Key Takeaways:
- This student story features Jessa Brooks, who earned her Master of Business Administration from the University of Arizona Global Campus (UAGC) in 2026.
- She balanced motherhood, family, and a demanding career while earning her MBA.
- Jessa began her career as a CommonSpirit intern and spent nearly 18 years growing from media relations into her current role as vice president of philanthropy.
- CommonSpirit’s full-tuition partnership with UAGC, the university’s flexibility for working professionals, and encouragement from a fellow alumna helped Jessa see an MBA as possible.
- Her MBA broadened her leadership perspective, inspiring her to move beyond simply supporting employees toward individualized mentorship, accountability, and employee development.
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UAGC Alum Jessa Brooks Turned an MBA Into a New Approach to Leadership
The assignment was finished, and her child was sick.
Upstairs, her husband searched for their child’s favorite toy. Downstairs, Jessa Brooks had their child on one hip and was trying to figure out how to submit her completed assignment after a night that had already included visits to urgent care and the emergency room.
It was the kind of moment that could have made a graduate degree feel impossible. Instead, Jessa emailed her professor.
“I said, ‘I've got a child throwing up right now. My assignment is done. I just need to get it submitted, and I can’t because I've been dealing with this sickness,’” Jessa recalls. “At that point, I was like, ‘I'm not submitting it, and it's going to be okay.’”
She explained the situation and promised she would submit the assignment as soon as she could, even though it would likely be after the deadline.
Her professor told her not to worry. As long as Jessa submitted the assignment within an extended window, she could still receive full credit.
“I was shocked,” she says. “I thought that was incredibly kind.”
It was one of many moments during her time at UAGC when Jessa found a way forward. She was never pursuing her MBA without responsibilities. She was a working professional, a mother and a wife, balancing her career and family while making room for an ambition of her own. There were plenty of reasons she could have put her education on hold. Instead, she kept going.
In spring 2026, Jessa walked across the commencement stage with her Master of Business Administration. Today, as vice president of philanthropy for the Marian Regional Medical Center Foundation, she is using what she learned every day, from boardrooms and financial conversations to the way she develops the people on her team. She doesn’t let the weight of a singular moment or of committing to education obscure the bigger picture.
“It's such a small period of time in the scheme of your whole life, and it makes such a huge difference,” she says. “I can't imagine doing my job now without my MBA degree.”
A Career Built One Opportunity at a Time
In many ways, Jessa's career has been shaped by opportunities she couldn't have planned for. Her first came during her senior year of college, when she landed an internship with CommonSpirit Health. The internship was intense, immersing her in the world of media relations.
“I saw the opportunity as such a blessing, and it was really great because it allowed me to work really hard and learn so much,” she says.
When the internship ended, a media relations specialist at the hospital went on maternity leave, and Jessa was asked to stay on. Initially apprehensive, she accepted the opportunity and was quickly thrown into the work.
“I was a college student who really didn't know much of anything when it came to media relations,” she says. “But they believed in me enough to just drop me in.”
Jessa learned by doing. After completing her bachelor’s degree at another institution, CommonSpirit offered her a full-time position. Over the years, Jessa grew through media relations and marketing. After reaching what she felt was the pinnacle of her role, she resigned and began consulting. The hospital later invited her to continue working with the organization on a retainer basis. That's when she discovered a new professional calling.
“I just fell in love with the philanthropic piece, building relationships,” she says. “I was already good at that with community relationships and media relationships, so it was a natural fit to do donor relationships and community partnerships.”
Jessa has remained with the organization ever since, nearly 18 years later. Mentors who saw potential in her before she fully saw it in herself encouraged her to pursue new opportunities. Eventually, those opportunities led her to her current role, where she has spent more than a decade leading philanthropy for the Marian Regional Medical Center Foundation.
Her career had grown in ways she hadn't anticipated. In that time, she also became a wife and mother. So, when she considered an MBA, she wasn't sure there was room for another opportunity.
Seeing a path to an MBA
If you asked Jessa in 2020 if she was going to pursue an MBA, “I would have told you no,” she says. The reason wasn't a lack of ambition; It was everything else.
“I was just too overwhelmed with life — with work and family life,” she shares. “I could not see a path for that, primarily because of my demanding schedule. That was the biggest barrier for me.”
