Maria Harrison

So nice to meet you! First off, what’s your name? Tell our readers a bit about yourself—where you’re from originally and where you live now.

My name is Maria Harrison, and I’m proudly born and raised in El Salvador, Central America, and currently based in San Diego, California. I’m a Clinical and Functional Nutritionist, entrepreneur, and the founder of Marie Going Nuts®, a women’s health and nutrition education brand.

My path into nutrition was deeply personal. I grew up navigating complex autoimmune conditions, including lupus, Hashimoto’s, and celiac disease, which ultimately shaped my interest in understanding the relationship between nutrition, lifestyle, and health.

I later studied Clinical Nutrition and continued my education through postgraduate studies at UC San Diego and coursework at Harvard focused on eating disorders. Over the past six years, I’ve had the privilege of working with more than 1,200 patients, particularly women navigating metabolic, hormonal, digestive, and weight-related concerns.

Before becoming a full-time entrepreneur, I also worked in very different environments, including R&D Nutrition at Unilever and operations and program management at Amazon. Those experiences gave me a combination of clinical knowledge and business thinking that has been incredibly valuable in building Marie Going Nuts.

What originally started as sharing my own journey online has grown into a community of more than 125,000 people and a platform reaching millions organically each month.

Tell us one thing you love about where you live now.

I love the lifestyle in San Diego. There’s something about being close to the ocean, having access to nature, and being able to spend so much time outdoors that makes wellness feel like part of everyday life rather than something you have to schedule.

San Diego has also become incredibly meaningful to me personally. It’s where I’ve built my business, my home, and now my family. But I’ve always believed that home is where the heart is. I’m proudly born and raised in El Salvador, Central America, and that will always be an important part of who I am and the perspective I bring to everything I do. I feel very fortunate that today, my heart gets to call both places home.

Tell us a little more about what your company does and how it started. How does it help your customers?

Marie Going Nuts started in 2019 almost as a hobby. I began sharing nutrition education and pieces of my own health journey on Instagram without imagining that it would eventually become a company.

Over time, I realized there was a huge gap between the science of nutrition and the way health information was being communicated to women online. So many women were dealing with digestive issues, insulin resistance, PCOS, Hashimoto’s, inflammation, or difficulty managing their weight, but they were overwhelmed by conflicting information and quick fixes.

Marie Going Nuts grew around the idea of making evidence-based nutrition practical and understandable.

Today, through educational content and programs such as Reinicio Method™, we help women better understand their bodies and build sustainable nutrition and lifestyle habits. Rather than focusing only on restriction or a number on the scale, the goal is to help women understand the bigger picture: nutrition, metabolic and hormonal health, digestion, stress, sleep, and the behaviors they can realistically sustain.

If someone wants to start a business, what advice would you give them?

Start before you feel completely ready, but never stop preparing yourself for where you want to go.

I think one of the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make is waiting for the perfect website, perfect branding, perfect product, or perfect moment. Marie Going Nuts did not begin with a business plan or a perfectly designed strategy. It started with me consistently sharing information that I genuinely believed could help someone.

At the same time, I’m a huge believer in education and experience. Get as much training as you can, seek out professional experiences that challenge you, and learn how successful organizations and leaders operate. Many of the skills I use as an entrepreneur today came from experiences I had long before I knew I would build my own company.

And if I could recommend one thing without hesitation: find a mentor. Having someone who has already walked a path similar to the one you’re trying to build can save you years of unnecessary mistakes. A great mentor will challenge your thinking, point out your blind spots, and help you see possibilities you may not see on your own.

Then listen, especially to the people you’re trying to serve. I paid attention to what my audience was asking, what problems kept coming up, and what they actually needed from me.

Your first version will probably not be your final version, and that’s okay. Build, listen, learn, improve, and keep going. You don’t need to know everything before you start, but you should never stop becoming more qualified for the opportunities you want to create.

What is one piece of feedback from a happy customer or client that you won't forget?

After working with more than 1,200 patients over the past six years, I’ve been fortunate to hear many stories that have stayed with me. But one of the most meaningful things a woman can tell me is, “I finally understand my body.”

