Meet Idalia Perales, a mother, grandmother, avid reader, and Recruiter. A Loyola University of Chicago graduate, Idalia has been an NRM with our educational and related services travel team in Tampa for over four years. In 2018, Idalia was a regional training and operations manager with another staffing company, which had her traveling three weeks every month. Still wanting a challenging role, she started looking for something to keep her local.

“I saw a job posting for the NRM role on Indeed, and it fit my skill set to a tee. Four and a half years later, I can still say we are a great match!”

Today, she is a top producer on her team. Last year, she made $1.5 million in spread. On top of her usual role, she also helps train new NRMs and even helps the COEs update training modules for all Recruiters. Idalia has stayed in education during her tenure with Maxim but was able to work more with allied professionals during COVID. She enjoys learning different parts of the business as she trains new hires. What else do you expect from a top performer?

You don’t expect Idalia to be considered fully disabled as she lives with severe rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune and inflammatory disease, which means that the immune system attacks healthy cells in your body by mistake, causing painful swelling in the affected parts of the body. RA mainly attacks the joints, usually many joints at once.

Within six months of working at Maxim, Idalia used a cane full-time. After several doctors explained that her pain was normal for her age or could be fixed by a diet, she was finally referred to a rheumatologist. She was not only diagnosed too late to do any reversal but then spent the next two years in and out of the hospital.

Rheumatoid arthritis can be hereditary. After her diagnosis in 2019, Idalia found out she had a great-aunt that was bedridden for eight years with RA.

Since then, her manager Clay helped with a more flexible schedule for Idalia to work remotely. This allowed Idalia to change her schedule away from 9-5 so she could do cryotherapy treatments for six hours a day, five days a week.

“Unfortunately, there is no cure for rheumatoid arthritis, and I was in an advanced stage by the time I found out. It is a crippling disease and has left me with limited mobility.”

Idalia can no longer drive and can barely walk. Although she only makes it into the office every once in a while, she always feels supported by her team. “I have, from day one, always felt supported and welcomed by Maxim.”

Despite all of these obstacles, Idalia remains positive. After she lost all of her hair because of one of her medications, she decided to keep dyeing it different, bright colors once it came back. When her restless legs keep her up at night, she reads. She finishes about two books each week and loves expanding her horizons through reading.

Idalia’s positivity and hard work are truly inspiring, and sharing her story with everyone is the least we can do to help spread awareness about RA.

We are committed to sharing the stories of our team members, highlighting their accomplishments, and celebrating our differences!