We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ming-Ming Tung-Edelman a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Ming-Ming, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
From my grandmother and mother. My grandmother was a seamstress who raised three children as a single mother. She taught me tools and life skills and how to become self sufficient like her. My mother was an immigrant who brought her three children to the US while my father was working overseas. She had to learn to navigate a new country on her own. They showed me the importance of self reliance and they are my inspiration to give back after living here for forty years.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I created Refugee Artisan Initiative (RAI) to tackle two big issues; high unemployment rate (60%) among refugee women and 85% of textiles getting dumped into the landfill. At RAI, we partner with refugee and immigrant women to help them achieve their dreams. We hold that sewing is a universal language: women of diverse backgrounds find community together as they use needles and thread. In this safe space, women develop their skills, their confidence, their entrepreneurship, and their sense of purpose.
Through production, RAI diverts thousands of pounds of textiles and other materials from landfills each year and utilizes these upcycled materials to create unique hand-crafted items. The artisans specialize in creating innovative designs to give a second life to hard-to-recycle items such as coffee bags and fire hoses.
RAI also serves as a resource for all community members who want to learn about upcycling, the circular economy, and the refugee and immigrant experience. As the organization grows, the community has more and more opportunities to become involved with the mission through events such as mending fairs, sewing workshops, and more.
Refugee Artisan Initiative meets women where they are, celebrating their talents. The model of flexible, at-home work empowers artisans to overcome barriers to employment such as child care responsibilities, language, and lack of transportation, to earn equitable income, and to achieve economic stability. RAI is a safe space for women where each artisan can find community and build her confidence as she builds her new life.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
1. Remain passionate about your work and do not be afraid to go out of your comfort zone. Talk to funders and go to pitch competitions; do what you can to spread your message.
2. Look for mentors who have experience and are willing to share some of their own journey. Find people who are willing to share their knowledge. Continue to expand your own knowledge by going to trainings, taking classes, or earning certifications to become more educated in your field and better understand your scope of work.
3. Listen to the community and let their needs guide your work.
All the wisdom you’ve shared today is sincerely appreciated. Before we go, can you tell us about the main challenge you are currently facing?
RAI’s biggest struggle is that there is more demand for work than we can offer. The US currently accepts a lot of refugees with little resources to support them when they are here. RAI continues to navigate how to provide enough support for all of the women who are looking for job opportunities while they adjust to living in a new country. RAI offers more than workforce development, it is a hub for connecting refugee and immigrant women to other services such as support for ESL classes, housing, food, clothes, and other basic necessities. Because of this, RAI’s growth is critical. While RAI currently works with nearly forty women, there is also a waitlist that fluctuates between sixty to eighty women at any given time.
We try to overcome this challenge by increasing sales of RAI products, getting more workforce development related funding and other grants.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://refugeesarts.org/
- Instagram: @refugeesarts
- Facebook: Refugee Artisan Initiative
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/refugees-arts/
- Other: Email: info@refugeesarts.org
