Open Arms

Ana Larrea-Albert approached her supervisor, an executive at the company she worked for, and asked her for some advice. This was Ana’s first role in the marketing sector; she enjoyed working for this company and the people she worked with. Her previous roles in other businesses were in finance and operations, but this was where she wanted to develop and advance her career.

Ana’s supervisor looked at her and said, “Getting an MBA will not get you anywhere in this company.”

Ana always knew she wanted to get an MBA. She believed education was a gift and a worthwhile investment. Born in Ecuador, her family emigrated to the United States in the 1990s due to economic and political strife in her home country. “In that journey, the one thing that I had, that nobody could take away from me, was my education.”

In 1998, she celebrated how Florida Atlantic University opened its arms to her as an international undergraduate student, which changed the trajectory of her life. As someone who liked to absorb knowledge, she knew she wanted to do more.

Initially, life went on. Ana followed her boss's advice. At the time, there was a lot of uncertainty because of the economy. Despite this, she continued to ask herself some important questions. There is no certainty in the market right now; what do I have? What can I invest in that will give me more returns? What will create the security that I want to build in myself?

For Ana, that was the MBA.

FAU was her top choice for a variety of reasons. Again, it felt like the university welcomed her with open arms. We got you. It will be hard, but we can do this together.  It felt like she was coming back home. “I had no idea what this experience would bring, but I knew it was the right thing to do for me.”

In the midst of working, raising her son with her husband, traveling, and the occasional part-time semesters to manage her responsibilities, Ana absorbed and experienced learning through subjects by faculty who are experts in their field. She experienced a paradigm shift while taking a global leadership elective course that included coaching sessions.

Before coaching, the MBA was about Ana. I want to be the first Latina CEO of a Fortune 1000 Company. How do I get to that level? How do I find a mentor or sponsor who will develop me to put me on that path? The focus was on herself. Through an assessment completed in the course, Ana learned she hadn't maximized her “helper trait.” She decided that this was her area of development, the area where she could make the most impact. She had the desire to help but had not done more to explore this trait.

A 180-degree shift from entitlement and demanding of the universe to create a path for Ana turned to “I can be the mentor to somebody else.” She realized she did not need to be an expert or in a position of power to mentor someone a few steps behind her in their professional growth and began mentoring Latina transfer students at FAU.

For Ana, choosing to help through mentoring was transformative and changed her experience of gaining her MBA. “It created a rip in the fabric” of what Ana thought would bring her fulfillment. It opened another path where she could guide others to transform in the way she experienced transformation.

While exploring the lessons Ana gained as a student in Executive Education, she states, “The program set me up to be a leader.” She became fluent in accounting so that she could speak to her controller in the company. With finance, she could speak and work closely with the CFO. She understood the operations of working with naval engineers and architects, allowing her to understand the project-driven nature of her industry. Ana had the vocabulary and understanding to coordinate big projects with hundreds of line items. 

Do you remember Ana’s supervisor, who advised her against pursuing a graduate degree? Ana would later be asked to replace her and become an executive for that company.

Ana bet on herself again and returned to school to study leadership at Harvard. After graduating with an MPA degree, FAU opened its arms and welcomed her back to teach Leadership and Organizations in the Executive Education MBA program. She got to come home again. “I feel the arms even wider, welcoming me back with all my experience and knowing my love for FAU.”

Today, she works amongst faculty that defined her academic and professional progress as a student. The biggest lesson for Ana during the program was having a relationship with commitment. Ana wanted to put in and absorb as much as possible to become a holistic businessperson. She tells her current students, “You are betting on yourself by coming into this program. Now, what? Commit to the 3 hours of being here: to learning and developing. Commit to the growth, commit to the learning.”

This journey has allowed Ana to embrace her strengths, feel fulfilled in what she does, and feel excited about what’s happening in terms of opportunities in business as a mentor, coach, speaker, author, and professor.

Her upcoming book The Confident Leader: From Self-Doubt to Authentically You, invites readers to re-imagine how we think about leadership and self-doubt. She tells stories of leaders, founders, and changemakers who transformed their self-doubts into defining moments in their careers and lives.

Ana reminds graduates, “You already have the knowledge; you already know where the debits and the credits go, you already know the financial ratios, you know how to read financial statements, you know about critical paths in operations management.” You have absorbed that knowledge by completing the program. 

Her advice corresponds with the 3 pillars of her book: self-awareness, self-compassion, and the promise of change. Ana describes the promise of change as the agency and control we have over what we decide to believe and how that can alter our behaviors. “You are not limited to your old narratives and self-limiting beliefs; with self-awareness and self-compassion, you can make that change.” Being intentional with these pillars will set you up for what is coming. 

As a result of not rushing her journey, Ana doesn’t need to know what will happen tomorrow; she knows that whatever it brings, she will handle it, she will do her best, and she will find opportunity in it.