Photograph by Warren H Flagler
About Mara Sommers
Mara Beth Sommers is an attorney who specializes in representing receivers and trustees in lawsuits to recover funds for the victims of frauds and Ponzi schemes. She also is an executive producer of documentaries including the acclaimed hit Cocaine Cowboys.
Mara was an aerobic instructor for 10 years, teaching step, boxaerobics, and spinning. She was on a Nike Performance Team that appeared at numerous events including leading the warmups at the Miami and Ft. Lauderdale Corporate Runs. She also appeared in several fitness videos and spent four seasons on Crunch Fitness on ESPN2.
Mara seeks to spend the fruits of her success in two ways: first, to try to leave the world a better place. To that end, she contributes her time and money to numerous charitable, arts, and cultural organizations. The second is to learn, see and experience as much as possible of what the world has to offer. Examples of just a few of her adventurous exploits include climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, appearing as a supernumerary in the Puccini opera Manon Lescaut, attending the FBI Citizens Academy, and participating in a hot air balloon festival in New Mexico. The optimal events are those that enable her to combine both passions. She has participated in several adventure races, including driving her Lamborghini in a cross-country road race and rally to help recover America’s missing children, taking her Corvette through Western National Parks to raise money for Breast Cancer research, and drag racing in her Bentley. Mara ran in the 10th anniversary Tunnel to Towers run in New York City to benefit the first responder victims of the 9/11 tragedy, and participated in the Glam Doll Strut for cancer survivors, this time donning stilettos and sequins instead of running shoes and sweat pants, competed in The Big Scramble, an urban race in support of the Alzheimer’s Foundation, and rappelled down the side of the JW Marriott Marquis in downtown Miami to help underprivileged children.
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Mara’s interests run the gamut. She admits to being a news junkie. Mara loves cars. She went to the Ferrari driving school in Mugello, Italy. Her cars have traveled almost as extensively as she has. In addition to testing their skills on racetracks including the Indianapolis Speedway and Virginia International Raceway, they went to fund raisers in North Carolina to run the Tail of the Dragon; the French Quarter Classic in New Orleans; the Celebration Florida Exotic Car Festival; and the CECA Aspen exotic car show.
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Mara has taken to the sky in hot air balloons, a glider, a hang glider, a parasail, an ultralight, a zeppelin, and the Goodyear blimp. She went running from the top of Aspen Mountain and soared 16,000 feet into the air attached to a paraglider (and the world paragliding champion). In the sea, she has tried waterskiing, wind surfing, kite surfing, sailing, and speed boating. On the ground, she has a motorcycle license, raced ATVs in the Sahara Desert, bicycled her way through Morocco, Sri Lanka, Croatia, and other countries, and participated in a Conga line in her in-line skates. Of the non-motorized variety, she has ridden an elephant, a donkey, and several camels. Her adventures cover the globe, including climbing up to Machu Picchu, rappelling down a mountain in Israel, celebrating Tet in Hanoi, kayaking in Alaska, and attending a camel fair in India.
JW Marriott Marquis Miami
