Staff
Susan Borgesi - She/her/hers — Legal Advocacy Coordinator
KC Buchanan, MSW - He/him & They/them — Director of Programs
Mary Beth Loucks-Sorrell - She/her/hers — Executive Director
Jaqueline Ortega - She/her/hers — Bilingual Advocate (Español)
Rodolfo Ramirez - He/him/his — Bilingual Advocate (Español)
Rebecca Sipe - She/her/hers — Grants and Office Manager
Phyllis Taylor, M.A. - She/her/hers — Shelter Director | Advocate
Kathy Wasson, J.D. - She/her/hers — Admin and Outreach Coordinator
Emma Weichmann, LCSW-A - They/them & She/her — Survivor Advocate | Therapist
Board of Directors
Chair: Jo Sanders, MSW (She/her/hers)
Secretary: Samantha Owusu, LCSW, MSW (She/her/hers)
Treasurer: Beth Anderson, M.A. (She/her/hers)
Directors:
Miranda Davis-Gilbert, LCSW, MSW (She/her/hers)
Denise Honeycutt, B.A., BDI, M.Div., D.Min. (She/her/hers)
Kate O’Brien, J.D. (She/her/hers)
About Our Team
Susan Borgesi (She/her)
Susan currently serves as Second Bloom of Chatham’s Legal Advocacy Coordinator. She lives in Holly Springs and is a proud NC native. She identifies as a survivor who was drawn to working in the movement against domestic violence and sexual assault over 20 years ago, and has worked as an advocate for other survivors in various ways since then. Susan previously worked with the former Family Violence and Rape Crisis Center here in Chatham County as their court advocate and also with the Durham Crisis Response Center as their Community Response Coordinator. She has also spent time as a probation officer in Wake County and as a legal assistant to a local family law attorney as the case manager for the family law cases involving domestic violence. She served previously on the Board of Directors for the North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence and is currently serving on the Board of Directors for Marathon Jam, a nonprofit geared towards bringing musicians together to bring awareness to and raise money for the Fisher Houses in NC. In her spare time, Susan is a fan of most any type of dance and is a great lover of the outdoors where she enjoys hiking, camping, kayaking, and off roading in her beloved Jeep. Her life goal is also to complete part or all of the Appalachian Trail. Susan has two grown children, Pace, an Army veteran, and Maya, who is a student in the Chemical Engineering program at NC State University.
KC Buchanan, MSW (He/they)
KC is a white, Queer, Nonbinary/Trans-masculine, NC native, and a macro-oriented social worker. KC has professionally worked in social justice and nonprofit settings for over 10 years -- having worked in domestic and sexual violence response services, in youth/adult homelessness/housing services, as well as in grassroots and nonprofit LGBTQ+/BIPOC advocacy in both rural and urban NC communities. He currently serves as the Director of Programs at Second Bloom of Chatham, teaches part-time as an adjunct faculty for the Appalachian State University Department of Social Work, and works as a consultant for the LGBTQ Center of Durham. KC previously served as the Interim Operations Director for GenPride Seattle and the Director of Government Funding and Research at YouthCare in Seattle. KC also formerly worked with the LGBTQ Center of Durham where he served as the Co-Director of Project FAM and the Director of Housing and Therapy Services. KC was proud to help build the Center's social services programs as its first full-time employee beginning in early 2019. They also previously co-founded OUT in the High Country – an advocacy group based in Boone, NC – in 2015. KC is the Chair of the Board of Directors of Golden Girlz NC and a board member of the NC Coalition Against Domestic Violence. He is passionate in his soul about true equity and Antiracism frameworks and working towards the Liberation of all people in all things. They love, deeply, the people and cultures of the South, and are proud to have been born and raised [physically and culturally] in NC. In his spare time, KC is a deep lover of all the dogs; they enjoy making and eating spicy food; swimming; spending time in natural settings; and traveling. KC proudly calls Durham, NC home, and is a papa to 4 extremely spoiled puppers.
Mary Beth Loucks-Sorrell (She/her)
Mary Beth is a long-time domestic violence and sexual assault advocate with over 25 years of experience in fundraising, non-profit capacity building and coalition building. She was formerly the Executive Director of the NC Coalition Against Domestic Violence and a program officer with BlueCross BlueShield of NC Foundation with a proven track record of success in fundraising and recruiting and retaining talented advocates.
Jaqueline Ortega (She/her)
Jaqueline is a bilingual advocate for survivors at Second Bloom of Chatham. Despite being new to the field, she aims to practice survivor-centered advocacy and racial equity. As part of the Latinx community, she also strives to provide accessible information and resources. She is a Chatham County local who is passionate about community work. She has upheld these values through volunteer work with various organizations over the last seven years. She is also a college student, currently pursuing her associate in science degree. When she's not studying, she's reading, doing yoga or swimming.
Rodolfo Ramirez (He/him)
Rodolfo is a Latino (of Mexican origin), queer, man, who has lived in NC all his life. He is currently one of the bilingual survivor advocates at Second Bloom of Chatham. He came to Second Bloom from a neighboring agency HAVEN in Lee County where he started out as a shelter advocate in 2020 and grew with the agency to become their shelter director. In his spare time, Rodolfo enjoys baking for his friends and family, tending to his plants and garden, and collecting crystals.
