Light Up the Night: The Luminous Advocacy Project’s 5th Annual Gala Comes to Four Seasons Miami

On October 2, the Four Seasons Hotel Miami will serve as the backdrop for one of the most purposeful evenings on the fall philanthropic calendar. The Luminous Advocacy Project Foundation’s 5th Annual Light Up the Night Gala brings together nearly 300 guests to support a mission that is both globally ambitious and deeply personal: ensuring that every woman, regardless of geography or income, has access to early breast health detection and the care that follows.

Photo Credit: Ruben Correa/WRE

The Foundation’s work is specific and far-reaching. Through global medical missions that cover the full cost of care for every patient, including sonograms, mammograms, biopsies, transportation, and surgery where needed, and through Luminous Digital Missions that place donated devices and staff training in partner clinics in developing countries, the Foundation has built an infrastructure of access that operates at no cost to the women it serves. The free Luminous Self-Check App, available in eight languages, extends that reach further still. Patients are never billed. The mission is the point.

“Every woman deserves to know her own body between screenings,” says Marylin Dans, Founder of the Luminous Advocacy Project Foundation. “Our mission is to put that knowledge, and the care that follows it, within reach of women anywhere in the world, at no cost to them. Light Up the Night is how we fund that work, and this year we are honoring people who understand that reach and responsibility go together.”

The Foundation will present The Luminary Award to individuals whose reach and conviction have advanced women’s health and human dignity.

Drea de Matteo, the Emmy Award-winning actress known for her roles on The Sopranos and Sons of Anarchy, will be honored as a Luminous Ambassador. “Knowing your own body is the beginning of every good decision about your health,” she said. “Luminous puts that within reach of any woman, between screenings, in her own hands.”

Photo Credit: Ruben Correa/WRE

Julio P. Gonzalez, Founder and CEO of Engineered Tax Services in West Palm Beach and a nationally recognized voice on tax reform, will also receive The Luminary Award, presented in honor of his mother Paula Gonzalez, whom he lost to breast cancer as a young man. Through ETS Cares, his nonprofit Entrepreneur Frontier, and his ongoing work with students at Roosevelt Elementary in West Palm Beach, Gonzalez has built a career of investing in communities, entrepreneurs, and children. “My mother believed in me before I had accomplished anything, and she made me believe that where I started did not determine where I could go,” he said. “Hardship does not have to be the end of your story. Pain can become purpose, success can become service, and one person’s belief in you can change the direction of your entire life.”

A third honoree will be announced in the coming weeks.

Photo Credit: Ruben Correa/WRE

Michele Reese, Mrs. Florida International 2026, will host the evening. Robbie Elias, the Miami-born singer and songwriter whose credits include Grammy and Latin Grammy-winning albums, will perform with his band alongside live experiences throughout the night. The program will include films from the Foundation’s medical missions and a candle lighting ceremony led by Dr. Julio Hernandez, Chair of the Luminous Advocacy Project Foundation.

The Luminous device at the center of the Foundation’s work uses red light illumination to allow observation of anomalies that warrant further investigation by a physician. It is an adjunct tool for at-home breast familiarity and is not a diagnostic device.

Photo Credit: Ruben Correa/WRE

Tables, tickets, and sponsorship packages are available. For sponsorship inquiries, contact Sara Crawford at [email protected]. For more information, visit luminousadvocacyproject.com.