Spotlight on Jeffrey Flynn - MSBA Grad Journey

        Jeffrey's journey to his MSBA degree wasn't a typical one. After starting in culinary nutrition, serving in the Marine Corps, and working in logistics, he found himself searching for a new direction. The MSBA program became the perfect fit for his passion for solving problems and analyzing systems. Read the full interview below to discover the key to success.

Q: Jeffrey, thank you for coming. Please introduce yourself to our viewers.

A: Yeah, my name is Jeffrey Flynn, and I just graduated from the master's program in business analytics.

Q: Can you share a little bit about your background? What was your undergrad? Why did you decide to go to the MSBA program?

A: Absolutely. So, I had a very... roundabout way leading me to my master's degree. So, the first time I went to college, I went for culinary nutrition in Greenville Tech. And I did all my culinary classes, and I dropped out. And I was working in a kitchen. I worked my way up basically to sous chef at a restaurant on Woodruff Road. And I was just making bad choices in life. I really wasn't going anywhere. I wasn't on a very good path.

And so, I knew I needed to make a change. I decided to do the hardest thing I think of, and I joined the Marine Corps. And by the time, from the day I made the decision and the day I joined, I was in boot camp three months from the time I decided to the time I was in boot camp. I didn't really think about it. I just did it. But when I got out of the Marines, I was ready to go back to college. I didn't really know what to do. I just kind of went back. I just knew I wanted a degree. So, I decided to just go to college for culinary again because that's what I had been doing before.

Q: You already knew this.

A: Yeah, exactly. And I didn't give it much thought because I didn't give much things thought in my younger days. And I was going to go to Rhode Island where I was from originally. But then the lady on the phone said, hey, we have a spot open in Denver. I was like, I didn't even know they had a college in Denver. So, I said, sure, why not? I moved to Colorado. I knew no one. I just moved there. I was there two months after the Marines, and I went to four years at Johnson and Wales University, and I graduated with a culinary nutrition degree.

Q: Is it undergrad, like bachelor's?

A: A bachelor's in science and culinary nutrition, which was a really fun degree. But by the time I was doneб and I had done my internship in nutrition, I realized that the future that I had put myself into was very narrow. It was basically a chef, a dietician, or a food research scientist, none of which I really wanted to do. And I was kind of back to square one. I didn't know what to do. I had worked through college, all kinds of stuff. I finally decided to go back into logistics, which is what I did in the Marines, and got a job at a telecommunications company. I loved it. I worked my way up from the bottom into a really good spot. And then my wife and I moved here. I met her out there. We moved here to have a kid and be close to my family. And then two months after I moved here, I got laid off after buying a house and everything and moving here.

Q: Very bad situation.

A: Yes. I was like, what do I do next? I realized I had BA benefits still. I decided to look at school. I found multiple programs. And then this one made the most sense on a lot of different levels. I really liked systems. I liked that there were so many business problems and case studies I found in my old company, but no one really listened to me because I didn't have a good background for them to view me as an expert in anything or to view myself as an expert in anything. So, I wanted to find a way to learn and have something that could show me you know that I could actually speak to and so I decided to take a chance on this program, and I'm very glad that I did. That was a very long answer.

Q: That's okay. Actually, it makes total sense, especially if you found this interest in yourself early on, and you just, in this program, found a way to reinforce this knowledge and prove yourself as an expert. What aspects of the MSBA program did you find most valuable and why?

A: Most valuable? There are many things to decide which one I want to talk about. For me, the most valuable was probably my relationship with the teachers, the student-teacher relationship I have with them, and their willingness to communicate with me on what to be looking for, what to be for my future. It was never about just... here's the steps, here's the classes in the program. Take all these classes and you'll magically be done. It was a constant conversation of “what things in the classes did you like the most?” “what were you best at?” “what were you not good at?” “what do you want to pursue with?”

Q:“How we can help you?”

A: Exactly. It was a constant growing situation, and I think I saw a lot of students that didn't really reach out to the teachers as much, and they were the ones that were a little more unhappy with the program or were unhappy with certain situations. And they'd always come to me and I was like, did you talk to them? Well, no. Maybe you should just talk to them.

Q: Maybe you should.

A: Yeah. And I think that my benefit is coming as an older, I'm about to be mid thirties now. I’m older than a lot of the kids that I was with. And it allowed me to say, okay, I just need to talk to them. Like I have enough experience to know that sometimes just asking the question gives you the answer that you're looking for.

