FIGHTING MELANOMA In the battle against cancer, Melissa Sohn had a not-so-secret weapon: her family.

To beat stage III melanoma, a skin cancer developed as a result of excessive exposure to sun or ultraviolet light, Ms. Sohn, 32, went through three rounds of chemotherapy and surgery to remove 44 lymph nodes.

“If my dad hadn’t been there, if my mom hadn’t been there, if my son hadn’t been there, if my husband hadn’t been there, I would have been out the window,” she said.

After recovering this year, she strove to find an outlet to help others with the disease. In February, she established a foundation, Live4Life, with the goal of providing support to patients and funding research.

Her first initiative will begin this fall: A support group will meet twice a month under the guidance of a chief of psychiatry at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Dr. William Breitbart.

To raise money for the foundation, Ms. Sohn, a jewelry designer and founder of the brand Emma+Me has created a pendant in support of the cause. The design reflects the appreciation for life she gained from her battle, with the word “live” wrapped around a diamond. The bauble — available for $150 in silver and $350 in gold at the foundation’s Web site, www.live4life.tv — and other donations have raised $600,000.

Ms. Sohn has also organized a benefit on Monday night at the Mandarin Oriental to help reach her $1.2 million goal for this year. The upscale location is just one sign of her lofty sights. She’s managed to secure actress Courteney Cox Arquette as the event’s honorary chairwoman after learning that Ms. Arquette’s father died of melanoma. Ms. Sohn will also be welcoming two doyennes of youthful charity parties, fashion designers Tory Burch and Shoshanna Lonstein Gruss.

“It’s a celebration of life,” she said of the benefit. “It was imperative for me to attack the disease and not let the disease attack me.”

— Elisa Mala

***

A LUCKY LAUDER Friday the 13th is a lucky day for Evelyn Lauder, who is in Washington D.C. to receive the Philanthropic Innovator Award from the Committee of 200, a close-to-the-vest membership organization for top women in business, such as the chief executive officer of Ogilvy & Mather, Shelly Lazarus, and the chief executive officer of Playboy Enterprises, Christie Heffner.

In fact, every day of October seems lucky for the senior corporate vice president at the Estée Lauder Companies, although she hasn’t had much time in her office. It’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and Ms. Lauder, along with company spokesmodel Elizabeth Hurley, has been all over town — and the country, via satellite television — working to raise money for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, which she founded. She is also promoting her new cookbook devoted to healthy eating, “In Great Taste,” which is just one of nearly 40 products whose proceeds benefit the foundation.

Another important date for Ms. Lauder is Tuesday, October 17, when she’ll help present the foundation’s grants to scientists researching breast cancer, totaling more than $27 million.

— A.L. Gordon

***

HE BUILDS WELL The collective square footage designed and built by the guests attending last night’s Heritage Ball could fill entire cities and then some. In the past few years — most notably with the opening of the Center for Architecture — what used to be a clubby social event for the members of the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects has turned into a boffo fund-raising night.The event gathers the movers and shakers of the city’s building industry, including engineers, construction executives, and designers.

“The event itself has transcended a dinner for architects,” the vice chairman of Gensler, architect Walter Hunt Jr.,said. “It’s become a fertile ground to develop business.”

Mr. Hunt was honored for his role in shaping the Center for Architecture as a place that invites civilians to engage in issues of his profession.

“The center is a way for us to give back, to become an organization focused on the public, on buildings, on our extraordinary urban fabric,” Mr. Hunt said.

Ironically, Mr. Hunt’s big project of the moment is not in this city, but in Las Vegas: He is one of two executive architects for the MGM Mirage CityCenter. He also serves on the board of directors of the Yale Alumni Fund and the dean’s council at the Yale School of Architecture, a commitment based on his student days when he designed a community center for the Dixwell neighborhood in New Haven, Conn., that won accolades from New Haven’s mayor at the time, Richard C. Lee.

— A.L. Gordon