Open Letter from Dr. Minh Dang, Co-Founder and Founding Executive Director of Survivor Alliance

Dear Survivor Alliance community,

Some of you will know that I’ve prepared for my exit from Survivor Alliance since its very inception. Board members and staff have heard me say that I won’t be the Executive Director forever. I even asked people if they wanted my job one day, or told them that I could see them stepping into my role. Though I learned that this was intimidating, especially on someone’s first week on the job, I continued to approach Survivor Alliance as if it should live beyond my tenure.

My words and my actions remained true to this approach but I also had profound doublethink. On the one hand, I knew that I would not and should not lead the organization forever. On the other hand, I did not believe that I could do anything else, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to do anything else. But my time as the Founding Executive Director taught me exactly what I hoped others would learn: that I am more than a survivor of human trafficking.

Leaving Survivor Alliance is stepping into the vision I set for the organization - a world where survivors are thriving members of society. Passing the torch allows me to take my next step as a thriving human being. While this is an act for my family and me, I hope that it enables Survivor Alliance and the SA community to thrive into its next phase. I also hope that it sends this message: The mission of survivors leading a social movement is not an end in itself. The mission is so that our social movement becomes obsolete. I wholeheartedly believe that survivor leadership will result in what we seem to promise to victims: local community, and a wider society, with the culture, policies, and practices that enables everyone to live more peaceful and joyous lives.

When I started this work, I was frustrated - why are most interventions merely about getting people out of slavery and human trafficking? NGO impact reports stated that people were liberated. Communications and fundraising campaigns promised that donations will bring freedom. In reality, exiting slavery and human trafficking often meant continuing a life of social, economic, and psychological precarity.

Unfortunately, this is still very true. I could sit here and write about so many ways the work has not changed or even worsened. Yes, it is true that we face challenging times as a species. But what I want to leave you with is hope. When the work is inevitably challenging, and you aren’t sure why we even try, I want you to think about a survivor leader who has awakened their inner power, or an organization that started hiring people with lived experience. I want you to think about what the Survivor Alliance community is and what it stands for - empathy freedom, learning, authenticity, and resilient relationships. It is possible to create more humane and just spaces.

With every cell in my body, I thank you. Thank you for being a member of this community, and for building collective power alongside me.

In love and solidarity,
Dr. Minh Watson-Dang