{"id":4756,"date":"2023-04-24T08:05:03","date_gmt":"2023-04-24T15:05:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/?p=4756"},"modified":"2026-08-30T21:20:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T04:20:23","slug":"sally-pera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/sally-pera\/","title":{"rendered":"Sally Pera - the Dancing Queen of Charity"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Chic<\/span><\/div>
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This article was printed in<\/em>
\nChic Compass Magazine - Issue 14<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>

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Sally Pera - the Dancing Queen of Charity<\/h1>\n

BY JOAN S. PECK<\/p>\n<\/div>

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How does someone grow up on a cattle ranch without electricity or running water and become an urban planner, mentor, ballroom dancing enthusiast, and a top-notch fundraiser? Ask Sally Pera.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy grandparents were homesteaders in Colorado. I grew up in an environment where everybody helped everybody, and you didn\u2019t question it. My father was committed to education and did the school board thing because of his sense of duty. Although he didn\u2019t have time for it, he made the time. I was a cowgirl, and the cowboy culture takes care of each other because you can\u2019t do it alone. So interest in helping others was role-modeled for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

After raising her children, Sally spent 13 years connecting Silicon Valley executives as CEO of the Association for Corporate Growth Silicon Valley before stepping down in 2017. \u201cACG was a labor of love. I have pretty successful children. I decided that the world had helped them a lot, and being in Silicon Valley, they were in the right place at the right time. I thought I could use ACG to help younger people reach the next level. It was a place where you knew you could get help.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sally retired to Las Vegas in 2017, which did nothing to stop her from forging ahead with her behind-the-scenes work for causes and charities in town, raising funds for Three Square, Green Our Planet, and Friends of the Nevada State Museum, among others. The ballroom dancing devotee has since joined several advisory boards, including those of cannabis technology companies Phylos and Vivera Pharmaceuticals.<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"Three<\/span><\/div><\/div>

\u201cPhylos is fascinating. It\u2019s pure science and agriculture, developing updated seeds for optimal cannabis growth. They can separate the male and female marijuana plants, and growing time can be done almost instantaneously, increasing return on investment. I have great hopes for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vivara started using hemp-based CBD [cannabidiol] exclusively for pharmaceutical remedies and has now evolved into an innovative, science-driven biopharma and MedTech company. \u201cI love it. This whole cannabis thing came from a CEO\u2019s international search who contacted me. I\u2019ve had friends survive cancer on cannabis, so I believe it is wonderful for those who use it to heal.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2018, Sally formed the 32 Club to help fund the Traveling Trunk Program at the Nevada State Museum and their delivery to Clark County Schools. This program for secondary school students provides rented trunks full of resources and meets curriculum requirements for students to experience a sensory history-related environment through touch, tech, sound, and sight. The original cost for a round-trip delivery was $32. There are approximately 15 women for each gathering, and the supporter donates $32 each time they meet. Amazingly, over its four-year existence, 32 Club has brought in nearly $50,000, highlighting Sally\u2019s talent for fundraising.<\/p>\n

What drew Sally to become involved in the Traveling Trunk initiative? \u201cThe 30 Educational Traveling Trunks are now booked a year in advance by individual teachers to use in the classroom for a few weeks. It made no sense to me that the museum did not have a budget priority to deliver them to teachers requesting them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even though Sally\u2019s schedule is busy, she still finds time to dance. \u201cMy parents met while ballroom dancing after the War, but I never danced until my youngest son was out of college, and I started taking an elderly neighbor who couldn\u2019t drive to dance. I try to do it three times a week, and I\u2019ve danced all over the world. It\u2019s my kind of my therapy.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"Damian<\/span><\/div><\/div>

Damian Blackburn Las Vegas Ballroom Dancer and COT Blackpool winner, with Sally Pera. Photo courtesy of Sally Pera.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>

Sally has been dancing for over 20 years, and her favorite out-of-country locations are Italy, Canada, and Argentina. \u201cOne of the many trips to Buenas Aires, I danced in the Malonges for 13 consecutive nights.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another love of hers \u2026 cheering the NBA team her son Robert acquired in 2012, the Memphis Grizzlies. Robert founded Ubiquiti Networks in 2005, took it public in 2011, and acquired the Memphis Grizzlies a year later.<\/p>\n

Sally\u2019s love for the 32 Club and its accomplishment is essential to her belief that \u201ca charitable heart directed toward education strengthens the Las Vegas community we all love. There are now over 150 women involved in the 32 Club. Our goal for the future is a five-year plan to raise another $50,000.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is no stopping the Dancing Queen of Charity \u2026 thank God \u2026 and you, Sally Pera.<\/p>\n

For more information regarding the 32 Club please contact us<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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How does someone grow up on a cattle ranch without electricity or running water and become an urban planner, mentor, ballroom dancing enthusiast, and a top-notch fundraiser? Ask Sally Pera.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4758,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4522,3936],"tags":[3158,3946,609,267,2816,3945,3299],"class_list":["post-4756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-and-culture","category-issue-14","tag-charity","tag-green-our-planet","tag-joan-s-peck","tag-las-vegas","tag-nevada","tag-sally-pera","tag-three-square"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4756"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4756\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4759,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4756\/revisions\/4759"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}