Permission to Have Both: How One Accounting Executive Stopped Choosing Between Career and Family

Sarina Dunn made a promise to her great-grandmother: Go as far as you can in your education. For Sarina, that means a PhD - eventually. First, her focus is on the MBA.

A management accountant with nearly a decade of senior-level experience, Sarina was already operating at the top of her field when she enrolled in Pfeiffer University's MBA program with a financial fraud focus.

But her path has been anything but simple. Shortly after starting the program, Sarina's family had a medical emergency, but she kept studying. "Life happens," she says, "and you have to learn how to pivot with it and not beat yourself up when it does."

That lesson, she says, is one Pfeiffer helped her learn. "When I first started, I was in that gray area - feeling guilty for wanting to be a career mom, for pursuing my ambitions while also being a mother. Through all those obstacles, Pfeiffer impacted me more personally than professionally. It helped me ground myself."

Sarina works 100% remotely, which made the program's fully online structure an immediate fit. But what kept her was the substance of the coursework. A course on financial valuations helped her connect the accounting expertise she'd built over the years with the financial decision-making frameworks she was studying. "Finance and accounting don't always talk to each other the way they should," she says. "This helped me see where the bridge is."

For Sarina, the MBA has never been just a credential. It's been a structure for becoming more - as a professional, as a consultant, and as a mother who refused to stop growing.

"Life still happens," she says. "You just run with it.

Whether you're a seasoned professional ready to sharpen your leadership edge or simply someone who has been waiting for the right moment, Sarina's story is a reminder that the right time is often right now. To learn more about Pfeiffer University's MBA program and how it can fit your life and career goals, visit www.pfeiffer.edu/mba or reach out to our admissions team at [email protected].