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Growing up in an Iowa farm town, Mia Roberts ’19 couldn’t have imagined the opportunities waiting for her after graduating from Graceland University: managing magazines for the Women’s National Basketball Association, working for the Olympic Games in Atlanta and Sydney, and helping Encyclopedia Britannica transition to digital content.

The desire for a master’s degree was always in the back of her mind, but the opportunity never seemed to come at the right time.

 Shortly after applying to Columbia University for a Master’s in Journalism program, for example, she received a job offer in Sydney and had to decide: move to Australia to work for the Sydney Olympics’ Internet Business Group or go to New York for a graduate degree?

“At the time, I chose to continue my career,” says Roberts. “Living in Australia was a dream. My path so far has been a series of happy accidents—being in the right place at the right time. I’ve had wonderful opportunities and experiences, and I’m very grateful to the people who helped me along the way.”

When she began her family in the early 2000s, she steered her career path toward flexible opportunities that also called for less travel: working for the YMCA of the USA, a group publisher for the Olympics, Feeding America, and the American Egg Board.

A few years after being diagnosed with and recovering from breast cancer, Roberts left the American Egg Board to focus on her family for a year—and decided it was finally the right time to think about her master’s degree.

“The goal of earning a graduate degree had always been there,” says Roberts. “At one point, I even took a few classes at the University of Chicago to begin my path to an MBA. Beating cancer brought into sharp focus the idea of unfinished business—and my master’s degree was one of those things. This time, it was right. I decided to do it.”

Roberts wanted a professional refresh to realize her professional goals, such as taking on additional leadership opportunities. She also wanted to learn more about managing communications complexity, which led her to Northwestern’s MS in Communication Hybrid Leadership Program.

“I remember my first day and a discussion about intellectual praxis and fulfillment through deeper levels of understanding,” says Roberts. “That really resonated with me. As soon as I heard that, I knew I was in the right place.”

For Roberts, Michelle Shumate’s Foundations of Strategic Communication Management course was a great way to kickstart the program, beginning with the creation of a stakeholder salience model to better understand who stakeholders are, how they’re legitimized, and how to communicate with each of them. “That exercise blew my hair back. At that point, I knew there was so much more to learn.”

The focus on personal branding throughout the program helped her learn to effectively convey her strengths and weaknesses and communicate the value of her experiences. “After decades of working, you’d think you’d have this stuff down, but it’s an ever-evolving conversation about the benefits you can bring to an organization,” she explains.

In February 2019—a few months before graduation—Roberts became the director of partnerships and industry affairs for the National Restaurant Association. In this role, Roberts focuses on creating industry partnerships to protect and promote the restaurant industry while helping members find new ways to drive business during and after the pandemic.

“My job is to stay ahead of industry initiatives and find companies that want to work with us in bringing those initiatives to life,” she explains. “I feel even more prepared with my MS in Communication to face these challenges and lead our members through them.”

Sam Wijeyakumar ’19 cares about education in a “hard-core way,” as she describes it. And for good reason: Education saved her life.

She was a good student but dropped out of high school in the mid-1990s, becoming a victim of human trafficking. Her tenacity won out; she eventually finished high school and began college in 2000 despite still being stuck in on-and-off trafficking.

Fifteen years later, Wijeyakumar finally earned her hard-fought bachelor’s degree. By this time, she had also founded Rahab’s Daughters, a nonprofit dedicated to the fight against human trafficking. After achieving these goals, she knew she wanted to continue her education and earn a master’s degree…but worried she wouldn’t find the time or resources to make it happen.

“I wanted a graduate degree that would help with my nonprofit,” says Wijeyakumar, “but I didn’t want a program focused only on nonprofit management because I also work in digital transformation. I was looking for a program that would speak to both sides of my professional life.” At the time, she was working as a senior account executive for Liferay, an open-source software company.

After weighing her options, she applied to earn an MS in Communication at Northwestern. She knew the Custom Leadership Program curriculum would be diverse enough to support her goals. Shortly after being accepted, however, she deferred for two years to manage health issues and make sure funds were available for her daughter to attend college. Wijeyakumar returned to the program in 2018 to earn the degree while also taking care of her family, running her nonprofit, and working full time.

