A short time after Carlos Diaz and his family relocated to Texas from Florida, they found themselves in a precarious situation. They had fallen behind on their mortgage payments and would soon lose their home and be forced to move. Carlos, a young high school student at the time, hoped to help.

“I think I had two or three thousand dollars saved up,” he recalls.

But it wasn’t enough. Living through this experience made Carlos realize he never wanted to put himself or his family through that kind of instability. It shaped his decisions, including starting his career at T-Mobile, which set him on the path to eventually enroll in the Bachelor of Arts in Entrepreneurship* at the University of Arizona Global Campus (UAGC).

Fast forward to today, and Carlos is on his way to earning his bachelor’s degree – a goal more than 20 years in the making.

Stuck in Motion

“I was always more of an energetic student,” Carlos recalls of his early school days. “A little more of a class clown, I guess.” 

Carlos says that education was always important to him and his family, and he did well in school. But when it came time to go to college and make decisions about what he wanted to do, he got stuck.

“I was all over the place,” he laughs. “I was just trying different things trying to find my calling.”

He tried various areas of focus, but nothing really clicked. “I thought, ‘I want to help people,’ so I tried going into the medical field,” he says. “Then I found out I hated biology.”

He liked technology, so he briefly tried computer science. With the indecisiveness still lingering, Carlos eventually decided it would be better for him to enter the workforce. 

“Once I figure out what I want to do, then I’ll pursue my studies,” he decided.

His many jobs were as varied as his studies were, as he had positions at a golf course, in restaurants, delivering packages, and eventually landed more corporate-type jobs, including working at call centers and at retail companies.

Nearly 20 years and plenty of career and life milestones would go by before he would take the leap back into achieving his college degree. 

Making the Connection

Carlos told himself he would never take a job in sales. That is, until he started his career in the wireless industry. Though he previously believed a career in sales meant simply trying to convince people of one thing or another, he realized early on that the profession was really about getting to know people and their needs. Then, you work to fulfill their needs with a product or service.

“That’s when I started to see my career change,” he recalls. “I started to get excited about something I enjoyed and helping people stay connected through cell phones.”

His desire to help people never diminished, though, he says he found a new and meaningful way to pursue that desire in the wireless industry.

Carlos has had a thriving career with T-Mobile, starting as a retail store manager in 2018. Getting his foot in the door at that level was a big deal.

“I found out that 95% of their promotions into leadership are internal,” he says.

Looking to make a broader impact, Carlos opened himself up to possibilities within the company beyond retail. In his current role as a program marketing manager, he is able to help develop and design tools frontline employees use to perform their jobs, so he’s happy to be making their lives a bit easier. Since he’s had that frontline experience, he can offer a necessary perspective and connect different parts of the business. 

While he’s happy where he is right now, he says he’s open to bigger opportunities.

“I know better than to settle for anything,” he laughs.

He also credits his career with the company and its education benefits for pushing him to go back to school. 

“T-Mobile and UAGC have a great partnership,” he says. “One of my peers at work mentioned UAGC, and after comparing the different universities, I felt the partnership with the Forbes School of Business and Technology® made the decision easy for me.”

Carlos says having the support of his employer made a huge difference in the pursuit of his education. In fact, without the benefits offered by his company, he says earning his entrepreneurship degree may not have been in the cards.

The Big Picture

Carlos has used his business savvy to help his family manage and grow their business pursuits. Whenever he transitions into business ownership himself, he hopes his entrepreneurship degree will provide him with the foundation to run an efficient and successful business.

Not only did Carlos decide to pursue his degree, but he also set the lofty goal to finish with a 4.0 GPA.

“When I was in college initially, I was distracted, and my GPA wasn’t the best,” he explains. “This is a measure for me to say how focused I am for a consistent period of time when it comes to excellence. I wanted to prove to myself it can be done.”

Having seen success in his career, his strategy to succeed in school was to show up for school the same way he showed up for his job.

Carlos with his family

Carlos has had great support from his family while he has pursued his degree.

While Carlos is close to reaching his goal of graduating with a 4.0, he says it hasn’t come without challenges. He says his biggest obstacle was learning how to manage his time and juggle his full-time job and personal responsibilities with school. 

“There was definitely trial and error,” he admits. 

Carlos says he knows he works well under pressure, but he quickly discovered that having more room to breathe with his schoolwork created a better, less stressful experience.
 
“I committed to myself to complete my assignments at least a day or two in advance, and that made all the difference in the world,” he says.

Fatherhood Time

One of the most significant transition periods during his degree program was when he became a father, Carlos says.

“Anything that could have been a curveball happened,” he describes, adding that his wife experienced complications during her pregnancy, resulting in their daughter arriving prematurely. 

During this time, it was important for Carlos to not compromise quality time with his wife and new daughter, and to stay on-track with school.

“The fact that I was able to do it online and have that flexibility – I think that was huge,” he says. “The other part was communicating with the professors, and they were more than flexible.”

Carlos and his wife welcomed a baby girl in 2021.

Carlos and his wife welcomed a baby girl in August 2021.

Through all the trips to and from the hospital, both before his daughter was born and during the time she spent in the hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Carlos had his laptop with him and continuously reminded himself that everything he was doing was to build a better future for his family.

The experience was a firm reminder that things don’t always go as planned. 

“It’s not what happens; it’s how you respond to it,” he states. “So, I can use it as an excuse, or I can use it as motivation.”

Carlos, of course, chose to use his daughter’s birth as motivation to move forward and succeed. Carlos says his wife and family are thrilled about his upcoming graduation. 

“My wife Melissa has been a rock for me in supporting my pursuit of a higher education,” he says, noting that she has supported him through late nights completing assignments and understands his “why” is providing a future for their family.

With graduation only a few weeks away, Carlos says he’s thinking about what’s next, and he is eager to pursue his MBA at UAGC. He doesn’t plan to wait long either.

“Strike while the iron is hot,” he jokes. “I took a break for 19 years. I don’t want to do that again.”

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*This program is no longer accepting new enrollments. 

Whitney Bradford is a senior content specialist and former University Advisor. 

Certain degree programs are not available in all states. 
 

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