Hidden Gems: Meet Marina Mara of MARINA MARA

Today we’d like to introduce you to Marina Mara

Hi MARINA, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
My international background has played a significant role in shaping my success. Being displaced at a young age—moving from Athens, Greece, to Australia at 16—was the defining moment that began to shape who I am today. The cultural shift was jarring, and I turned that pain into purpose to avoid feeling lost or falling into a slump. Instead, I focused on learning, growing, and striving for professional success.

At 19, during my first year of university in Australia, I pursued extra studies to accelerate my learning. I was hungry to grow, and my dedication paid off. By the end of that first year, I was recruited by a major television network, which offered me a graduate role. I accepted the position and finished my degree remotely. Fast forward, while my peers were graduating, I had already advanced four years in my career in media, and being ahead at this early age was the ultimate competitive advantage!

Embarking on my entrepreneurial journey well before the rise of social media and the digital world we live in today was considered a bold move by many. Around the midpoint of my agency’s evolution, I realized the need to expand internationally. The United States quickly became my primary market, offering a better fit for me and my company.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
When people see me, they often assume my path has been smooth and effortlessly laid out for me. The truth is far from it. Significant challenges shaped my late twenties to late thirties: navigating a marital separation while building my company in its early stages, rebuilding my wealth from scratch after divorce—a process that set me back a decade—and running a global agency from a city that felt isolating, all to ensure my son could grow up in his hometown.

Determined to break free from those constraints, I travelled extensively, positioning myself and my company internationally in cities aligned with my company’s vision and ambitions while remaining devoted to motherhood—a delicate balance that required a lot of planning and often personal sacrifice. Around this time, I shifted markets and firmly established my primary client base in Los Angeles. Stepping outside the box invited resistance—caution, doubt, and even being called crazy for daring to make the hard, bold moves others wouldn’t attempt.

Those years often felt isolating because I intentionally distanced myself from people and situations that could drain my energy or derail my focus. As I rose, I experienced the unexpected grief of “friend washing,” where close friends I had supported for years suddenly disappeared during my moments of success, joy, and big wins. It’s a loss many entrepreneurs face but rarely discuss—the bittersweet price of rising higher.

Through it all, I had no external financial support and faced life’s most defining moments entirely on my own as a single woman. It was an uphill battle, but those experiences didn’t just test me—they shaped, sharpened, and ultimately made me who I am today.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about MARINA MARA?
I have led my eponymous agency for nearly two decades, achieving consistent growth.

Now operating at a senior advisory level with extensive tenure in the PR industry, I am personally engaged by corporations, global leaders, and prominent figures in entertainment, sports, and business as their Media Advisor to guide, nurture, and safeguard their reputations.

This success is the result of years spent refining my craft and, more importantly, building a service and business model that defied the status quo and broke away from the traditional agency mold.

We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
Luck as a concept has always felt a bit flakey to me. I believe in the magic of serendipity—those unexpected moments when the stars align—but relying on luck, even slightly, feels like handing over control of your own destiny. Life, as I see it, is about creating opportunities, not passively waiting for them to land in your lap. Luck might occasionally sprinkle itself over the process, like icing on a well-baked cake, but it’s no replacement for preparation, intention, and action.

​The work you put in beforehand determines whether you’re ready to recognize and seize the moment when it comes knocking. What others might call “lucky breaks” in my life have more often ​resulted ​from months or years of ​extreme patience and diligent preparation—which enabled me to identify and act on opportunities as they arose.

In the same way, these so-called lucky opportunities are often available to many but go unnoticed or unclaimed simply because people haven’t done the work. In other words, they haven’t graduated to a level where they’re ready to receive them. And even if they did, they wouldn’t be prepared enough to sustain them. We see this all the time—first-time millionaire entrepreneurs who lose it all within months.

As for bad luck, I don’t believe in it. I see what others might call bad luck as simple misalignments—redirections guiding me to where I was meant to be all along.

You create your own luck by ​becoming well-prepared. I ​have a Newtonian view on this: Newton’s third law says every action has an equal and opposite reaction. ​​Re​garding ​luck and success, the energy you invest in preparation generates the momentum for opportunities to align with your efforts. Your consistent actions compound and lay the foundation for the results you want.

Ultimately, luck isn’t some random force—it’s the result of consistent effort meeting the right opportunity at the right time. When you put in the work, you’re not just waiting for luck to find you; you’re actively creating the conditions for it to appear and stay​!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://marinamara.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hellomarinamara/
• Twitter: https://x.com/helloMarinaMara/
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/show/5RbcXGjVsQpmFLEFC2ERoF?si=d42234f96ad94bbe

Image Credits
Aubrey Jonsson