Managing two teams—one in the Midwest and one on the West Coast—she traveled four to six days a week through the duration of the program.

“Sometimes I’d fly home on Saturday morning, come straight to class, and then leave again,” she explains. “But I think people are the most important part of a graduate program, so I wanted to be in class where I could meet them.”

She says her cohort made the entire experience better. They created study groups to help maintain a semblance of work-life balance. Even after graduation, the groups still keep in touch.

“We all had busy and demanding jobs, but we always helped each other,” she says. “If one person was behind on the reading one week, then we’d catch them up. We worked together to make sure everyone was on top of everything.”

Shortly after earning her MS in Communication, Wijeyakumar landed a new job as vice president at Veriday, her previous employer’s software partner. “My degree definitely helped with that jump,” she says. “I still get to work with my old company and team, but I’m able to lead new product launches into the United States. Knowing I had the theory around persuasive communication and being able to put together eloquent communication plans, this degree helped my confidence. I knew I could handle the role.”

In addition to honing her leadership and change management skills, she says the program also taught her more about directing virtual teams. During the pandemic, these concepts have been put into practice more than she ever anticipated as she guides remote teams in strategy creation and decision-making.

As part of the program’s thesis, Wijeyakumar also got to conduct research on human trafficking. As a result, she’s now embarking on her PhD to learn more about data mining. “I studied how FOSTA-SESTA laws affected human-trafficking communication online,” she explains. “My research showed that the laws hadn’t helped—they simply took communication overseas and proliferated it in other directions.”

In the future, she hopes to use her newfound knowledge to internationalize Rahab’s Daughters. As the fastest growing crime in the world, human trafficking is a global issue—and a trillion-dollar industry.

“I came geared up for this program because it was going to help my nonprofit,” says Wijeyakumar, “but it helped everything. It helped me as a person. All avenues of my life got better. And when a leader gets better, everyone wins. If I hadn’t gotten an education, I’d probably be dead. I wouldn’t have been able to stand on my own two feet. I tell human trafficking survivors all the time: ‘They can take so much from you, but they cannot take your education. With that, you have the building blocks for a firm foundation to rebuild your life.’ ”

Ivan Jaime ’20 believes in putting in hard work, no matter the situation. As he earned his diploma and went on to study marketing at the University of Texas at Austin, he was also working his way up at supermarket chain H-E-B. Starting out as a bagger, he had risen through the ranks to central checkout manager by the time he received his undergraduate degree in 2005.

After graduation, he accepted a position with Union Pacific Railroad in yard operations management. Three years later, he got a call: The company was building a public affairs department and thought he’d be a good fit. He joined the brand new team in 2008 as the director of border policy and community affairs and spent 12 more years at the company.

“I initially started with a focus on community relations,” he says, “which eventually developed into legislative advocacy and lobbying.” While Jaime was developing corporate strategy for state and local government affairs, he also went through Union Pacific’s Leadership Development Program to prepare for future executive-level opportunities. The experience reminded him of how much he loved learning—and inspired him to continue his education.

As a minority, Jaime says he’s always thinking about his “yeah-buts,” as he calls them, when he’s striving to achieve new goals. “Studies have shown that women and underrepresented groups don’t always get opportunities based on potential. We get the ‘Yeah, you’re extremely qualified, but …’ responses. I’ve always tried to eliminate as many of those as possible. Getting my advanced degree was one way I could do that.”

Working full time, Jaime was looking for a program that offered a hybrid approach: He didn’t want to attend all classes in person but also didn’t want a 100% online experience. “I looked for programs that were a mix of the two—and done in a cohort style—so I could become close with people. Northwestern’s MS in Communication was the best program for me.”

Instead of meeting in person the usual four times, his Online Leadership Program (formerly known as the Hybrid Leadership Program) cohort only met twice due to COVID-19. But that didn’t stop the group from developing lasting connections. “We’re so close,” he explains. “It felt like there was very special chemistry.”