Q: Yeah. How did the coursework prepare you for your capstone project and the real world consulting experience? Because now you're working at Milliken, and, as I understand, you work pretty much in the related position which involves that knowledge that you got into the program.

A: A little bit. Right now, so, at Milliken I am doing an ongoing internship. Currently, they're like trying to figure out roles there's a whole bunch of stuff going on internally at Milliken with roles switching and changing and there's a lot of new structure which is awesome there and creating new technology. I'm learning two different systems. One of which we did use at in the school, which is Power BI. The other is SAC which we didn't, but that's specific to SAP that resource that ERP system. But also, my experience in the capstone just reaffirmed my experience in life, which is communicating with people and learning how to talk to different people and also how to talk to stakeholders. Like right now, a lot of what I do, there's myself, I actually work with another graduate, Cameron Smith. He and I are on the same team. And there's us and then our boss, her boss, and then her boss. And we speak to our boss and our boss's boss all the time. And we're always having conversations. I just got out of meeting with my two bosses right before I came here, talking about a new project that I was given in Power BI.

And so, you know, when I think of tackling projects, I think about it from a different angle now. Like in the past, I used to come at the problem. Now I try to come at this with a solution. So I say, here's the problem. Here's what I am thinking that could fix, the solution. And in the past, a lot of why I didn't get listened to, I've realized, especially with the help of this program, is that I'd always just be like, well, here's the problem, here's the problem. They're like, cool, we're tired of hearing about the problem. Yeah, they wanted me to find the solution. And then we realized that finding the problem is great, but having a solution is best.

So, with the Capstone project, we were given something that really was just absolute bare bones. And they were like, okay, you got to provide insights now. And to be honest, I was a little overwhelmed when I started. And I had my first child through this process as well.

Q: So, made it tough.

A: Yes. The day I found out I got into the program, the very next day we found out my wife was pregnant. So it was just a wild, it's been a wild experience. Going through the capstone, I was stressed because I was like, did I really learn enough to do all this? And you go through classes, sometimes you forget things, but everything that I learned, I was able to put to use. And by the time I finished the capstone, I felt very confident.

We had an individual project and a group project, which I loved because the individual project, I was just pulling my hair out. I was so stressed about it. But when I was done, I was proud of myself. But I knew I could make improvements. And that was cool because when the group project came, I took the thing that I did worst on in my individual project and did that for the group project.

Q: Oh, that's great.

A: So that way I could better myself. So that goes back to really this. This whole course is that yes, you can go through it, and you can graduate and not really learn as much as you could. I mean, it's a tough course. You have to learn, like there's still a lot you have to do just to pass. B ut it's about what you retain and, and, you can get by, like any schoolwork, you can probably get by on things without learning as much as you could. But if you really want to be that consultant and be able to take what you've learned and pass that along and be successful, you have to really grasp onto it and focus on the things you're not good at and work on those and try to focus on that improvement aspect.

Q: What specific skills or knowledge did you apply in your capstone project?

A: So actually, one of my favorite things is that at the very end of my course, we had an AI class that Dr. Gupta taught. And I knew really nothing about AI.

Q: It’s just pretty new.

A: Yeah. Which, of course, it's not intelligent, but it's an interesting thing. And it's wild. That's been around for a really long time, actually. But now it's just in public hands. I was like, okay, I want to learn this. So, I had that class, and Dr. Gupta, she didn't tell us like, you're not allowed to use AI for the future. She said, use it responsibly. And, you know, there are ways that people could use it to cheat. And most of the time that can be told, but it's also not necessarily true. But so, I learned what I had learned in the capstone plus AI, and I was able to give myself really a leg up and for my own knowledge and give myself a little boost of confidence if I didn't know something and use it as a tool to help.

And the skills I used was one, how to implement the knowledge I had gained. And then two, when I started this program, I had never coded anything in my life. I had never touched code, and I was really overwhelmed.

Q: Terrified.

A: Yeah. And I thought, did I make the right choice in the program? I was just like, I think I messed up again. I was like, great. I took another school, another degree that I don't know if I'm going to use. And now I love coding actually. It's not necessarily what I want to do for a living, but I really enjoy it. And being able to use those skills, what I did worst in my individual project, was the predictive model because I just didn't have enough time in the individual project, which they understood and everything. But then I took that and I said, okay, let me apply what I know about predictive models and make something better. And I ended up creating like three or four predictive models that were all much better than my original model and presented that in a group project. So, skills would be, again, and Dr. Gupta says this all the time and all of our teachers, it's learning. The biggest skill that you can apply is your skill of learning. Learn and if you don't get something, keep working at it and then apply that skill of continuous learning. Don't ever just say, I know enough. You have to just keep going.

