Graciela Massey watched her dream go up in flames—literally.
For a high school class assignment, she and her classmates all wrote their dreams in lanterns and sent them up into the sky. Massey's lantern, with a card that simply said “BYU” inside, hit the school roof and caught fire. When Massey went elsewhere for her undergraduate degree, she thought the burning lantern must have been a sign. But now, she’s living her dream as an MBA student at the BYU Marriott School of Business, and she’s working to take advantage of her opportunities and help others do the same.
Massey, who is from Costa Rica, thought that an MBA was out of reach. But while visiting a friend in Utah, Massey was exposed to resources available to BYU Marriott MBA students. Realizing that her dream was possible, Massey spent the next three months preparing her application and studying for the GRE and TOEFL exams. Not long after, she was accepted to the program.
While Massey engages in her MBA curriculum, she says it’s important to her to remember where she comes from. Massey was raised by parents who both graduated from college, but under circumstances that were “much more difficult for them” than for her, she explains.
So, as Massey balances coursework, student activities, and work, she prioritizes spending time connecting with family back home. “My dad is always asking me what I’ve learned from my classes that he can use in his job or teach other people,” she says. “I think he’s the proudest dad ever.”
Keeping in touch also helps Massey see some of the growth she’s experienced through her MBA. “Sometimes my mom asks me how I do all these things, because I'm so shy at home,” Massey says. “Now I’m presenting in situations like meetings with company stakeholders.”
But being out of her comfort zone is something that Massey says she’s gotten used to during her MBA. “Your MBA is what you want to get out of it,” she says. “I’ve gotten involved, because I feel like I can’t take my MBA for granted.”
Massey’s efforts to take advantage of her time in Provo have included serving as president of the Savage Global Consulting team and being chief of staff for the Graduate Supply Chain and Operations Association. As a second-year student, she's centered her priorities around helping first-year students gain meaningful experiences: She secured consulting projects for first-year MBA students in the Savage program, teaches their consulting class every Tuesday, and mentors three first-year international students to help them adjust to the program.
But Massey hasn't limited her focus to helping currently enrolled students. “I’m the only Central American in the program right now, and I’m very interested in bringing that opportunity to more people there.”
Massey works on recruiting Central Americans to the MBA program as an MBA Student Ambassador. She expressed her desire to help to the self-reliance director of Central America, as part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and he connected her with potential MBA candidates in the area. She conducted more than 30 informational interviews, created four PDF guides in Spanish, and started a WhatsApp group—which now has more than 60 people—to share information and answer questions about the BYU Marriott MBA program.
Looking back on her journey to becoming an MBA student at BYU Marriott, Massey recognizes the resources that were available to her and says she hopes to help others have access to that same help. “I want them to have that person that they can rely on so they can achieve their dreams like I have been able to achieve mine.”
