My Story

Hi, I’m Maria. Or more formally:

Maria LaMalfa Aoukar, BA, MBA, HHC, VA

I started my career as a computer programmer in 1997. Throughout the next 11 years I held various roles in the information technology field in two major corporations. It was a great career filled with tremendous opportunity and priceless learning. I loved it, but ultimately felt pulled in a different direction. I lost a substantial amount of weight and in the process became interested in learning about health and wellness. I wanted to help people feel better about themselves.

Life happens ⋅ Priorities change ⋅ Passions emerge

My passion became health and wellness.  This ultimately led me to the Institute of Integrative Nutrition where I earned a certificate in Health Coaching, and began my journey as a certified holistic health coach. It was life changing and great. A whole new world opened up. I met the most interesting and forward thinking people on this new path. I was introduced to different foods, different ways of being. I coached people to weight loss, to healther ways of eating. I teamed up with amazing coaches and ran retreats. I was making a difference and it was wonderful. I loved it, but ultimately felt pulled in a different direction. This time the direction was more in line with what I was already doing.

Life happens ⋅ Priorities change ⋅ Passions evolve

I loved spending time doing the behind the scenes work that needed to be done to support my health coaching business. All the technical ‘stuff’ like updating my website, creating landing pages and  automating emails. It became obvious to me that this is what I wanted to spend my time doing. I wanted to support entrepreneurs who were making a difference. After taking a break from my career to focus on raising my three children, I enrolled at AssistU and am now a virtual assistant.