Rebecca Sipe (She/her)
Rebecca holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration, previously working in the banking industry. She has been married to her husband for 14 years and has a 13-year-old son who plays ice and roller hockey. When not busy traveling for games, she spends a lot of her time volunteering in the youth hockey world and hopes to some day work in educating athletes about healthy relationships and mental health. In her free time, she enjoys reading, visiting the beach, and spending time with her family and their dog, Bauer. Rebecca is passionate about the mission of Second Bloom and is excited to be a part of the work we do.
Phyllis Taylor, M.A. (She/her)
Phyllis is a Survivor Advocate at Second Bloom of Chatham. Since training as a hotline volunteer in 1981, Phyllis has fought for survivor rights, advocating for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault; developing safe spaces; creating collaborations with partner agencies, court staff and the like. Previously, Phyllis has served as a legal advocate, crisis interventionist, support group facilitator and shelter director. Originally from Northern New York, she has lived and worked in several locations throughout North Carolina, most recently, Asheville. She has been married for 25 years and has three adult children, plus a few rescued cats. Phyllis holds a master’s degree in human services from Lenoir-Rhyne University. In other lifetimes, Phyllis volunteered with community theater, working primarily in set and costume design. She enjoys reading, especially mysteries or historical fiction and is currently working on a certification in antiques appraisal and hopes to one day have a shop specializing in items from the Victorian era. Phyllis is excited to be a part of Second Bloom of Chatham and looks forward to supporting and advocating for the communities we serve.
Emma Weichmann, LCSW-A (They/she)
Emma holds a Master of Social Work degree from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and is a provisionally licensed clinical social worker. Emma has a wealth of experience in social justice and mental health, beginning with five years involvement in Gateways for Incarcerated Youth; an education in prisons program in Washington state. Next, she worked as an intern and summer counselor at GRuB; an agricultural education program for highschoolers that seeks to break cycles of hunger, poverty, inequality and oppression. They were a graduate assistant while finishing their master's degree, focusing on increasing mental health access for diverse student populations. Emma spent her final year at UNCC interning at Impact – a batterer’s intervention program in Charlotte. Since moving to the Triangle, Emma has completed multiple trainings in Restorative Justice facilitation through RJ Durham. Emma’s therapeutic work is informed by internal family systems theory, motivational interviewing, and acceptance and commitment therapy, among other tools. Emma has a collaborative approach, and holds a deep honor for what each of us has had to do to stay alive. They believe that everyone is capable of healing. Outside of work, Emma is active in the recovery community, enjoys training in Muay Thai and Brazilian Jujitsu, reading graphic novels, looking at the sky, and walking their dog, Boss.
About our Board of Directors
Chair: Jo Sanders, MSW
Chair of Human Resources Committee
Jo was executive director of a non-profit domestic violence and sexual assault victim’s services agency for over 25 years and is also well known in the community for her advocacy and philanthropy. Jo brings many years of experience in non-profit management to the board along with a tireless commitment to ending violence against women.
Secretary: Samantha Owusu MSW, LCSW
Chair of Communications and Outreach Committee
Samantha is a licensed clinical social worker with experience in DV, SA, Human trafficking and providing mental health support and therapy for adults and children. Samantha is a native of Chatham County and is currently a public health social worker at the Chatham County Public Health Department focused on developing programming that is community centered through a lens of equity in the areas of mental health, substance use prevention and harm reduction and violence and injury prevention.
Treasurer: Beth Anderson, M.A.
Chair of Finance Committee and Fundraising and Resource Development Committee
Beth is the liaison for the Second Bloom of Chatham Thrift shop and is currently the Chair of the Curriculum Committee for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Duke.
Miranda Davis-Gilbert, MSW, LCSW
Miranda has been working in the Domestic Violence Field for almost 15 years in a variety of roles. She received a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Women and Gender Studies from Wake Forest University, and completed her Master’s Degree in Social Work at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. Miranda’s previous experience includes multiple years as an advocate for female victims of domestic violence in North Carolina and most recently, she worked at The Domestic Abuse Project in Minneapolis, where she provided individual and group therapy for men who have used abusive behavior, individual longer term PTSD treatment for female survivors, and both group and individual play therapy for children and adolescents who have witnessed and/or experienced abuse.
Denise Honeycutt, BA, BDI, M.Div., D.Min.
Denise is retired from the United Methodist Church. She brings a wealth of experience working and volunteering for nonprofits and has served as a board of director for nonprofits.
Kate O’Brien, J.D.
Kate is a Philadelphia native who has lived in Chatham County for over 25 years. She is an attorney licensed in North Carolina after earning her degree at North Carolina Central University in 2002. She has worked with juvenile offenders for over fifteen years in North Carolina and Colorado. She is currently working at the Chatham Justice Center as a juvenile court counselor. She was formerly a psychotherapist in Vermont. She has volunteered in Philadelphia, PA, Fort Collins, CO and Chatham County, NC in organizations dedicated to the prevention of domestic violence & sexual assault and to advocacy for survivors. She has served on the board of another non-profit, the Mental Health Association of Orange County.
Interested in joining our board? Email us a resume and letter of interest to info@secondbloomofchatham.org.