I’ve worked with women who came to me feeling frustrated after years of struggling with symptoms, their relationship with food, or hormonal and metabolic concerns. Seeing someone regain confidence in her body and realize that taking care of herself doesn’t have to mean constantly restricting herself is incredibly rewarding.

Some of the messages I treasure most aren’t even about weight. They’re from women telling me they have more energy, feel better, understand their hunger, have improved their relationship with food, or finally feel like they have tools they can continue using without me. To me, that is success.

Where do you see your company in the future?

I see Marie Going Nuts evolving far beyond a social media brand. In many ways, that evolution has already started.

Today, our content generates approximately 3.7 million organic views per month, reaching people around the world, with audiences across the United States, El Salvador, Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Spain, and other parts of Latin America and Europe. Seeing something that started as an idea in El Salvador grow into an international community has made me think much bigger about what Marie Going Nuts can become.

The company has also grown beyond a personal brand from a business standpoint. Today, Marie Going Nuts has a legal presence across three countries: Mexico, El Salvador, and the United States, where Marie Going Nuts LLC is established. For me, that represents an important step toward building a company with a truly international presence.

My long-term vision is to build a scalable digital health and education platform that makes evidence-based nutrition more accessible to women regardless of where they live. Social media has given us the ability to educate millions, but the next chapter is about building resources, programs, and digital products that take someone from simply consuming information to having a structured path to actually implement it.

Ultimately, I want Marie Going Nuts to become a globally recognized and trusted destination for women who want to better understand their metabolic, hormonal, digestive, and overall health without falling into extremes.

What is the biggest misconception about your industry?

That being healthy has to be expensive and complicated.

Social media has created an image of wellness that can sometimes feel almost unattainable. Expensive supplements, specialty foods, complicated routines, boutique workouts, and constantly changing health trends can make people believe they need to completely overhaul their lives or spend a significant amount of money to take care of themselves.

But some of the most powerful health habits are also some of the simplest. Eating balanced meals, prioritizing whole and minimally processed foods, moving your body regularly, getting enough sleep, managing stress, and being consistent with the basics can have a meaningful impact on your health.

I believe good nutrition education should simplify health, not complicate it. My goal has always been to give women the knowledge and tools to make better decisions within their own lifestyle, budget, culture, and circumstances. Wellness should feel accessible and sustainable, not like another expensive standard you have to live up to.

What has been one of your biggest struggles building your business, and how did you deal with it?

One of my biggest struggles has been learning how to transition from being the person doing everything to actually thinking like the CEO of a company.

When your business begins with your personal brand, you become accustomed to doing everything yourself: creating the content, answering messages, developing programs, working with clients, handling operations, and making every decision.

Eventually, that becomes impossible to scale.

My background at companies like Amazon and Unilever helped me understand systems and operations, but applying those principles to something I had built myself was a completely different challenge. I’ve had to learn to delegate, create systems, protect my time, and recognize that growth sometimes means letting go of control.

It’s still something I’m learning, but it has completely changed the way I think about the future of the company.

What was your favorite music artist and athlete growing up?

I’ve been a Taylor Swift fan for as long as I can remember, so that one is easy! When it comes to sports, I’ve always been a big NBA fan, especially the Dallas Mavericks and Milwaukee Bucks. I could never pick just one favorite player. For me, it was always more about loving the game and following the teams.

Any shoutouts you want to make?

Absolutely. First, to my community. Marie Going Nuts would simply not exist without the women who have trusted me, shared their stories with me, participated in my programs, and supported my content over the years.

I also have to give a huge shoutout to my husband, Patrick. Building a company requires a lot of time, uncertainty, and behind-the-scenes work that people don’t always see, and having someone who believes in what you’re building makes an enormous difference.

And finally, to my family and the people who supported this dream when Marie Going Nuts was still just an idea. Every stage of this journey has reminded me that entrepreneurship may look individual from the outside, but very few businesses are truly built alone.

Where can our readers learn more about you and your company?

The best place to connect with me is on Instagram at @mariegoingnuts, where I share evidence-based nutrition education, practical wellness strategies, and a little bit of my everyday life.

You can also learn more about Marie Going Nuts®, my programs, and Reinicio Method™ at www.mariegoingnuts.com.