Q: Never enough. Yeah. What was the most significant insight you got during your Capstone project that you gave the employer and how did they take this?

A: Interestingly enough, one of the easiest insights that I came up with was one of the biggest insights I had to offer him, which was they had all of their data together, but they'd never done anything with it. And they had essentially a list that said, this is how many people did this thing. And I just created a pie chart and showed them that over 70% of what they were looking at happened in the first three attempts. And they had just never even seen that. And they were like, wow, that actually influences a lot.

Q: They just oversaw this.

A: Uh-huh. And it was just a simple, like very basic.

Q: Yeah, pretty obvious but never noticed.

A: Sometimes when a company is so in over there, not over their head, but in deep, in something, and they're looking at things in such fine granular detail, they forget to look at the overall picture. And so, just being able to take that big picture, I'm not part of it, so I can just look at the whole thing and present that. I was surprised at like how influential that was. But even just taking the basics of data analytics and presenting that to them made a big impact.

Q: Yeah. Did the program change somehow your career goals before and after? So, you definitely come to the program with some certain level of expectations, what you're gonna do after. Did it change somehow during the program?

A: Yeah, so when I joined, I didn't have too many expectations because I wasn't 100% sure if it's the right choice. And I thought the program was more about business with analyzing it. And it became more about analytics with a focus in business. My expectations changed dramatically because I really didn't know what to go, what to think about it, moving into it. And then coming out of it, cctually, I realized it aligned even better than I could have realized because I didn't want to do just an MBA. Business isn't really where I wanted to go. I like systems. I like finding the ways of things and solving problems. So, it ended up being a perfect fit, and I didn't even know at the time. I'm very thankful for it.

Q: In what ways have you grown personally and professionally during the program?

A: Well, personally, like I said, I was in the program about a year and a half, a year and eight months total. And I had my wife was pregnant through that. I had my son through that. I was unemployed for 10 months through it. It was a brutal experience in so many ways. So personally, I learned to... accomplish. Honestly, in a lot of ways, it reminded me of the struggles I went through when I joined the Marines. Of just like, just moving forward. Like there were days that were just so tough, and you just had to do it. You just did it, and you just go to sleep and wake up the next day and do what you gotta do. And you just kind of keep moving forward. And that's, and so it was a good reminder that life tends to throw things at us when we least expect it. We might have plans, but those plans don't really mean anything sometimes. And all you can do is just keep going and keep your head up. And so, one of the things I've lacked through my entire life personally is patience. And I've gained a lot of patience, I think, in my personal life.

And professionally, my connections have grown dramatically. When I moved to South Carolina, I'd been gone 12 years. I knew a couple of people from high school that I still kept in touch with. That was pretty much it. I didn't really have anyone out here except my family.

Q: Yeah, out of the context, completely.

A: Yeah. And I went from no, almost pretty, basically no connections on LinkedIn or professionally to now having grown this huge, this very large network. And it keeps growing. Now that I have connections at Milliken, I’m developing through there. And I learned how important that is, especially in job searching. I mean, the job searching process, the market, It's really tough right now. It's really tough. And they say there's jobs out there, but it's really hard to get in. It's hard to just be seen. I mean, I applied in hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of applications and I had eight interviews in 10 months. And I have 13-plus years of experience.

And so anyway, it was professionally, I've learned what to do, what not to do, how to be patient professionally as well and not... it was really easy to get demoralized during the application process. And it's important to remember that there's people that want to help you. Dr. Gupta, Dr. Fowler, both of them reached out to their networks as well as some of the other teachers. The staff here truly care about your success as a student. And it's because of their connections, that I have a job at Milliken now.

Q: That's good. Looking back, what do you think has been the most transformative part of your MSBA experience? Maybe something drastically changed your mind.

A: Really the coding portion.

Q: Yeah?

A: Yeah, because I had never done it. I never thought I would ever do it. My brother used to grow up, as kids, he would sit on the computer, and he would do these fine details and get into the computer. And I just wanted to go throw a ball in the yard. All I cared about was the like run and do things. And I've been like that most of my life. I never thought I would have a computer job for a living. That's just the last thing.

Q: And look at you right now.

A: Yeah, exactly. I think the biggest advice I could give anyone is just don't be stubborn with life. Just accept that sometimes things change. And if you make the best of it and move with it, instead of fighting against it, which life fighting against everything because I wanted to things. If you move with it, don't lose yourself.

