Ilona Maher reveals her 'secret sauce' for female athletes looking to grow on social media

Ilona Maher is a rising rugby sevens player who won a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics 2024. She is now playing in the Premiership Women's Rugby and recently shared her thoughts on her social media growth tips for female athletes.

The two-time Olympian is also an advocate for body positivity and women's sports. She was also featured in the Forbes 30 Under 30 list under the sports category. Maher is the most followed rugby player and has 4.9 million followers on Instagram. On one of her posts on her handle, she shared her advice on gaining fame on social media for female athletes.

“So many female athletes ask me, 'Oh I want to grow on social media like you; what's your tips and tricks? Can you please teach me?' And I want all of them to grow. I want all of them to grow. And my advice to you all is to just post it. Whatever it is just post it. I found success just putting something out there. It could be a video that I don’t think’s going to do well. I'm going to put it out there. Because, surprisingly, it will.”

Ilona Maher also participated at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where her team secured the sixth position. In 2017, she was honored with the MA Sorensen Award for National Player of the Year. She is now playing with the Bristol Bears, having signing a three-month contract with the team. While expressing her thoughts on her growing fame on the internet, Maher emphasized that regularly posting content is important.

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Ilona Maher shared her thoughts on navigating the on-field pressure

Ilona Maher at the Exeter Chiefs v Bristol Bears - Allianz Premiership Women's Rugby - Source: Getty

Ilona Maher won three National Intercollegiate Rugby Association championships and was named to the NIRA All-American team three times during her college career. The rugby star recently shed light on how she handles the pressure of performing well after reaching success in her career. On the “For The Love Of Rugby” podcast, she said:

“Taking it back to what I'm playing for which is just my teammates. That's something that really helps me is like you don't have to be a star, you don't have to score tries, you don't have to do anything if all you do all game is make tackles; that's where you're needed. So it's still been an ongoing battle. It is also important for me to show what I am capable of.” [28:05 onwards]

At the Paris Olympics, Ilona Maher’s team created history by winning a bronze medal in rugby, which was the first for the country in the sport. Regarding handling the on-field pressure, Maher stated that she doesn’t see herself fitting into a single role and also looks to focus on her capabilities.