A mother and daughter are celebrating their journey of earning their business degrees together, three years after enrolling in the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management’s Online Master of Business Administration program.
Shelly and Samantha Soupir, both ’25 MBA, each walked the stage during the Carlson School’s commencement ceremony last month. The moment marked the realization of a goal—for Shelly, it was one decades in the making.
“It’s an experience that when you look at life’s plan for you, it was meant to happen at the time,” Shelly reflects. “It’s made me a better person having the chance to go on this journey with my daughter. It’s just true joy, knowing that I got to do something that I always wanted to do but never thought I would be able to do, and then I experienced it with one of my favorite people in the world.”
For years, family members close to Shelly earned advanced higher education degrees, but the timing to pursue her own never quite worked out. High travel requirements for her career in the healthcare industry ruled out a traditional master’s program, putting her dream on hold. That is, until a conversation several years ago with her daughter, Samantha, caught her by surprise.
“I was talking to my mom about my goals for my professional career and how, for me, the only way that I can advance is to either get experience or go back and continue my education,” Samantha remembers. “And my mom was like, ‘Well, you should go get your MBA.’ And I was like, ‘Well, why have you never gotten your MBA?’ Then I told her, ‘I’ll go back if you go back.’”
Setting a new life goal
No stranger to challenges, this MBA journey came right on the heels of the mother-daughter duo running together in the Boston Marathon. After completing that life goal, the pair set their sights on the MBA. Samantha started her courses in spring 2022, and, after completing a pre-MBA math course, Shelly began her classes that fall, 30 years since her last college class.
“It’s always on to just the next thing,” Samantha says. “Isn’t that kind of the whole point? That’s why we’re here. Let’s do the things that make us excited and make us a little scared at the same time because it’s fun to see what our limits are and what we are made out of.”
The two balanced full course loads amid working full-time, staying connected with classmates across the country. Being at different stages in their careers meant each took away something different from the program. For Samantha, who works in brand management, it was learning more about finance; for Shelly, it was applying artificial intelligence in the business setting.
Samantha says she’s proud to see her mom set a powerful example for her and her younger sisters.
“I think it just shows us that there is no timeline and it’s all meant to happen when it’s supposed to happen, but to continue pursuing what makes you excited,” says Samantha.
“It goes back to: How do we become the best version of ourselves?” says Shelly. “And for me, it was getting a chance to go through this MBA and then continue to realize that I can do hard things that I didn’t think I was capable of doing.”
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