Vogel takes helm at REACH: New director brings loads of experience dealing with abuse victims
New REACH Executive Director Sara Vogel originally hails from the island of Oahu but has now made her home in Waynesville, where her husband is originally from. Donated photo
REACH, the Haywood County nonprofit that provides aid to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, has a new director.
In an interview with The Smoky Mountain News, Sara Vogel affirmed her commitment not only to REACH’s vital mission, but also to the community she now calls home.
Vogel, 38, was born and raised on the North Shore of Oahu and then went to college at University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, where she majored in international relations. She later received a Master’s of College Counseling from N.C. State and a Ph.D. in educational leadership from UC San Diego. In 2024, Vogel earned a Fulbright Scholarship to work in British Columbia with Vancouver Island University’s Women’s Studies Department to create a curriculum on sexual violence prevention through comprehensive sexual education. During that time, Vogel gave a Ted Talk on her area of expertise.
She has also worked at a number of colleges in roles that put her close to students, their dreams, their problems and at times, their trauma. At one school, she was part of a crisis response team.
“I was working with students who had suicidal ideations, who had been arrested, who had been sexually assaulted, who were in dangerous situations at home, and I really got a taste for what it was like to work with students in crisis,” Vogel said. “I liked that work because I knew that those who are going through crisis situations need someone to care for them in that moment. They need someone who they can share some of their most intimate details with and help them find a path forward.”
About 10 years ago, while working with a team that investigated sexual violence cases on campus, Vogel had an epiphany. Through speaking with people who were coming to understand the trauma they’d experienced, she finally understood her own trauma, her own experience in what she called a “system of violence.”
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“The work is incredibly personal to me, because everything from my first kiss being an experience of sexual assault, to experiencing rape in college while I was too intoxicated to consent, those were experiences that I had kind of pushed away, to say ‘I have to keep moving forward. I don’t want to think about it, and I want to keep moving forward,’” she said. “When I started doing this work, it cracked me open in a way that started my healing journey as I was helping people on their healing journeys.”
After receiving her bachelor’s degree, while working at a college on Hawaii’s big island, Vogel met her husband, a man who’d always wanted to live in The Aloha State but originally hailed from Waynesville. Around the time the pandemic hit, the couple realized they wanted to prioritize family in hopes that their children could grow up surrounded by a strong support network, surrounded by cousins with whom they could make lifelong memories.
In September 2024, after Vogel finished up her work in British Columbia, the family moved to Waynesville — just in time to encounter the worst natural disaster in North Carolina’s recent history. Between Hurricane Helene and the subsequent birth of her second child, Vogel wasn’t quite sure what her future might look like, what opportunities may lie ahead as both she and her new hometown navigated wave after wave of uncertainty. Then, in December of last year, everything became clear all at once when she saw the director position at REACH open up.
After going through the application process, she was hired, and her first day on the job was April 1.
The sum of Vogel’s experiences lends itself to her new role, but the through-line that continues has been working to serve others in difficult situations, often involving sexual assault or romantic partner abuse.
“It always comes back down to the individual,” she said. “Anytime someone calls our helpline, or anytime someone calls our office or steps in the door, the amount of bravery that it took to even take that first step, to even figure out that what they’re experiencing should not be happening is, should be honored.”
Among the first of several large tasks that awaited Vogel when she took her new role was learning about the community she now serves.
“Since I’ve been here, we’ve been to court. I’ve met with Waynesville PD, I’ve met with Canton PD. I have been able to talk to clients who have experienced everything from elder abuse to rape and sexual violence,” she said.
There are clear similarities between the work Vogel has done in the past and the role she’s stepping into with REACH. But there are also some differences. While budgeting is nothing new, Vogel said having so much of REACH’s funding coming from grants and private donations is a change of pace.
“It’s exciting for me as a young professional to learn about how funds come in, how we increase donor bases, how we thank donors, how we maintain a relationship with the larger community, both businesses who may want to support our cause, businesses that we can network with and mutually help out, and then fundraising from a large scale … but also the grant writing that we do and how that’s so impacted by everything that happens at a state and federal level,” she said.
Vogel now has a team of volunteers that handle the on-the-ground operations, meaning she will largely step back from the personal interactions with victims that have meant so much to her in the past. However, she said she enjoys being in a position where she can think broadly about how REACH can best serve the community.
“If a client is experiencing lack of translation services, how do we work with the different entities in the community to provide that?” she said, adding that that kind of problem solving and steering the ship is something she’s grown to enjoy as she’s taken on more leadership roles over the course of her career.
Vogel said that while there has been a transition phase for her in her new job, it has been made easier because of the team she has around her. The entire staff and the volunteers are “incredibly independent and hardworking,” she said, adding that they’re “intrinsically motivated” to show up every day and do the hard, yet necessary work, of serving clients.
“One thing that has been absolutely clear is how dedicated every employee that works for us is, from those who run our Within REACH resale store, who have increased profits every year that they have worked there to help fund our organization, to the folks who work at the shelter to those who work 24/7 to make sure that when someone’s escaping violence and they walk into a home that’s not their own, that they feel like they’re going to be safe,” she said. “There are the people who work here in the central office, who are fielding all the calls throughout the day, working directly in advocacy services and client services, everyone shows up ready to work every morning, and I couldn’t have asked for a better team.”
Meet REACH’s new executive director
REACH will host a drop-in meet and greet with Sara Vogel from 5-7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 29, at the Smoky Mountain Dog Bar in downtown Waynesville. For more information, call 828.456.7898 or visit reachofhaywood.org.
