Women

Advance your career with opportunities for Kelley Direct Online MBA women

Wherever you want to go in your career, Kelley Direct can get you there. We are committed to empowering women to accelerate their careers and become influential business leaders, and we provide support and resources to help you navigate challenges and find lasting success.

Earning an MBA creates opportunities for your career. By earning a graduate degree, you can:

Gain deep business expertise and leadership skills
Increase your salary and earning potential
Become part of a powerful worldwide network
Work one-on-one with a career coach
Connect with Fortune 500 employers

Expand your professional development with Forté

Kelley Direct is proud to partner with Forté, a foundation that works to increase the numbers of women in business. As a student at a partner school, you can join Forté for free, and gain access to exclusive professional development content, free career fairs, discounts on Forté programs, and sponsorships to Forté conferences.

As part of our Forté partnership, we provide both merit-based scholarships and Forté Fellowships. Additionally, the Kelley Direct application fee is waived for Forté MBALaunch members.

Discover Forté

Women in Business Student Association

As part of the Kelley Direct Student Leadership Association, Women in Business offers a community of women who will support you and motivate you to achieve your goals. Watch the webinar to hear from current students and alumni about their experience with Women in Business and the Kelley Direct Online MBA program.

Watch webinar

Insights from experience

Learn from the career experiences of successful Kelley MBA alumnae, including Tatiana Quaife (Americas Marketing Leader, Airbnb) and Adeela Johnson (President, BÉIS at Beach House Group), in these interviews with Kelley Marketing Professor and Dean Emeritus Dan Smith.

Watch the interviews

Meet Kelley Direct women

What’s it like to be a woman in the Kelley Direct program? Find out from current students and alumnae on the Kelley Direct blog.

Read blog

MBA & work & life? Here’s how.

As a mom of two young kids and a global strategic marketing manager at Johnson & Johnson, Amy Turk knew she wanted the flexibility to earn an MBA on a timeline that fit her life. The Kelley Direct Online MBA enabled her to set her own pace—you can take two to four years to finish—and accelerate her career. Watch the video to discover how you, too, can earn the #1–ranked online MBA while continuing to work and manage your life.

Description of the video:

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(gentle music)

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- I pursued the Kelley Direct program

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to not only better myself at work,

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but to better myself as a person.

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I'm Amy Turk.

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I am a Global Strategic Marketing
Manager at DePuy Synthes,

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a medical device company
within Johnson & Johnson.

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I have two young kids.

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So, when I started the program,

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I knew that I would not be able
to complete it in two years.

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One thing I very much appreciate about

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the Kelley Direct program is that there's

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an enormous amount of flexibility

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that allows you to customize the program

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to what you need and when you
need it in your own lifestyle.

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I can set the pace for
when I finish the program,

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how many classes I take each
term, and it works well.

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The degree that someone
is obtaining in two years,

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is the same degree I'm gonna
obtain in three and a half.

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I would highly recommend an
MBA and especially through

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this Kelley Direct program.

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It's really given me very formal

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and competitive business training.

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It doesn't slow you down.

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If anything, it helped
accelerate my career.

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I think it sends a
message to my colleagues

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and to management that I'm
willing to take on more.

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They've invested in me and
they've invested in my success

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and in return, I'm able
to take what I've learned

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from the Kelley Direct program

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and invest that back into the company.

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So, it's really been
able to shape my role,

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to really help me understand it better,

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and to have the appropriate
contributions to the company.

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The one thing that I didn't expect

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when I started the program
was the positive impact

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that it would have on my kids.

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They're doing homework,
they're doing school projects,

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and a lot of times we study together,

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so it's good to spend that time together

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and for them to see that I'm
still pursuing higher education

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and that that can be done

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even after your undergraduate degree.

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My participation in the
Kelley Direct program

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has really brought a
lot of value to my life

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and it's brought a lot of value to

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the example I'm able to show my kids.

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(gentle music)

Featured faculty

Kelly Eskew

Clinical Professor Business Law & Ethics

“When you study law and ethics in your MBA program, you become a smart consumer of legal information. You gain the skills to identify legal risks and communicate with general counsel within your company. You can have smart conversations and ask good questions, and ultimately help your company succeed."

Read bio

Carolyn Goerner

Clinical Professor of Management ALDI, Inc. Distinguished I-Core Clinical Professor

“While traditional thinking about gender diversity suggests that women need to be more like mainstream men to succeed, current perspectives of inclusion assert that women are necessary in organizations because they are women. The unique skills and perspectives of women help a company reach new levels of success.”

Read bio

Tatiana Kolovou

Senior Lecturer Communication, Professional, & Computer Skills

“First impressions are critical. You want to engage your audience, whether you’re speaking to senior executives or your team. We coach our female business leaders to stand out and speak with conviction.”

Read bio

An exceptional leader

Dean Emeritus Idalene “Idie” Kesner is a Kelley through and through. She earned her MBA and doctorate at Kelley and held several leadership positions before becoming dean and the Frank P. Popoff Chair of Strategic Management. Poets&Quants named her Dean of the Year in 2020.

"She has embraced and mentored young talent in a way that is rare for a dean of any school. She has thoroughly distinguished herself as one of the most accomplished deans of this generation," said Poets&Quants editor John Byrne in an article announcing Kesner's selection.