After her graduation in Economics from Sophia College, Mumbai, Sumangala worked for a year with CPAA in 1986. She joined CPAA’s Pune Branch in 2013, having spent several years in the interim in the education sector where she worked as a teacher and coordinator at various schools. While her initial focus was on fundraising activities, she gradually took on additional responsibilities including organising detection camps and awareness sessions and handling administrative matters. She took over as the head of the Pune branch in 2018 and under her guidance the unit has gone from strength to strength in organising each of CPAA’s core activities.