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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