She is a former Assistant Secretary of Administration at the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), having resigned in October 2018.

Tufts previously worked as president and CEO of the American Woman's Economic Development Corporation, a women's entrepreneurship training center.

Tufts was recognized by President George W. Bush and U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao for providing emergency small business crisis services within 72 hours of the September 11 attacks.

[3] Tufts resigned on October 16, 2018, amid controversy, including reports that she had not been to work for two months[4] and questions surrounding news that she was to be appointed acting Inspector General of the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Her husband, Bob Tufts, was a Major League Baseball player for the San Francisco Giants and the Kansas City Royals, who taught at the Sy Syms School of Business of Yeshiva University and was the founder of My Life Is Worth It, a patient and innovation advocacy organization; he died on October 4, 2019.