Real Women
from Image magazine, May 2011
Maria Maher – From project manager to acupuncturist
Serious illness changed Maria Maher’s career path. It was while she was working as a project manager with Ericsson that she was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour.
“While I was on sick leave, I encountered a lot of people working in the medical and healing area and thought how wonderful it was to be able to improve someone’s health and quality of life,” she says. She decided to study acupuncture. “I didn’t have a particular interest in it previously, but had heard it was good for relieving the negative side effects of my cancer treatment, which were nausea, headaches and feeling low in energy.”
Over a course of treatments, she felt better and went on to spend three years studying acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine part time. In 2007, she opened AcuWell, in Dublin 6, and upon taking voluntary redundancy, established an additional clinic in Athlone. Maria has built the business via referrals and her website, but at no point did she worry about swapping a career in international business for alternative medicine.
“I believe in it wholeheartedly and I have the drive and vision to see it growing and being a bigger success,” she says. “I’m following and living my dream.”
