ALUMNI FOCUS
Amelia “Mel” Rea Maguire: Challenge Accepted
By Christi N. Morgan
beam on which I walk.” Once Maguire accomplishes something, she typically is ready for a new challenge. Helping businesses overcome obstacles is an ideal role for her. “Most of the companies I have represented (pre-COVID) were multimillion dollar companies, but didn’t necessarily have a presence in the United States. I would advise them on different aspects of what they needed to do—on finding a lawyer and an accountant, on economic development incentives and on corporate regulatory aspects of creating a viable business platform in the U.S. I introduce them to people in the at two global law firms. She now serves community they need to meet.” as president of REA International, a Since the spread of COVID-19, Mabusiness advisory consulting firm, with guire’s business activities have changed, global clients interested in starting com- but she has found new ways to stay busy panies in Florida. and to thrive. Her pursuits include tak“What I like most is the challenge of ing up tai chi and increasing her creative not knowing and then figuring out what writing efforts. to do. I like solving a problem. If I don’t “I started taking writing courses know something, that is what I want to out of New York and Miami,” said do. I think change and remaining flex- Maguire, who is currently working on ible and standing back, assessing what a draft of a creative non-fiction piece. was going on and understanding how “My research is from 1830 through 1900 to move into new environments set the about the migration of the planter class (L-R) Jose Gelabert-Navia and Mel Rea Maguire in Zhujiajiao Water Town, China in July 2018
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melia “Mel” Rea Maguire relishes taking on new challenges and devotes herself wholeheartedly to each new endeavor. Perhaps that is why she has experienced much success in a wide variety of roles throughout her career. Maguire believes a major reason for the steep slope of her career trajectory is that she had a southern mother and her father was a United States Coast Guard officer. “I was as a military brat. We moved every 18 months but had a deep sense of place provided by my mother,” recalled Maguire. “That set my ability to be flexible, stay grounded and look at opportunities.” Throughout her career, the FSU Law Class of 1986 graduate has worked as a teacher, as the leader of a state agency, on political campaigns, as an associate dean in higher education and as an attorney
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“What I like most is the challenge of not knowing and then figuring out what to do. I like solving a problem. If I don’t know something, that is what I want to do. I think change and remaining flexible and standing back, assessing what was going on and understanding how to move into new environments set the beam on which I walk.”
