Sacramento nonprofit leader Beth Hassett has been named FOX40’s 2026 Remarkable Woman, recognized for more than two decades of service supporting survivors of domestic and sexual violence.

Hassett is the CEO of Women Engaged Against Violence Everywhere (WEAVE), a Sacramento-based nonprofit that provides shelter and support services for people experiencing domestic violence and sexual assault. She says her work has centered on standing with people on their worst days and helping them believe there can still be better ones ahead.

“I thought I was going to do fundraising for the arts,” Hassett said.

Hassett studied finance and later went to graduate school for communications. For a time, she thought her future lived somewhere near a stage. But she said she found herself drawn instead to “hard conversations” about issues that shape people’s lives.

“I just found that I wanted to have hard conversations with people … about issues that impact people,” she said.

Those conversations brought her to WEAVE. Back in 1995, Hassett was fundraising for the nonprofit — but she was also sitting side by side with survivors, sometimes just hours after an assault.

“It was their first day, first worst day,” Hassett said. “And it was my job to guide them through the process and just be there.”

What stuck out in her mind wasn’t the trauma — it was the resilience.

“I’m always impressed with how people can sift through what happened to them, arise, and become successful in their lives,” she said.

That belief — that people can rise — became the foundation of her leadership. And eventually, her calling.

Hassett became CEO more than 20 years ago. And in that time, she said WEAVE has had to navigate crises that threatened both services and staffing, including the Great Recession.

Hassett recalled a Friday in 2008 that she said changed dozens of lives, when they laid off a third of their staff.

“It was really, really rough,” she said. “It was sad. There were people who worked here for years and years and years, and we had to tell them: We just don’t have the funding to do this.”

Then came the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’ve got 40 people living in our shelter and they can’t go anywhere?” she said. And things are hard — even now

“This last year has been really rough,” she said. “Really looking at some policies and stuff that are coming down that are at odds with our agency and at odds with people wanting to step up and get help.”

Policies change. Funding shifts. The need never stops. Hassett admits the costs are real.

“I have no work-life balance and I have no boundaries,” she said. “But it’s a choice.”

For Hassett, she said, this job is her identity.

“I exist in this community to let everyone know how they can help WEAVE,” she said.

But it wasn’t always like that. There was a moment she tried to leave. Hassett said she burned out from carrying so many stories, leading her to step away and try other jobs.

“I really hit a wall with vicarious trauma — with hearing people’s stories, with feeling disempowered,” she said.

But, she came back.

“I’m my best self when I’m working in this community,” she said. “That’s my superpower.”

When Hassett took over, the organization’s shelter was smaller and more limited — made of cinder blocks and hosting people for just 10 days. So, she imagined something different.

“How can we make it feel more like home?” she said.

And then she built it — a new safe house with private cottages and supportive housing; permanent places to heal.

“We want people to leave to where they want to go,” she said. “And we’ve achieved that.”

She didn’t stop there. WEAVE now works with businesses, teaching them how to recognize abuse in their employees.

“That’s changing how people think about their role in ending violence,” she said.

That’s because Hassett believes the simple mission of WEAVE — wholeheartedly.

“When everyone acts,” she said, “violence ends.”

Still, through it all, Hassett chooses joy, including traveling, kayaking and having wine with friends. She also loves her grandkids, teaching them what healthy love looks like.

“How are we going to raise you to know what a healthy relationship is?” she said.

It’s a question Hassett said she asks at home, at work and of the broader community, as she continues pushing for safer lives across Sacramento.

“I want to see it through,” she said. “And make people safer in their bodies, in their homes, in our streets.”

Hassett never planned to stay this long. But now, two decades later, she never plans to leave. She’s still asking hard questions and believing people can rise — and showing Sacramento what remarkable leadership looks like.

“I’m in it for the long haul.”

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