Estela Mata is the President and co-founder of Looms for Lupus, a non-profit organization that provides Lupus, Fibromyalgia and Mental Health Awareness, advocacy, and support to those living with these conditions, their loved ones, and caregivers. Estela has worked in healthcare for over 30 years, currently supporting private practices with electronic medical records, office workflows to help the practice and patients for a top leading healthcare organization.
In 2011 she co-founded Looms for Lupus when her sister almost lost her life to Immune thrombocytopenia and Lupus; she is alive today because she advocated for herself. Estela has supported her sister and her passion to help others has evolved to “iLOOMinating”, Engaging, Empowering and Supporting the community as a whole to take control of their healthcare. For the past 10 years, Estela has co-facilitated support groups, led, and participated in educational symposiums, advocated locally and nationally.
As a community leader and healthcare advocate she partners, collaborates with initiatives including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority Health and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Minority Health and Health to increase awareness on the need for diversity in lupus clinical trials, All Of US Research, Scripps Digital Trials Center and Congresswoman Grace Napolitano’s Mental Health Consortium. Estela is an exceptional community engagement liaison for both English and Spanish speakers.