Edelman, Halvorsen and Bixby described her new “Founder” role as akin to Ciara and Russel Wilson’s founding roles in their “Why Not You” foundation. Tung-Edelman believes this comparison constituted a microaggression. “The only real common ground that we share is that we are all minorities,” she said in a statement. “The implications are that I would remain as the ‘minority face’ of RAI.” In the two statements provided to the Examiner, the board did not answer a question about whether or not Halvorsen and Bixby made this comparison.
At the board’s request, Tung-Edelman did not return to RAI’s office after November 10. By mid-November, when she tried to download her calendars, she found she was locked out of her email account.
Tung-Edelman and the board went into talks. Tung-Edelman said that despite her request, only the board chair and members of the executive committee were allowed to attend and she was not allowed to bring anyone.
At the second facilitation session on December 12, Tung-Edelman said she was accused of unprofessionalism because she shared the change in her role with outsiders such as RAI’s Capital Campaign Committee and government funding organizations. Tung-Edelman said that because RAI receives most of its funding from government sources paid for by taxpayers, funders have the right to know about her change in leadership. “We have received millions from the government. How can I deceive my funders?” she said.
In a statement, the board said that this action “undermined RAI, disrupted organizational stability and eroded trust,” as did Tung-Edelman’s “contacting staff and artisans with disparaging statements about the Board and suggestions that staff may lose their jobs,” and “untrue allegations of racism and claims of a hostile takeover by the Board.”
Tung-Edelman responded to the allegation of “untrue allegations of racism” in a statement: “I find it alarming that the Board of Directors of RAI assumes the authority to decide what constitutes racism.”
“I was subjected to unfair treatment, bullying, coercive and racist behavior by the Board Chair, and the Board Executive Committee, and the interim CEO,” Tung-Edelman added in a statement.
Tung-Edelman said the board “abruptly” ended facilitation, asking her to sign a contract to work as “Executive Director and Founder.” While she initially accepted the role, she became concerned during negotiations after most of her requested changes were denied and she was given a deadline of January 7 to accept. During this time she was forbidden from communicating with other board members, staff, or outside organizations.
The board said that Tung-Edelman agreed to her revised role “after extensive efforts by facilitators, advisors and others, and a unanimous vote by the Board.”
Tung-Edelman ultimately declined to sign the employment agreement, feeling that with no supervisory or operational responsibilities, she had “no meaningful executive role.”
On January 15, Tung-Edelman was officially separated from RAI. “As it was Ming-Ming’s decision to not sign the employment agreement for the modified role, the Board concluded that she had voluntarily ended her relationship with RAI,” the board said in a statement.
“A breach of basic investigative fairness”
In September last year, HR professional Amy Higgins was advising on the situation between Tung-Edelman and the employee who filed the complaint with the board. Recently Higgins, a friendly acquaintance of Tung-Edelman’s who is not affiliated with RAI as an organization, expressed concerns about the removal of Tung-Edelman from leadership and how the board handled the investigation. In a letter to RAI Board Chair Kathi Lentzsch and current Governance Officer and past Board Chair Yumiko Damashek, Higgins said that the employee’s allegations that prompted the investigation “lacked specificity or documented evidence.”
“The Board’s response — to engage an outside HR investigator — was undermined by a fundamental procedural failure: the Board never defined or communicated the scope of the investigation,” Higgins continued. “The Executive Director was placed on leave, removed of email access, and interviewed without being informed of the specific allegations under review, the standards being applied, or the potential outcomes. When she directly asked about the scope, she received no response. This is a breach of basic investigative fairness.”
The board’s decision was based on “vague conclusions” about Tung-Edelman’s communication style and that some employees no longer felt safe working with her, Higgins wrote. “No specific examples were provided, no findings were shared with her, and she was given no opportunity to respond or correct the alleged issues.”
The board, said Higgins, had an obligation to “define the scope of the investigation, share its findings, engage in direct dialogue, and offer an opportunity for corrective action. Instead, the process was opaque, one-sided, and outcome driven.”
Before the complaint and investigation, Higgins was considering joining the board of RAI. She has since changed her mind.
Elected officials warn RAI’s funding and credibility in jeopardy
Three elected officials representing Lake City, where RAI is located, also sent a letter of concern to board chair Lentzsch on January 9, warning that the financial future and credibility of RAI could be damaged by Tung-Edelman’s departure.
