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MAGGIE'S Story

By Jill Chappell

MAGGIE MACGILLIVRAY is the picture of a strong, professional woman. She’s a single mom of three, runs an ambitious, all women real estate team, owns investment properties, her dream home and has a killer wardrobe to boot. She’s the epitome of success and she also lives with mental illness.

“My entire life I’ve suffered crippling anxiety,” reveals MacGillivray. “I missed a lot of my high school years because of it. It limited me in a lot of ways. I didn’t drive for many years. I also dealt with eating disorders and I didn’t talk to anyone about it because I felt I had to hide it.”

Three years ago Maggie decided enough was enough. She confronted her demons head-on. She showed up in tears at her mother’s apartment with her three children and a blow-up mattress determined to begin living the life she knew she deserved.

Today MacGillivray is a successful real estate agent with Royal LePage and manages the all-female team, Golden Realty Group. She shares her story of awakening and resiliency through her honest and candid blog, 24 Karat Realtor. It’s a message she’ll be taking to the stage on March 15, 2019 as part of A Different Stage of Mind in support of The Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia.

Maggie says her involvement has allowed her to open up a conversation she didn’t know she needed to have, with an audience she didn’t know she had. Since revealing her own experience with anxiety and eating disorders, numerous people have confided in her about their own struggles. MacGillivray says that has opened her eyes to how much work still needs to be done to change the way people think and shed the stigma associated with mental illness.

“Disorders like these get much worse in the dark. The more we can talk about, the easier it is to heal.”

When asked how she’s feeling about her singing debut, she admits she’s quite nervous but is choosing to look at it through a positive lens. It’s an outlook she’s adopted since walking through adversity and coming out stronger on the other side. She hopes facing her fears head-on will allow others to see that living with a mental illness isn’t a weakness, it’s a sign of strength.

“If someone who deals with social anxiety can throw on a wig and get on a stage in front of hundreds of people, I think it will show people they have great capacity to overcome and deal with their struggles.”

An attitude of perseverance indicative of a strong and capable woman who’s not only committed to building a real estate empire, but a community of support for those living with mental illness.

Read more about Maggie and our other 2019 A Different Stage of Mind stars.
Our 16th annual A Different Stage of Mind fundraiser takes place March 15, 2019 at 8pm at the Halifax Convention Centre.