Ilona Maher

speaker

738 appearances 9 recordings 8 series first heard Jul 2024 last heard 4 Jul

Ilona Maher’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

Trend

recordings per month · last 12 months

Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 4 in all, peaking in Jun 2026 with 3.

Appearances

newest first · ▶ plays the moment

House of Maher · Our Teen Years, Ilona’s Rugby Journey & Sex Ed Lessons From Mom · 25 Mar 2025 podcast

And I think also they were really happy that I was there for what I could bring. It sounds like you found a really wonderful new team culture and community on the 15s team. And I wonder... You're going to go back to the Sevens team maybe one day and it's going to be a whole group of girls. Are you ever nervous to go into a new team again with this amazing experience you've had here?

Yeah, I think this experience was unlike any other. I felt so much a part of the team from the moment I was there. And when I go back to I don't know if I'll go play for Bristol Bears again. I think it was a lot to move over here to England to be two hours away from London and whatnot, because my livelihood, everything is over in America, in New York or L.A., where I do shoots and deals.

So it's like it was very hard to manage that because we had to pass up on so many things while I was here in Bristol. But. I think this was, again, Dancing with Stars was a moment in time. This was a moment in time for me that I'll always remember.

And when I go back to Sevens, I think, again, I'll just be learning a whole new group of people and seeing how, I guess, I fit in, seeing where I fit in. I know you talk a lot about... That rugby, you're doing it almost for a passion and that, you know, you're not making, you can't really make a livelihood out of just rugby and you can go into entertainment at this point.

Do you ever worry about no longer having that rugby, current rugby player title attached with it? I think that's one of the reasons why I came here to Bristol to play because I don't want to be just known as a content creator influencer. I'd always, I hate it when people just say that about me. Oh, she's just an Instagrammer.

Oh, she's like, one guy commented on a video of me, on a video of Bristol Bears, like, oh, were you going there to see the Instagrammer or are you going to, you know, watch the team? First of all, I'm an Olympic medalist. First of all, I'm a great rugby player, but people sometimes forget about that and just put me in that box.

And I think it's important to be known as an athlete, especially in America. Like we love athletes. We think athletes are the top of the top. We love a winner. And I'm proud to be, yeah, I'm proud to be an athlete. Something that I've always kind of really associated with my sense of self. And I want other people to know that.

So I think this was for me solidifying myself as a rugby player in what is the traditional form of rugby. it's almost like a double-edged sword of like, you love rugby so much, but you have to put your body on the line for it, but it's still rewarding to have that title of rugby player. Yeah, which is crazy that you're like an Olympic medalist in a sport, but it's rugby sevens.

So it's like the people like over here are like, okay, well that's that, whatever. Like this is, I remember being like, welcome to English rugby when you broke your nose and stuff. It's like, okay.

It also kills me because you won three national championships as a 15th player. The game has changed a lot. In college, yeah. You've got some exciting things going on. You've also been really trying to up your personal game, your personal brand. And I think it's really paid off for you. I'm trying.

I kind of, I had sort of like a, like a moment of like coming into the light where I was like, yeah, if I want to, if I want to make content and I want to travel the world doing that, I need to make content and travel the world. It's not just going to happen. You got to do it to do it. But I've always,

made silly little videos on youtube you know terrible edits if you watch my stuff from over 10 years ago but like i did that and i put that out there and then slowly but surely but i think like anyone posting is a very daunting thing and i always credit you and how much i mean you're very different the way you approach things it's kind of like hey i got something to say i'm going to say it i'm going to post it and that's that and that's why people relate to you and that's why you feel so authentic to people is you just are like you know what post it post it post it and that's how i came up with girl dinner

was i had a thought i was realizing and i was like i can't be the only person that does this you know my one friend was like hey i do that too and i was like yeah i think a lot of women people probably do that and i looked a mess recorded myself making that video and i remember having this moment was like oh i don't look good normally i'd edit i don't think i'll post it and i was like if a loner were here right now she'd say post it so i posted it

And it, obviously, like, it's just what it is today. It's in the dictionary. It's so exciting. I get to make food content. What did you just tell us you're something? I learned I'm a, maybe I'm going to pronounce it wrong, though. That's dumb. But I'm a neologist. Neologist. Yeah. Neologist.

That's a big word, birdie. over there. Yeah, big word over here. Okay, what about master's degree over there? N-E-O-L-O. Neologist. Neologist, yeah, yeah. So that's someone that invents or creates new words or phrases, and you're especially bad if it is then in the dictionary, which... I'm putting that in dating profiles. Put that up there. It's on my resume. For sure.

I mean, I don't have a resume right now. Sorry, did somebody try to take you from me? If I did. For those that don't know, Olivia is my manager as well. Right. So she is my top employee. Employee of the month. Employee of the month every month for the past year now. My Christmas gift, I kept saying, was an employee appreciation. It's part of my benefits package. So,

She does that for me and she handles like all my emails and she does so much for me, allowing me to do my best on the pitch and whatever. But now she's gotten like offers to go. I think you possibly had an offer to go to Hong Kong Sevens. Hong Kong Sevens, which is so exciting because that's just for me and the audience that I've built and the content that I make.

It's not, you know, I obviously have a large rugby following. I mean, that is because I travel the world watching you play, but it's not attached to you. It's just me. It's an offer for me to go and experience and capture the weekend. And I'm like, I would love that. I've never been to Hong Kong. So hopefully that works out.

I've done a lot of work with Cherry Bomb Magazine, which we all just were the cover stars for. Cover Girls, which is our first ever magazine cover together, which is so special that it's at home at Cherry Bomb, which is also my first magazine ever that I've been a part of. Really went from zero to 100. Thank you guys.

And I mean, they have their event up in April, their annual Jubilee celebration, which I'll be going to in New York City. And it's just so exciting to be in spaces full of women in that way. I mean, always on my vision, I make a vision board at the beginning of every year and it's the background on my laptop and it's the background on my my phone.

Showing 201–220 of 738 · page 11 of 37