Sumera Galvez is the Founder of The Aura Foundation, where she brings nonprofit leadership, financial stewardship, and systems-building experience to expanding access to healing, education, and economic opportunity. Her work is rooted in the belief that wellness and economic empowerment are inseparable when it comes to building resilient, thriving communities.

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In addition to founding The Aura Foundation, Sumera serves as Chief Financial Officer of Urban Male Network, a Chicago-based nonprofit focused on youth development, mentorship, and trauma-informed programming, and is Co-Owner of Aura Holistic & Metaphysical Wellness and 1222 Private Events. Across these roles, she has managed complex budgets, secured and administered federal and state grant funding, including a recent state award supporting a new youth leadership initiative through the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, and built the financial and compliance systems that allow mission-driven organizations to grow with accountability.

 

Sumera's path to this work began long before her career did. Arriving in the United States at age ten, she learned early how to navigate systems without a guide, and that experience shaped the way she now builds resources and pathways for others. She describes herself as a problem-solver and an "Architect of Transformation," someone who takes complex challenges and builds practical, lasting structures around them.

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That same instinct for building structure now extends to her own development. Sumera is currently pursuing a master's degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Lewis University, working toward licensure as a Clinical Professional Counselor, so that her understanding of trauma-informed care continues to grow alongside the organizations she leads. This grounding informs The Aura Foundation's pillars of Community Wellness, Women's Leadership, Holistic Education, Business Empowerment, and Mental Health & Trauma-Informed Care.

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Sumera founded The Aura Foundation to create pathways where healing meets opportunity, expanding access to wellness services, education, leadership development, and economic empowerment for individuals and families who may otherwise face barriers to these resources. Her vision is a future where communities are supported not only to heal, but to lead, grow, and thrive together.