She is the granddaughter of Frank A. Vogel, chief adviser to William Langer, North Dakota's governor from the Nonpartisan League and U.S. senator.

[2] Prior to her public service career, Sarah Vogel served as special assistant[4] to the Secretary of the Treasury in Washington DC.

[2] Her work on the case was featured in Life Magazine[7][8] and later became the basis of the 1984 movie Country,[2] starring Jessica Lange, earning the actress an Academy Award nomination.

Vogel was co-counsel Keepseagle vs. Vilsack,[11] a national class-action lawsuit which resulted in a $680 million settlement for Native American farmers affected by the USDA's discriminatory lending practices.

[16] With Senator Kent Conrad, she co-founded Marketplace of Ideas,[17] becoming the nation's largest rural development program conference at the time.

[1] Continuing her advocacy for family farmers, in 2016 she co-wrote an op-ed[18] with musician Willie Nelson against North Dakota Measure 1, which would have furthered corporate farming in the state.