ChicagoGlobal Feature: Gayatri Mathur

March 17th, 2024

ChicagoGlobal has a segment titled “Global Chicagoan: 3 for 3” – a mini Q&A that highlights one Chicago-based professional active in the business world or global community. March 17th’s issue highlighted The Soondra Foundation’s very own, Gayatri Mathur.

Gayatri Mathur is founder of the North Shore-based Soondra Foundation, which since 2018 has been providing emergency medical grants to India’s working poor. Born in India, Mathur has lived in Chicago for 25 years. Mathur and her husband reside in Highland Park and have two grown children. 

Tell us a Soondra success story. One of our first recipients was a high school girl who lived in a slum with her family. During the rainy season one day, she slipped and fell on the way to school, fracturing her thigh bone. At the hospital, her father was told she would need expensive testing and surgery, but in India, patients have to pay in advance, and the cost of treatment was far beyond his reach. We paid for everything. She went on to college, where she worked to help support her family, and will graduate in April. 

Your favorite hidden gem in Chicago? As a bird watcher and nature lover, the Fort Sheridan Forest Preserve is one of my favorite hidden gems. It has ravines from the last ice age, stately oaks and grasslands, plus the lake views. That’s a combination I have not seen anywhere else. 

How do you get your international fix? Many ways! I am involved with the Natya Dance Theatre, which offers classical Indian dance classes and cross-cultural dance experiences with groups such as Ensemble Español. I am a member of the nonprofit Simmons Center for Global Chicago, a community of organizations doing international development work. 

—Laura Bianchi 

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