October 2016 MBA Mama of the Month

Anna Nordstrom is enrolled in the Evening MBA program at University of Washington’s Foster School of Business, which is a 3-year, part time program. Her first career was as an elementary school teacher. She has a Master’s degree in Education and is a National Board Certified Teacher. When she left teaching, she started doing organizational coaching and consulting with businesses and individuals. Through that work, she was offered a part-time job as the Operations Manager for the events division of a local restaurant and catering company.

A couple years later, she was promoted to Business Manager of the events division. That role got Anna interested in learning more formally about how businesses work, and eventually landed her in the MBA program. While in school, she has interned in HR and consulting and will be doing a fellowship this fall with an organization focused on social good.

She has a wonderfully supportive husband and two kids and they live just outside of Seattle, WA. Anna’s youngest child was born three weeks after the start of school during the first year of her MBA program.

My parents are nearby and when my daughter was a newborn, they babysat her on campus so I could nurse her between classes. My classmates were gracious about letting me bring her to team meetings for the first few months as well. My husband is a stay-at-home dad, so he has been the main childcare provider for both our son and daughter, but we also utilize a daycare near our home and friends and family when needed. We definitely use our village!

Why UW-Foster?

Anna chose Foster because it has a great reputation and a fantastic network in the Seattle area.

I am a Seattle native. My husband and I both love it here. I was also very impressed with Foster’s focus on teams and the opportunities for projects outside the classroom. Additionally, my family is here, and since I was starting school a few weeks before my second child was born, I knew we’d need the family support.

UW-Foster has a Student Parent Resource Center that provides grants for child care, which Anna has used. UW also offers emergency childcare support for student parents.

Why MBA? Why Now?

At the time Anna decided to apply to Foster, she was working for a great company, but felt that she had exhausted her growth opportunities. As she reviewed job postings, she realized that she lacked the background to be a credible candidate for the jobs she was most interested in. She hoped an MBA would give her the business background to qualify for the jobs she wanted.

Simultaneously, Anna and her husband were thinking about trying for a second child, and so she almost didn’t apply to business school. She decided to keep her options open by applying.

I got pregnant and got into school — both things I wanted, and though it was going to be hard, I was too excited about business school to turn down the opportunity.

Leadership at UW

At UW, Anna is on the executive board of the Women in Business Club. She is the VP of Alumni Affairs for UW’s student association, was a mentor to first year students and participated in the UW Business Plan Competition and the Health Innovation Challenge — and won awards in both. She is a member of the Strategy Club, Net Impact and the Consulting Society. This year, she plans to join the Healthcare and Biotechnology Association.

When asked about how her time at UW has shaped her leadership style, Anna said:

At Foster, I’ve come to realize that sometimes you are a leader before you realize it. It’s not about deciding to be a leader, it’s about exhibiting traits every day that encourage, inspire and teach others in an authentic way. And as a woman, I’ve realized how much power I have to encourage other women and make a difference for them.

As far as my career, Foster has provided me opportunities to explore countless companies through informational interviews, meet-the-firms, company visits and internships, and I feel I have gained the skills to understand the businesses of all those different companies and to be a competitive candidate for any of them.

In our next blog post, Anna will answer questions about how she manages her time, her post-MBA career goals, and her advice for women with children who are thinking about business school.