The letter was originally co-signed by King County Councilmember Rod Dembowski, state Sen. Javier Valdez, and state Rep. Darya Farivar. On February 9, Rep. Farivar wrote a statement asking that her name be removed from the letter.
The letter notes that in the last five years, the three elected officials have secured millions of dollars for capital and operating support for RAI, including $4 million from King County and $778,000 from the state of Washington, and that Dembowski personally helped negotiate the acquisition of RAI’s new headquarters.
The “Candidly, we are concerned about this apparent attempt to take over RAI by individuals who do not have strong connections to our immigrant and refugee communities and that such a series of actions would be taken with no outreach to key supporters such as us,” the letter says. “We believe that your actions could spell the end of RAI. King County is the beneficiary of a deed restriction on the headquarters property and has a direct interest in the future of RAI as we know it and funded it.”
The letter asks the board to “immediately stop its apparent efforts to remove Ming-Ming from her role as leader of RAI.”
“Such a drastic move would result in our collective loss of confidence in RAI as a well functioning organization and jeopardize further support from King County and the State of Washington could be in jeopardy,” the letter continues.
When asked by the Examiner to comment on this letter as part of a list of emailed questions, RAI’s board deferred to two written statements that did not acknowledge the letter.
On February 9, Rep. Farivar released a statement rescinding her endorsement of the letter. In the statement, she expressed sadness that Tung-Edelman and RAI had parted ways. Over the last four years, Farivar wrote, she had gotten to know Tung-Edelman. “Ming-Ming created a truly remarkable, creative, and unique organization that gives back to the community in every way imaginable. The Lake City and broader Seattle community have been so lucky to witness the dignity and opportunity RAI has helped bring to so many artisan families,” Farivar wrote.
“Situations like this are rarely simple and often involve many perspectives,” her statement continues. “When I signed on to the letter with CM Dembowski and Senator Valdez, I responded quickly to support a leader I had come to know and work with over my four years in office. In hindsight, I weighed in on a deeply complicated interorganizational conflict without full information, and that was not mine to weigh in on in the first place….My intent in signing the letter was to support the leader whom I had worked with and built trust with over the years; it was not to harm the organization she worked so hard to build, nor to harm the staff or artisans who rely on it.”
Moving forward, Farivar wrote: “I will continue to support Ming-Ming as an individual, as well as the organization, its staff, and its artisans. This marks the end of an era, and that loss is felt deeply.”
“It doesn’t come as a surprise to any former employee”
A former employee with RAI reached out to the Examiner to share their frustration after reading the letter from the three elected officials, which was first made public by Northwest Asian Weekly. This employee, who worked as director of operations, programs and development for RAI for a stint until late 2023, felt the letter was misleading in accusing the board of an unfair takeover of the organization.
The employee believes the board made the right decision in ousting Tung-Edelman. The employee said multiple people left the organization after having issues working with Tung-Edelman, and that Tung-Edelman verbally chastised employees for “pretty bad reasons.”
“This has been kind of gestating for years at this point — it doesn’t come as a surprise that this would happen, to basically any former employee,” the employee said in an interview with the Examiner, requesting anonymity out of concern about negative repercussions to their current workplace. “I think that the board’s inaction for a long time led to a high rate of turnover within the organization and dissatisfaction with Ming-Ming as a leader.”
The employee continued: “She didn’t necessarily create a supportive culture within the organization. … The things that I actually bore witness to, you can’t chalk up to cultural differences. Like, there were screaming matches that took place, ridiculing. I don’t think that’s a cultural issue.”
Tung-Edelman disputes this version of events, saying the employee was referencing an incident in which they and another employee sent an unauthorized newsletter to RAI email subscribers. “They were reprimanded for this and subsequently both employees departed from RAI,” Tung-Edelman said in an email. “The description of behavior pertaining to this incident that took place over two years ago is not accurate.”
After the employee left, their role was taken over by the staff person who emailed the board with allegations of a hostile workplace.
“I kind of warned this person, when entering the role, that it was going to be difficult,” the employee said. “I’m not really surprised, like I would bet everything on this employee’s grievances being well founded.”
The employee believes Tung-Edelman should step aside and let RAI continue with new leadership. “I think that there’s a million people in the world that can potentially become executive director of the organization that would even better represent and understand what these women are going through and why this organization even exists, than Ming-Ming herself.”
Artisans and their families speak in support of Tung-Edelman
In the last few months, Tung-Edelman said she has received many text messages from artisan women concerned about her departure.