Q: Like follow the flow?

A: Yeah, yeah. And don't just lose yourself and do whatever, but keep a sense of self and understand who you are. And then use that and take what's best, take what happens to you, and take the best of it and learn from the worst, but just keep moving forward. Like I said, I never thought I would be where I am, doing what I'm doing and yet I am, and I'm very happy.

Q: What advice would you give prospective students who are considering this program?

A: Be prepared to deal with a little bit of chaos here and there. It is a lot of group projects, so when you're dealing with other students, it can be tough. But group projects, there's a lot of pros and cons. Focus on the pros. Don't get stuck on the cons. Lots of students just complain. Like I said, you can complain all you want, but you still have something to do at the end of the day. So, it's important to focus on that. Focus on what you want to learn, and what you want to take from things. If you have an issue, talk to the teachers about it. Don't hold on to it or worry that you're going to ask too many questions. I’ve definitely asked too many questions. I always have. But they're there. They're there for this, for answering your questions. And they truly care about you, and they want you to succeed.

So, the biggest thing I could tell anyone is to ask questions and remember that you're in this program to succeed. And it's up to you to do that. But it's easy in the sense that you have resources, people that truly want to see you succeed.

Q: What advice would you give yourself at the very beginning of the project, of the program. Maybe you would change something that would real and you by now you realize that, okay, I should have done this, but I didn't. Or no regrets?

A: I don't really have any regrets. I mean, the biggest thing is, like I said, my life changed so dramatically, and I was unemployed. There were just so many things that were happening in my personal life that I kind of was able to, in a lot of ways, I was thankfully able to focus heavily on my studies in ways that some people might not be able to if they're working full-time jobs.

I actually finished the capstone working 40 hours a week at Milliken. So that was tough. And I only did that one term. I was taking care of my home life and everything. But I mean, I think I've reached a point in my life where I know how I learn. So, another point of advice to people is to figure out your way to learn and do what you're best at to learn. Because I'm a procrastinator. I know that about myself. And I stress my wife out. Wait till the very last minute. And she'll do everything three weeks in advance. And I'll do it. There were a couple of times I submitted it with like 15 minutes left at the deadline. And she's sweating for me. And I'm just like, what? This is just how my brain works, you know?

But I know that. And so sometimes I would try to do more, and I would get more stressed out because it's just not how I work. And so, I try to force things, and I would just be sitting in front of the computer and just wasting time. But I guess the thing I would tell myself is… I could have reminded myself that not to beat myself up over that, to just accept that that's how I operate and to excel at that instead of, you know, trying to push things in a way that doesn't work. And same thing for any learning style. Just don't beat yourself up if you don't do what you think is the perfect thing to do. Just accept that life happens, and you have to do, you just make the best of it. You do work the way that you know you can work.

Q: And let's finish up with this question. What is your happiest memory of this program?

A: The happiest memory?

Q: Yeah. When you felt the most excited.

A: So, it was actually my first summer after finishing. So, I started it actually in the spring 2023. In the spring, so, January 2023. And that summer, I took an SQL course. And that first…

Q: The first coding experience?

A: Well, second. So, the spring I took was coding classes because… It was supposed to be Python, but we ended up switching to RStudio. It was with Dr. Fowler. It was his first class teaching. And we were looking at predictive analytics or prescriptive analytics. Predictive, I believe, was with Minitab. But anyway, so I was losing my mind through that class. And I was struggling, but... like I said, the staff here is amazing. So, Dr. Fowler, he worked with all of us and we all got through it, you know? And by the time I finished, I was like, okay, it was tough, but I was like, okay. I feel like I didn't just fail. Like I did, I did okay. And then we'd had an SQL class that summer and things were falling into place for me. And at one point I was, it was close to the end of the class, and one of the students was stuck on something. And I walked over and was just like, “Oh, you're formatting there and try doing this instead.” And it worked. And Dr. Fowler was right behind me, and he was just like, had this smile on his face. And I was just like. Huh, okay, you know, I know something. He's like “See, it's just a just knowledge you have, it's a skill you have to learn in practice.” Yeah. It's like okay, maybe I can do this.

Q: Oh yeah. This, I guess, it's very satisfying feeling when you realize that you definitely achieved something. Thank you so much for your time. It was a pleasure to talk to you, and I hope this interview will benefit our prospective students who are considering taking this MSBA program.

A: Absolutely. Thank you very much for having me.