Onyx Spring-Summer 2017

Hard Work + Risk Taking = Successful Entrepreneurs BY KATIE SHANE

When Michele "Shelly" Maher Aff ’81 was a student at Saint Mary- of-the-Woods College (SMWC) the thought of becoming a successful entrepreneur didn’t even cross her mind. “Never. I never would have even imagined from where I was then to where I am now,” Shelly says of her career. “When I graduated from The Woods, all the corporations were just getting desktops. My first job was computer programming, and it was not fulfilling.” The opposite could be said for the 1981 graduate now, who found a talent she never knew she had and built multiple businesses along the way. It is difficult for Shelly to pinpoint exactly what she and her husband of 36 years, Terry, do for a living, with numerous responsibilities and

companies they juggle. Shelly and Terry, along with a small group of partners, own three manufacturing companies which produce intracoastal houseboats. Terry works on the engineering side, and Shelly on the design. Their business risks and hard work have paid off, in more ways than one. Shelly laughs when she talks about television specials that have featured the boats she and Terry have created. The Travel Channel has filmed four different segments featuring Terry, Shelly and one of their most luxurious boats, "Aff-ter Hours." Shelly is the first to point out that boating, manufacturing and design is a far cry from her time as a math major at SMWC. But it was that math degree and her time at The Woods that gave her the confidence to go beyond what was expected.

“I think what prepared me the most was work ethic,” she explains. To graduate in the math program in just three years, you have to have discipline to do that… in math you have to be logical to do things step by step.” Logical thinking is how Shelly made her way from unfulfilled computer programmer to entrepreneur. After leaving her first job, she took a position with Delco. Assigned to oversee a large office building project, she soon found that her talents went beyond just numbers. Choosing finishes and furniture, she tapped into a creative side. And with a background in math, the logical thinking and ability with numbers gave her even more confidence to excel. With a newfound passion she opened her own design company, while becoming a mom to her children Annie and Aaron. Adamant that women can be

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