MIAMI / WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Julio Gonzalez will receive the Luminary Award at the Luminous Advocacy Project’s 5th Annual Light Up the Night Gala on Friday, October 2, 2026, in loving memory of his mother, Paula Gonzalez.
The honor is not a career decoration. It is a son standing in a ballroom with a loss that never left the room. Gonzalez has said that when you lose your mother to breast cancer, the absence does not close. You carry her love, her strength, and her memory — and you devote your life to helping find a cure so other families do not have to live that same pain.
“I am deeply humbled to receive the Luminary Award at the Luminous Advocacy Project’s 5th Annual Light Up the Night Gala, in loving memory of my mother, Paula Gonzalez.”
The black-tie-optional gala will be held at the Four Seasons Hotel Miami, beginning at 7 p.m., and is expected to welcome nearly 300 guests. Hosted by Michele Reese, Mrs. Florida International 2026, the evening will include performances by Grammy and Latin Grammy winner Robbie Elias and his band, films from the Foundation’s medical missions, live experiences, and a candle-lighting ceremony led by Dr. Julio Hernandez, chair of the Luminous Advocacy Project Foundation. Proceeds support the Foundation’s work in breast health awareness, early detection, education, and access to care for women around the world.
The Woman the Award Is For
Gonzalez, Founder, CEO, and Chairman of Engineered Tax Services, is known nationally for tax reform, grant access, and building a firm that opened sophisticated strategies to businesses and accounting offices far outside the Fortune 500 lane. He also works through ETS Cares, Engineered Impact, his nonprofit Entrepreneur Frontier, and students at Roosevelt Elementary in West Palm Beach.
He does not trace that life to a boardroom. He traces it to Paula.
He lost her to breast cancer when he was a young man. She believed in him before he had accomplished anything. She taught him that where a person starts does not have to decide where that person ends. Hardship, he said, does not have to be the end of the story.
“My mother believed in me before I had accomplished anything,” Gonzalez said. “She taught me that pain can become purpose, success can become service, and one person’s belief can change the direction of an entire life.”
The Luminary Award recognizes people whose influence and commitment have helped advance women’s health and human dignity. This year it will also be presented to Emmy Award-winning actress Drea de Matteo, recognized as a Luminous Ambassador. A third honoree is expected to be announced in the coming weeks. For Gonzalez, the citation has one name on it.
“Mom, this honor is for you. Your love continues to guide me — and I will never stop fighting for a future without breast cancer.”
What the Gala Is Funding
The Luminous Advocacy Project Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded by Marylin Dans, exists to put breast health knowledge and follow-up care within reach of women anywhere in the world, at no cost to them. Through global medical missions, the Foundation covers sonograms, mammograms, biopsies, transportation, and surgery when necessary, with no billing to patients. Through Luminous Digital Missions, clinics in developing countries can apply to become partner sites, receive donated devices, and train staff. A free Luminous Self-Check App is offered in eight languages as an adjunct tool for at-home breast familiarity — not a diagnostic device, a way for women to know their own bodies between screenings.
Dans has said Light Up the Night is how that work gets funded, and that this year’s honorees understand reach and responsibility go together. Gonzalez is using the award to point toward that mission rather than away from it.
On October 2, the Four Seasons room will gather to advance awareness, early detection, education, and access. His presence there is a public vow made in his mother’s name: pain can become purpose, success can become service, and no family should have to carry this loss if the work can still reach them first.
Event Details
Luminous Advocacy Project
5th Annual Light Up the Night Gala
Friday, October 2, 2026 | 7:00 p.m.
Four Seasons Hotel Miami
Feature: newyorkstyleguide.com/luminous-advocacy-project-5th-gala
About Julio Gonzalez
Julio Gonzalez is Founder, CEO, and Chairman of Engineered Tax Services. He is receiving the Luminary Award in memory of his mother, Paula Gonzalez, whom he lost to breast cancer.
About the Luminous Advocacy Project Foundation
A 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to breast health awareness, early detection, education, and equitable access to care for women worldwide through medical missions, education, and digital tools.
Media Contact
Engineered Tax Services
West Palm Beach, Florida
www.engineeredtaxservices.com