She needed an education that could fit around the life she already had. Taking time away from the office to be inside of a classroom just wasn’t possible.
“I needed the flexibility to access the classroom at any time of day, because sometimes that meant 6 p.m., 11 p.m., or the weekend,” Jessa says. “UAGC provided that flexibility, along with remote access to resources and professors who understand the demands facing working professionals.”
Then another opportunity made the decision even more attainable. Through CommonSpirit's partnership with UAGC, Jessa had access to a full tuition grant.
“That really made the difference for me,” she says. “It allowed me to see the MBA as such a fabulous opportunity that I would have been foolish not to take advantage of it.”
But even with the financial support and flexibility, Jessa needed something else.
“I needed proof,” Jessa says. “I needed to see somebody else's success. And I didn't know that's what I needed.”
That proof came from her colleague and fellow UAGC alumna Barbara Porcher.
“When she shared her experience with me, I thought, ‘You know what? If Barbara can do it, I can do it.’”
Learning to lead differently
The MBA didn't just add another credential to Jessa's resume. It changed the way she sees people and her responsibility as a leader.
Courses in psychology, workplace development, diversity, and leadership challenged assumptions she had developed throughout her career and pushed her to consider new approaches to building teams.
“The courses at UAGC really allowed me to navigate outside of my comfort zone,” she says. “It expanded my perception of what best practices are. It expanded my reality of what is possible.”
One aspect that changed was how she approaches hiring and staff development. Instead of assuming that the same management style will work for everyone, she makes an effort to understand each person's strengths, motivations, and challenges.
“Every employee is very different, so I need to change my leadership style to meet the needs of each one of my employees,” she says.
Her MBA also gave her language for something she had already been practicing: servant leadership.
Jessa had always believed in supporting her team and putting their needs first. But she came to understand that effective leadership requires more than serving people. It requires developing them so they can become more confident, capable, and accountable themselves.
“Servant leadership can be really draining on a leader, and it doesn't fully actualize a team,” she says. “I've really tried to embrace and model inspired leadership ever since.”
That means getting to know each employee, providing positive reinforcement and constructive feedback, and adapting her approach to help each person grow.
“You have to invest in your team,” Jessa says. “You have to get to know who they are, and you have to hold them all accountable. However, the way you mentor each of them and invest in each of them is going to be completely different because they are all so unique.”
For Jessa, accountability doesn't mean every employee receives the same treatment. It means meeting people where they are while continuing to help them move forward.
“That's my job,” she says. “I need to navigate that, no matter how difficult it is. I need to still meet those employees where they're comfortable and still help them along the way, too.”
And when that investment pays off, she feels it.
“I'm seeing the growth,” she says. “For the employees who have opened the door and are allowing me to understand them, personally and professionally, and allowing me to mentor them, they're just thriving. And I'm feeling so gratified by seeing their growth. It really fills my cup.”
A Wider View
Today, Jessa draws on her MBA in virtually every part of her work. Whether she's speaking with board members, sitting in a C-suite leadership meeting, or discussing finances, she approaches the conversation differently.
“I'm literally implementing the lessons I learned throughout my MBA degree every single day,” she says. “I'm not going to a meeting anymore, reading the slide and saying, ‘Here's how we did for the month.’ I'm taking that data and looking at it through the big picture, how the data fits into the strategic plan.”
It is a perspective she says she would not have had without taking the leap she once couldn't imagine.
“I wouldn't be doing that if I hadn't gone to the University of Arizona Global Campus for my MBA degree,” she says.
There was once a time when Jessa couldn't see a path to an MBA. Her career was demanding. Her family needed her. The idea of adding one more responsibility felt impossible.
“The thing that stands out the most, I would say, isn't necessarily the degree; it's the quiet realization that I am capable of difficult things,” she proclaims. “I discovered a version of myself that's disciplined, resilient, and adaptable. I learned that I don't just endure a high-pressure schedule; I can thrive in it.”
Now, she sees what was possible all along, not because the demands disappeared, but because she found the support, flexibility, and encouragement to keep moving forward.
“I am incredibly appreciative to have the opportunity to pursue an MBA degree, and I'm honored to be a graduate of UAGC,” she says.
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