SPOTLIGHT
Of
THE
Clock MARIAH GARCIA BY MATT SKOUFALOS
B
ack when she was a college student growing up in New Jersey, Mariah Garcia was on a pre-law track, at the insistence of her parents. But by her own admission, “school wasn’t going that great, and I didn’t really enjoy it.” “I wanted to get into medicine, but I didn’t see myself going into med school,” she said. “At the time, you could be a doctor or a nurse, and I didn’t know whether I wanted to go that route.” Instead, Garcia took a job as a night receptionist at an MRI center, and started hanging out with the imaging technicians in the office. In no time at all, she fell in love with MRI. “Nobody comes to a career show at your grade school and talks about this career; I didn’t know the technology was there,” Garcia said. “The first time I saw an MRI machine, it looked like Star Trek. You’re able to see patients’ bodies and what’s going on; I was mesmerized by it, and fell in love with it. I asked the techs, ‘What do I have to do to do this?’ ” On the recommendation of her coworkers, Garcia worked her way through X-ray school, earned her certificate, and received an invitation to take on a role at the imaging center where she’d began in reception. She learned MRI on the job, starting slow, but making steady progress. Within a year, she was running studies on her own.
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ICEMAGAZINE | JULY 2022
All the while, Garcia continued to work as a session vocalist and live performer, singing with a party band, Zanadu, and backing up studio artists during recording sessions. Monday through Thursday, she worked in medical imaging, but the weekends, she worked in music. Zanadu played throughout the tristate area (New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania), covering radio hits and other songs. Garcia’s fluency in Spanish and Portuguese also meant that the group was invited to play special events for families of those cultures, but her heart always pulled her towards R&B and the ‘70s radio hits of her youth. “A lot of it was word of mouth, especially in New Jersey,” she said. “I was born in Switzerland, and my parents are Spaniards, so I grew up with a lot of guitar influence. I loved power ballads, and then rock music, ‘70s, and disco. I love Heart, I love Pat Benatar; those power vocals from that time.” While her imaging career grew, Garcia also met Yadira, a Konica engineer and the woman who would become her wife. However, when Yadira fell ill and needed a heart transplant, the couple decided to move away from the East Coast for a slower pace of life in the Southwest. They landed in Arizona, and Garcia took a break from performing to focus on Yadira’s health. In 2010, Yadira underwent a successful heart transplant, and now, 10 years later, she’s in good health, and they both work for Banner Imaging. “She’s doing fantastic,” Garcia said. “She wanted to
ADVANCING THE IMAGING PROFESSIONAL
