{"id":20134,"date":"2022-01-24T09:50:03","date_gmt":"2022-01-24T09:50:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ounews.co\/?p=20134"},"modified":"2022-01-24T09:50:03","modified_gmt":"2022-01-24T09:50:03","slug":"my-mba-has-made-me-believe-in-myself-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/student-stories\/my-mba-has-made-me-believe-in-myself-again\/","title":{"rendered":"‘My MBA has made me believe in myself again’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mother-of-two Kellie Stockenstr\u00f6m says her MBA with The Open University has given her the self-confidence to achieve her life goals.<\/p>\n

With more than 12 years\u2019 experience working in supply chain in the African mining industry, she signed up for an OU MBA<\/a> as an international student after her brother-in-law recommended OU study to her. Having graduated in 2020, Kellie feels equipped to pursue her dream role \u2013 but her journey getting to this point wasn\u2019t an easy one.<\/p>\n

‘I know my mum would have been extremely proud’<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In 2018, Kellie\u2019s mum fell ill. \u201cI had to leave my own family in Zambia for two months while I went to South Africa to care for her in hospital,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Around that time, Kellie was due to submit an evidence-based initiative (EBI) for her first module. \u201cI had to decide whether to defer the module or soldier on \u2013 it was a tough decision to make. I decided to continue with my project whilst caring for my mother, which meant that 80% of my work was done in the family waiting room at the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sadly, Kellie\u2019s mum passed away a few weeks before her submission date. Kellie dug deep to find the strength to submit the assignment, and was grateful to her tutor for offering extra support. \u201cMy result was much better than expected. I had to defer my exam for the first compulsory module, but the OU was extremely understanding and accommodating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though Kellie was grateful for the support, the impact of deferring her module was an increased workload later down the line. \u201cI had to do my deferred exam and my strategy exam one after the other \u2013 I don\u2019t recommend doing this if you can avoid it!<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it forced me to dig deep and plan ahead to smash both exams out of the park. I finished with merits for both modules, something I know my mum would have been extremely proud of.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

‘My tutors were incredibly supportive when I had mini meltdowns!’<\/strong><\/h3>\n

As most students will tell you, OU study isn\u2019t easy. Thankfully for Kellie, she had all the best people around her to help her achieve her goals.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy tutors were incredibly supportive and were always available when I had questions or mini meltdowns! The student community was invaluable as well. I\u2019d encourage all students to use the technology available to us in this day and age to connect with your peers. They\u2019re usually the best form of help you can get.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

She added: \u201cMy husband and kids were very supportive during my studies too, and I had a lot of help at home. Without this, I\u2019m sure it would have been a very different picture. My family and friends are immensely proud of my achievements.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was also lucky to have a small community library in my area, which became my sanctuary away from home when I needed to work in peace. The online library was also fantastic and gave me access to a good proportion of the academic journals required.\u201d<\/p>\n

‘I\u2019ve made lifelong friends’<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Kellie \u2013 who already had a Bachelor of Science before she began her Open University MBA \u2013 says one of the best things to come out of her degree was the relationships she made.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people were definitely the highlight of my degree, I\u2019ve made lifelong friends on this journey. Something I noticed about many of the women who were on the course with me \u2013 myself included \u2013 was that despite our knowledge, experience and intelligence, there was so much self-doubt amongst us,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving completed one of the toughest business degrees out there, I have to say my self-confidence has grown immensely.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now she makes a point of identifying the strengths she sees in the women around her, and points them out to them.<\/p>\n

Kellie added: \u201cI also discovered that I enjoy all aspects of business, which was a great realisation to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

‘Think about how far you\u2019ve come and picture where you want to be next’<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Kellie\u2019s advice for other OU students when the going gets tough is this: \u201cGo for a run or walk to clear your head. Think about how far you\u2019ve come and picture where you want to be next.<\/p>\n

\u201cPast papers are a huge help too \u2013 practice your questions over and over again. Check the time assigned for the whole paper and assign the relevant amount of time to each question based on the mark allocation \u2013 then stick to the plan. I found this to be the best strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Going even further with an MBA<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cI am currently job hunting. I\u2019m hoping my MBA will help me realise my dream to emigrate out of Zambia,\u201d says Kellie. \u201cMy MBA is my biggest achievement to date \u2026 that and learning to do a headstand in yoga!\u201d<\/p>\n

She says that while her current focus is on job hunting and acting as a teacher, chauffeur, referee, chef, therapist and cuddle supplier to her family, moving to Europe is her goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would love to move to Europe to further my career and stretch myself in ways I haven\u2019t yet been stretched,\u201d she said. \u201cMy MBA has given me the self-confidence to achieve outside of Africa. It\u2019s made me believe in myself.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mother-of-two Kellie Stockenstr\u00f6m says her MBA with The Open University has given her the self-confidence to achieve her life goals. With more than 12 years\u2019 experience working in supply chain in the African mining industry, she signed up for an OU MBA as an international student after her brother-in-law recommended OU study to her. Having […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":20136,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[874,1525,1640,1643,2146],"class_list":["post-20134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-student-stories","tag-fbl","tag-news-home","tag-ou-home","tag-ou-news","tag-students"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20134\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}