Conversations with Mariah Jones

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mariah Jones.

Hi Mariah, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I feel like my story has had a lot of different chapters, especially for me only being 20. I’ve always loved challenging myself and seeing what I’m capable of. I started in sports with wrestling and eventually found boxing, which became something I really connected with. I love competing, improving and pushing myself beyond what I thought I could do.

After graduating high school, everything moved pretty fast for me. In 2024, I won a national championship and was approved to begin the process of becoming a firefighter. At just 18, so I went from being a high school student to stepping into environments that required a completely different level of discipline and responsibility.

Being in public safety at a young age forced me to grow quickly and taught me how to stay calm, be dependable, and handle responsibility when people were counting on me.

Now I’m preparing to join the United States Air Force while continuing to pursue boxing and see how far I can take the sport. My faith has played a big role in navigating all of these changes. I don’t have everything figured out, but I’ve learned to trust God, keep working and stay open to where life takes me next.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road. I’ve dealt with a lot of uncertainty, changes in direction, financial stress, and moments where I questioned whether I was making the right decisions. I’ve also spent a lot of my life feeling like I was in survival mode and always having to figure out what came next. There have been times when I worked extremely hard for something, only to realize that it wasn’t where I was supposed to stay.

One of the biggest lessons for me has been learning that changing direction doesn’t mean I failed. I left wrestling for boxing and a lot of people thought that was not the smartest decision. Leaving the fire department was especially difficult because I had worked hard to become a firefighter and it became a big part of my identity. I’ve also had periods where I lost some of my passion for boxing and had to find my way back to why I loved it in the first place.

Through all of that, my faith has helped me keep going. I’m learning to trust God even when I don’t understand what He’s doing, give myself grace when things don’t go according to plan, and keep moving forward instead of believing one difficult season defines my life.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I think what sets me apart is my mentality and my willingness to separate myself when I know I have a goal. I’ve learned that sometimes you have to be okay with missing out, being misunderstood, or doing things differently from everyone around you. I’m very competitive with myself, and once I decide I want something, I want to see how far I can push myself.

That mindset has carried over into everything I’ve done. I’ve accomplished things the average person would never be able to do. None of those things came easily, but they showed me that I can do hard things when I stay disciplined and don’t give up on myself.

I think my life looks a little different because I’m not chasing what everybody else is doing. I’m building the life I want, even if that means taking a different route to get there. I still have a lot I want to accomplish, and I think that hunger is probably one of the biggest things that separates me.

Can you share something surprising about yourself?
Something people may not know about me is that I’m actually a huge nerd. I love theater, writing, journaling, and just learning about different things. I love fishing, cooking, and baking as well. I think people sometimes see the athlete, boxer or firefighter side of me and assume I’m always serious or tough, but I have a really creative and reflective side too. I spend a lot of time in my own head thinking about life and what I want for myself. I’m also probably my own hardest critic. I always feel like there’s something I can improve on, whether that’s in boxing, my career or just who I am as a person.

Pricing:

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Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mariahnetia?igsi=c2p0czV1Nmc3M3Vz&utm_source=qr
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