Shortly after graduating from Northwestern, he accepted a job offer from Walmart: Jaime is now the company’s director of government and public affairs for Texas and Oklahoma, where he operates at the intersection of corporate strategy and public policy.

“I enjoy that mix where businesses are having to make decisions to improve their profitability in a way that serves the general public,” he says. “Often, those goals seem to be at odds with each other, but they’re really not.”

He says the program’s experience helped him feel confident and prepared to take on this new career challenge. “My degree played a role in several ways. The team that hired me mentioned my education as proof that I’m a learner. They wanted someone who could learn quickly and hit the ground running. Through the program, I also got to know myself better and understood my value proposition. That was critical in helping me sell the skills I bring.”

Photo by Joseph Xu

When Jennifer Judge Hensel ’19 first began her career journey, her heart was set on journalism. But, as she helped tell stories for student newspapers, she discovered a new passion: graphic design and layout. “I wasn’t much of a reporter, but I really liked organizing information on the page,” she explains.

After earning an AS in Media Communications, Print Media/Journalism from Pima Community College, Judge Hensel headed to the University of Arizona for a BFA in Visual Communications with an emphasis in graphic design. While in college, she worked at the Tucson Citizen Newspaper—one of two papers in town.

Because the publication printed in the afternoon, it was rarely the first to report on breaking news. At the time, online news was also starting to emerge, and many newspapers were closing down. Seeing the writing on the wall, Judge Hensel wanted to help the publication stay relevant—so she helped lead an overhaul of the 60-member newsroom to a focus on digital delivery and online content.

After eight years—and a successful transformation—she moved to Michigan and left the newspaper to pursue teaching, freelance web design, and branding work, which gave her the flexibility she wanted as her children were growing up.

Once she was ready to return to a full-time job, Judge Hensel joined the communications and marketing team at the University of Michigan College of Engineering. Her variety of experiences helped her land a web content specialist position involving web design and writing, with gradual increases in responsibility involving marketing strategy and management.

“Once I started at the University of Michigan and began to see my career grow, I set my sights on next steps and what I wanted for the future,” explains Judge Hensel. “Especially in higher ed, the higher the degree you have, the more you’re considered for administrative roles. I decided I needed a master’s degree to compete in that space.”

She wanted more than just a piece of paper—she wanted a degree that would make her better at her job. Her goal was to enroll at a top-ranked school that would allow her to earn an MS in Communication quickly—and online.

“I watched peers go through being full-time parents and full-time workers while taking years to get a master’s degree,” she says. “I didn’t want to put my family or myself through that, so I was looking for a program that was super flexible. Northwestern is one of the few that does this—and does it well. “

Shortly before beginning the MSC Online Leadership Program (formerly known as the Hybrid Leadership Program), the University of Michigan College of Engineering promoted Judge Hensel to executive director of communications and marketing. Starting on Day One, she began using what she learned in class on the job—from strategic planning to leadership. Northwestern’s emphasis on the science aspect of the MS in Communication degree ensured that she not only knew the “how,” but also learned the “why” behind her work as the voice of the college. Not too long after graduation, COVID-19 hit.

“I was suddenly managing a 24-person remote team that, up until that point, had worked in the same office together. And we were responsible for communicating around the crisis to thousands of people. We’ve now been in constant-crisis mode for eight months in addition to our normal jobs—plus doing everything remotely. This degree has helped me weather all of that. It’s also prepared me to shift my mindset into ‘long-term mode’ so we can think about refining collaboration, re-evaluating communication channels, and finding ways to make adjustments.”

In addition to the relatable and actionable curriculum, Judge Hensel also found unexpected value in the relationships she built with her cohort. Working alongside other professionals to finish the degree together helped her build lasting connections.

“I remember the first in-person residency,” she explains. “I was thinking, ‘I’m just going to earn my degree and move on.’ And I remember the team at Northwestern saying, ‘You’re going to leave this weekend not only knowing everyone in this room but also loving them all.’ It sounded crazy at the time, but it turned out to be absolutely true.”