AUREA WANUZA MARQUES REIS

Aurea Wanuza Marques Reis, is the author's full name. Friends and family address her as ‘Wanuza’, but professionally she prefers to be addressed as ‘Aurea.’ In the book Healing Letters you will see both names. Aurea was born in Luanda (Angola) and permanently moved to Portugal in 1992 when she was eleven years old, due to the Civil War. She remembers very little from her birth country, but she embraces both countries as part of her heritage. One saw her born and the other saw her grow up; together they built and shaped her personality. The author is now 41 years old and moved to UK in 2008 when recession hit Portugal hard. She is a single mother of a 10-year-old boy. Aurea graduated by the University College Birmingham in Tourism Business Management. She worked in the tourism industry for 6 years until she was made redundant due to COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, Aurea works as Employment Coach at a Refugee and Migrants Centre in West Midlands. When writing her book, she discovered she wanted to do something more meaningful and rewarding. She now uses her lived experience to help other people overcome their own trauma. By healing her inner child, the author discovered her caring side, and is enjoying pursuing that path. Her hobbies are writing, travelling, fitness, quiet time alone, and spending quality time with her close friends and family.

Nomination

Aurea commenced her philanthropy work shortly after publishing her book Healing Letters. She hosted a series of events on Facebook and Instagram raising awareness of historical child sexual abuse, domestic abuse and narcissistic abuse.

Aurea is a much sought after guest speaker, appearing in person at local and national events. She has also spoken at in person and online events sharing her expertise and sign posting survivors of abuse towards therapeutic support. In 2021 Aurea took part in the Wolverhampton Literature Festival, where her book was taken up by Waterstones bookshop and Birmingham University. https://youtu.be/kkyUEOF8ZLc

Aurea is a TEDx speaker. Her talk took place at the Wolverhampton Arena in 2022. Her talk was entitled Children of today are the adults of tomorrow. Her passionate yet compassionate talk inspired many and continues to do so on social media, reaching 700+ people.

In 2022 Aurea became a confidence coach for the Miss Caribbean and Commonwealth pageant. She supported the delegates through delivering a series of online motivational sessions, which were appreciated by the young women. In particular Aurea was keen to support the delegate from Aurora, who struggled with the English language and finding her own voice. Miss Angola came second in the pageant. In 2023 Aurea was no longer on the peripheral of the Wolverhampton Literature Festival, but at the centre, headlining at the Wolverhampton Arena. She recently landed a publishing deal with a publisher in Portugal who will translate Healing Letters into Portuguese. Aurea aspires to hold a book launch in Portugal and Brazil.