This story is part of our March 2026 issue. To read the print version, click here.



Beth Hassett

CEO, WEAVE

Beth Hassett initially intended a career in arts fundraising. A
need to push herself took her in another direction entirely. It
wasn’t always an easy or straightforward change, however.

Hassett, who has a bachelor’s degree in finance from the
University of Utah and a graduate degree in communications from
Indiana State University, planned to work in theater. The Utah
native had moved to Sacramento and was working for Capital Public
Radio when she realized she needed to pursue something more
complex.

“I was drawn to work that would make me uncomfortable,” Hassett
says.

In college, one of Hassett’s sorority sisters was sexually
assaulted. Guided by painful memories of that experience, she
shifted focus.

“I wanted to be part of that solution, righting that imbalance
and power between men and women,” says Hassett, chief executive
officer for WEAVE, a nonprofit devoted to domestic violence and
sexual assault in the Sacramento region.

By 1995, Hassett was working at Disabled Sports USA as a special
events coordinator when she left to join WEAVE as its director of
development. There, she says, she discovered her purpose. For the
next six years, she worked on fundraising and community
relations; she also undertook more client-facing roles as a
sexual assault response team advocate and crisis line operator.

Burnout, unsurprisingly perhaps, eventually followed. Her mother
had just died when Hassett found herself on a plane unable to
talk with the woman in an adjoining seat about what she did for a
living. “I’d hit a wall with sharing people’s trauma,” she says.

Hassett returned to Capital Public Radio before moving on again
to work as a national public radio consultant. By 2006, she was
back in the world of nonprofit caregiving as director of the
Mercy San Juan Community Council for the Mercy Foundation. She
also rejoined WEAVE as a board member when the nonprofit’s
then-executive director stepped down.

Once again, Hassett felt a calling. “I said, ‘I’ve got to go back
to WEAVE and finish my business there.”

“Ultimately, it’s going to take the entire community seeing
their role in supporting survivors, recognizing when violence
is happening in somebody’s life and knowing what to do about
it.”

In the 20 years since, guided by Hassett’s leadership, WEAVE has
evolved from primarily serving women to expanding its services to
anyone in need. In recent years, for example, the organization’s
male clients have increased from 1 percent of its caseloads to 15
percent. The uptick in men seeking out WEAVE underscores the
organization’s need to be more inclusive, Hassett says.

“It’s all genders, it’s all ages, it’s all people all the time,”
Hassett says. “Are these crimes primarily perpetrated against
women? Absolutely. However, we miss a whole chunk of the
population if we don’t talk about the fact that it happens to men
too, and certain communities are extremely vulnerable to such
violence, like the trans community.”

The COVID-19 pandemic also played a significant role in shaping
WEAVE’s current focus. During lockdown, WEAVE was forced to scale
back, laying off 28 employees. The impact, she says, was intense.
As courts shut down, fewer restraining orders and child custody
cases were heard. There was also a sharp decrease in reported
child abuse cases because mandated reporters, such as teachers,
no longer had first-hand observations of children.

Still, Hassett says, there were some positive takeaways,
including a deeper community sense of shared empathy.

“Our whole community and society have a visceral feel for what it
would be like to be trapped in a home with somebody who’s abusing
you,” she says.

Annually, WEAVE serves approximately 15,000 people through direct
services, including crisis support, counseling, legal assistance
and safe housing. In recent years, WEAVE underwent a rebranding
in 2019, which included changing the meaning of its acronym from
“Women Escaping a Violent Environment” to reflect its more
inclusive mission: “When Everyone Acts, Violence Ends.”

“It’s our vision now as an agency, and it’s what’s going to make
a difference,” Hassett says. “Ultimately, it’s going to take the
entire community seeing their role in supporting survivors,
recognizing when violence is happening in somebody’s life and
knowing what to do about it.”

As CEO, Hassett’s day-to-day work is centered on supporting her
executive team and program managers, as well encouraging a
culture where “every voice is heard.”

“I encourage my staff to speak up because we all are coming to
the table with different perspectives and a different skillset,”
she says.

While the threat of burnout is still very real, Hassett and her
husband, Kevin, have two adult daughters, Leah and Eden, and
several grandchildren, she says she finds motivation and support
through her outside work on various arts and culture boards,
including Capital Stage and the Midtown Association. She is also
a commissioner for First Five Sacramento, a nonprofit agency that
works to support and improve the healthy development of children
up to age 5.

All of this, Hassett says, helps her stay focused — and thrive.

“My superpower is activating people and looking for connections
in the community,” Hassett says. “That’s the fun: Bringing people
together to see what we can do together.”

–

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honorees from 2015 through 2026.

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