Today, September 22nd, is American Business Women’s Day!

Here you see me headed off to my 1st day of Kindergarten. However, the way I am carrying that Care Bear lunchbox may have been be a foreshadowing to the future.

I pursued an MBA at Northeastern while working on my MS in Nursing Administration to understand healthcare from a business perspective.

Why did care delivery feel so hard as a nurse? The time I got to spend with patients was never the incredibly challenging part. The challenging part was trying to get to the patient to deliver the necessary care. There was always some form of a barrier that made even the simplest of acts more challenging than they needed to be. I would often wonder why other industries did not appear as chaotic in the day to day.

I imagined that if I pursued an MBA and understood healthcare from the business lens, perhaps I could better make an impact on the nurses who are in the direct care delivery roles in the future.

All of that being said, I never imagined going on to start businesses after obtaining the degree.

Yet, it happened and the mindset instilled from my MBA Program at Northeastern helped me in so many ways both in and out of my entrepreneurial endeavors.

From a national historical perspective, there were over 12 million women who owned businesses in the U.S as of 2024. The day was formally recognized in 1986, nearly 40 years ago now.

~ Dr. Kelley