Charging down the open road, you’ll find Mary McCarrell on her purple Harley Davidson motorcycle. To Mary, freedom feels like the wind in her hair and the feeling of warm sun, but it also means allowing the road ahead to take her where it will. On her motorcycle as well as in life, this has meant taking the scenic route to her chosen destination.

Long ago, before her five grandchildren were in the picture, Mary’s life revolved around her two sons. She studies early childhood education and spent time running an in-home daycare. She eventually hoped to open a daycare facility of her own, but had to pick up some outside work along the way. She could have never known that answering an ad for a receptionist would be the fork in the road that would eventually leader her to fulfillment as the owner of an indoor tanning salon.

Within a year of taking the receptionist position, Mary’s all-in attitude got her promoted to a corporate management position, where she traveled the country handling legal disputes for a dating service. The next time she found herself glancing at the job postings, she found relief from the stress by working for a chain of tanning salons, eventually becoming the regional manager.

Mary eventually left her job at the salon to support her husband as he started a business of his own, but fate had something else in mind.

Click here to read the entire article in the latest issue of Smart Tan Magazine online.