Zoomin' Out: Sarah Gogel ’13

Building on the success of its Zoomin' In series, the Office of Alumni/ae Relations and Development is proud to announce the launch of Zoomin' Out, a fall series of one-on-one conversations with a selection of outstanding international alumni/ae. Graduates will join Mielle Marquis, director of external affairs, to talk about their unique career paths and experiences living and practicing abroad.

Sarah Gogel ’13 is a Franco-American social entrepreneur, human rights advocate and lecturer. Sarah's life work has been devoted to transforming the life pathways of youth and marginalized populations such as refugees from rural and urban communities around the world through immersive social impact experiences.

Her results have been recognized through awards and grants from the European Network for Global Education, Ariane de Rothschild, and the International Youth Foundation. She received the "Ordre National du Mérite" in 2021, a French order of merit awarded by the President of France.

The Paris-based non-profit YES Akademia (YAKA) she currently presides and founded after a previous successful experience in international social entrepreneurship, has operations in France, India, Senegal, Haiti, Nicaragua and Tunisia. YAKA has increased the graduation rates, college enrollment, and career growth of its over 2,500 youth alumni.

Sarah also lectures on these themes at Sciences Po and Paris 8 and supports women-led causes and sustainable solutions to poverty and inequality through her volunteer work and long-term consultancies with NGOs and iNGOs such as Mission d'Aide au Développement des Economies Rurales (MADERA), the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Federation for Human Rights, the Federation of American Women's Clubs Overseas, and the American Red Cross.

Sarah's degrees include a BA from Harvard College in Sociology, an MA in Sustainable International Development from Brandeis (dual degree with NUSL), an MSW from Wurzweiler School of Social Work and a JD from Northeastern.