Breaking the Mould: Real People With Real Dreams in California- Starting Young and Thinking Big

Flexible DBA programmes empower women, young leaders and veterans to balance life, career and learning—reshaping advanced business education globally

Dr Isabel Henriques was meant to be in a lecture hall, but instead she was studying entrepreneurship from an airport lounge in another country entirely. Her laptop open between coffee cups and departure announcements, she was taking her doctoral classes from wherever her travels led her. This wasn’t a compromise – it was exactly what she wanted.

‘The fact that CIU offered a concentration in Entrepreneurship at the doctoral level made it a perfect fit,’ Isabel explains. ‘I also loved to take classes from anywhere in the world, even while travelling. That freedom changed everything.’

The common image of someone pursuing a Doctor of Business Administration is usually a seasoned executive, perhaps in their 50s, finally getting round to that terminal degree. But California Intercontinental University’s latest graduating class tells a different story – one filled with women who refuse to put their lives on hold, young people who see opportunity where others see barriers and veterans who need education to bend around their circumstances, not the other way round.

Learning Without Limits

For Isabel, the traditional path never made sense. Why should pursuing advanced education mean being tied to one place? Her entrepreneurship focus required understanding real markets and real people – something that happened in the world, not just in textbooks. The flexibility of modern DBA programs meant she could study customer behaviour in one country while physically experiencing different business cultures in another.

This kind of freedom particularly appeals to women who often juggle multiple responsibilities. Research shows that women face greater work-family conflicts that impact career advancement, making flexible study options crucial. Isabel’s experience shows how online doctoral education can work around life’s realities rather than forcing life to work around education.

Starting Young, Thinking Big

At 22, Kenyon Askew hadn’t originally seen himself in the business world at all. But something about the DBA programme caught his attention – perhaps because it promised practical tools rather than abstract theories.

‘At first, I wasn’t familiar with the DBA,’ Kenyon admits. ‘But as I progressed, I realised how well-rounded and practical the curriculum was. It equipped me with tools applicable across industries, whether in higher education or the corporate sector.’

Young people pursuing doctoral business degrees are relatively uncommon. While about 44.7% of all doctorate recipients are aged 26-30, most DBA students are typically mid-career professionals. This makes Kenyon’s path unusual – but perhaps more relevant than ever. Why wait decades to develop the skills you could use throughout your entire career?

Students who take charge of their learning early often discover perspectives that decades of routine can obscure. Sometimes fresh insights and current knowledge can be just as powerful as years of doing things the same way.

When Life Doesn’t Fit the Mould

Dr Andrew Early III and Dr Keith Adams represent another growing group: people whose circumstances simply don’t match traditional university expectations. For Dr Early III, a working professional, the question was whether he could manage rigorous doctoral study alongside his existing commitments.

‘The coursework at CIU was well-paced and rigorous, but manageable,’ he found. ‘I appreciated the realistic timelines and that I could fit my studies into a busy professional life.’

Dr Adams faced even more complex challenges as a military veteran living overseas. His needs weren’t just about scheduling – they were about finding an institution that understood his entire situation.

‘Being a military veteran living overseas, I needed a school that understood my challenges,’ Dr Adams explains. ‘CIU not only accommodated my situation but encouraged my ambition.’

Veterans pursuing higher education face unique hurdles. About 10% of military veterans in higher education enrol in doctoral programs, and they’re often older students balancing study with other major life transitions. The flexibility to study from anywhere becomes essential rather than convenient.

Real Problems, Real Solutions

What these students actually study reveals how doctoral business education has evolved beyond theoretical exercises. The research projects completed by CIU’s recent graduates tackle problems people recognise from their daily lives.

Dr Ryan Soriano investigated how recognition systems affect nurse retention and job satisfaction – particularly relevant after the healthcare upheavals of recent years. Dr Isabel Henriques examined why new real estate agents have such high turnover rates, looking at inadequate training and lack of mentorship. Dr Keith Adams studied customer service inefficiencies at a telecommunications company, developing frameworks for improving client satisfaction.

These aren’t abstract academic exercises. They’re investigations into problems that affect real workplaces and real people. Healthcare worker satisfaction, employee retention and customer service quality are issues that ripple out to affect entire communities.

Education on Your Own Terms

The traditional model of doctoral education – full-time, on-campus, following a rigid timeline – increasingly seems designed for people whose lives are already sorted. But most people’s lives aren’t sorted. They’re travelling, working, caring for family members, serving in the military or simply living somewhere that doesn’t happen to have the right university nearby.

Modern DBA programmes recognise this reality. They’re designed around the understanding that valuable research and meaningful learning can happen anywhere, as long as the support systems are in place. When education adapts to students rather than expecting students to adapt entirely to education, remarkable things become possible.

As Dr Aamar Moorjani, Associate Dean at CIU puts it: ‘Our DBA graduates embody what CIU stands for: resilience, vision and leadership. Their research is not only academically sound but socially impactful, and we are proud to have played a part in their journeys.’

The doctoral degree is no longer reserved for those who can pause their lives for years of traditional study. Instead, it’s becoming something that can happen alongside life – enriching it rather than replacing it. For people like Isabel, studying from airports and embracing the freedom to learn anywhere, this represents not just educational opportunity but a fundamental shift in how we think about advanced business education and who it serves.

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