Rahel Weldetsadik has worked as one of RAI’s artisans since 2018. She and her husband, Alem Weldetsadik, are immigrants from Ethiopia. They spoke highly of Tung-Edelman in a phone interview with the Examiner, saying her supportive actions extended well beyond her professional role as leader of RAI.
Alem said Tung-Edelman is like family to many of the artisan women. “She’s so sociable, she’s so kind, she’s so humble,” he said.
Alem translated for his wife Rahel, as she did not feel comfortable conducting an interview in English. According to Rahel, Tung-Edelman was known to help an artisan if they had a sick family member back home, offering to help them get a plane ticket. Tung-Edelman confirmed that RAI has offered payroll advances or loans in the past to help artisans assist with travel, mostly for religious or family reasons.
“It’s too hard to lose her in this organization,” Alem translated for Rahel. “How we are continue working with that organization without her, if she’s not there? I don’t think I’m going to work again on the organization right now.”
Abdulwahab Ahmadi is the son of Diba Fakhri, an artisan who has worked with RAI for some five years. In a phone interview with the Examiner alongside his mother, who did not feel comfortable conducting an interview in English, Ahmadi said Tung-Edelman and RAI gave his mother the opportunity to have a job and income for the first time, fostering a sense of pride.
Tung-Edelman and RAI also helped the family escape from a dangerous situation, as reported in a story from KIRO 7. In 2021, Fakhri had travelled to Afghanistan with her young daughter to attend a wedding. They planned to come back to the United States with her son Ahmadi’s wife, who had been waiting for a visa. But the Taliban took over Afghanistan just before their flight was scheduled. Tung-Edelman contacted U.S. Representatives Pramila Jayapal and Kim Schrier, and the family was able to make it to the United States just in time.
“Ming Ming gave her the freedom to be able to have an income, take care of our family,” Ahmadi said. “Also, you know, to be hopeful for the future. Be proud of herself. Help some other people. Because of Ming-Ming, my mom has been able to send money to Afghanistan to her sister.”
The future of RAI
Tung-Edelman believes that for the future wellbeing of RAI, she should be re-instated as executive director, where she can “continue to develop as a leader and work with a new Board to address concerns, strengthen and grow the organization,” she said in a statement. “I am deeply concerned about the future of relationships with community partners, volunteers, grant makers, funders, elected officials, and donors that I have spent the last nine years cultivating.”
In the past year, with RAI’s capital campaign on the horizon, Tung-Edelman tried to recruit women from the corporate sector as board members to help with sponsorships and fundraising. In retrospect, she believes this was the source of her troubles in the last few months.
“They don’t have the cultural sensitivity of the nonprofit. They’re kind of trying to continue the organization using the corporate lens, which doesn’t work,” Tung-Edelman said. “We were just ready to open the Refugees Arts and Culture Center in the next month — so they can kick me out and take all the credit for the work I have done in the last four years to build the center.”
Tung-Edelman felt that sharing her story is particularly important when immigrants and refugees are being slandered and treated poorly by the Trump administration.
“At this juncture, when immigrants are being [the] scapegoat of so many things, and there’s a lack of immigrant minority women in leadership roles, and oftentimes we’re being marginalized, it is important to tell my story, because it will repeat,” Tung-Edelman said. “Our immigrant and refugee community are extremely vulnerable. We need to have leaders like myself that can stand for their best interests.”
The RAI board is resolved to continue without Tung-Edelman, with plans to hire a new, permanent executive director. In a statement, the board painted an optimistic picture for the organization.
“RAI’s future is secure and looks bright. Staff and artisans are continuing their important work under the direction of an interim CEO, who was a RAI board member,” the board said in a statement.
“RAI is much more than one person and remains mission driven, artisan focused and deeply committed to the women we serve,” the statement continued. “We are confident that we will successfully navigate this transition, and we are honored to partner with the brave women refugees who have found hope and meaning in their work with RAI.”
[Editor’s note 3/6/26: A letter to the editor was jointly written and signed by nine RAI staff members to provide more context on the leadership transition and to highlight their workplace concerns prior to Tung-Edelman’s departure.]
[Editor’s note 2/23/26: This article has been updated to clarify the relationship between HR professional Amy Higgins and RAI founder Ming-Ming Tung-Edelman. It has also been updated to include Rep. Darya Farivar’s formal request to have her name removed from a letter she co-signed with two other elected officials expressing concern to RAI’s board about Tung-Edelman’s departure. The update includes additional quotes from Farivar’s statement.]
