'When you have an education, you have options.'
What’s the best advice you ever got?
For Ormond Beach’s Wendy Mara, who now has her own law practice with four offices, it all began with her parents, who taught her: “When you have an education, you have options.”
When she was in high school, Mara loved studying foreign languages. Math? Not so much. But her parents encouraged her to do well in every class, not just her favorites. It paid off when, after a career as a high school teacher, she decided she wanted to go back to school and get her master of business administration degree. Then, while doing her MBA studies, she took a business law class, and she enjoyed it so much that she decided to go to law school.
Meanwhile, her family was growing. The youngest of her four children was 19 years old, and then Mara discovered she was pregnant with No. 5, just as she was about to begin her new career as an attorney. So, she decided to work for herself, practicing guardianship and family law. (Mara’s husband, Robert, is a former attorney who now works for Holland Financial.)
With her Roman Catholic faith as her guide, Wendy Mara was inspired as an MBA student by the concept of “servant leadership.” She takes an interest in their personal successes — including their own education. In that way, she is passing along her parents' advice to her staff.
“Even if that means they go off and do something different and go someplace else — that’s their journey,” Wendy Mara said. “I would hate to lose somebody working with me, but if that’s what’s best for that particular person, then that’s what it’s got to be.”
Visit https://www.maralawpa.com/ or call 386-672-8081.
