Eight years ago, a week shy of her 37 birthday, Anju Shori received a diagnosis women fear – breast cancer. To know Shori is to know that one of her biggest emotions around this news was frustration. Who has time for cancer when you’re busy working in a fast-paced environment at a private equity firm, learning everything you can for over nine years? It wasn't until her manager insisted she take medical leave that Shori finally gave herself permission to focus completely on her health.
“That, in itself, felt like a defeat,” Shori admits, “but you know, to have such an amazing team look out for you and your well-being…well, you don’t find that everywhere and I was very fortunate to be where I was at the time.”
She completed active treatment January 31, 2020. Shori says she had about a month of normalcy before life dealt its next cards.
Life Has Other Plans
The COVID pandemic hit the following March, and her family suffered devastating losses, Shori’s father being one of them. He passed away April 2, 2020.
“Let me tell you how lucky I am to have the parents that I do,” she continues. “They moved here in 1976 with about $5 in their pockets and two daughters – their whole goal was to give their family a better chance at life and at education. It's a true immigration story.”
Ambition, drive, a passion for learning, and a love for growing were always part of who Shori was. The youngest of four daughters, she graduated from high school in 2000 and planned to attend Texas Tech University. Her parents asked her to stay home and complete two years of community college before going. Shori agreed and continued to work while attending class. Two years later, she quit her job and headed for Texas Tech.
“I’m on I-20 driving to Lubbock, car packed, and I'm thinking to myself, this is a mistake,” she recalls. “I was questioning why I left a good job, new friends, my family, but I was determined to try it out.”
Ultimately, it wasn't the right fit at that stage of her life. Looking back, she wonders if she had gone directly out of high school if it would’ve been different, but in those two years she’d changed so much and she found herself being pulled back to the job and the people she loved. Shortly after one week, she called her previous manager and asked if her job was still available. Her manager said yes and that she’d send her a moving truck.
Shori moved back home, picked back up with her job, and soon thereafter graduated with her bachelor's from the University of Texas at Arlington.
A Second Chance at Texas Tech
Despite a successful career, something in her lingered. Reflecting on the sacrifices her parents made for their daughters to have a better life and chances for a better career, she felt something more was in her. She wanted to go back to school and get her MBA.
She wanted to honor her parents who came here specifically to give her that chance.
Then one day, a billboard along Interstate 20 advertising the Jerry S. Rawls College of BusinessProfessional MBA (PMBA) caught her attention. She filled out a form for an information session and says from there, it was a no-brainer.
Shori began the PMBA program at 42 and worked full time as a treasury manager for the Double Eagle Family Office, an oil and gas company, in Fort Worth, Texas, while participating in classes via the program’s flexible, hybrid format – completing coursework online throughout the month around her schedule and meeting face-to-face with her classmates one weekend per month (three times per semester) at the Rawls College DFW location.
Shori's investment in herself began paying dividends professionally before she graduated.
While she wasn't actively seeking a new opportunity, recruiters found her through LinkedIn. Her PMBA, paired with the AI and data science in business concentration, caught the attention of Higginbotham, one of the nation's largest independent insurance brokerages.
The Return on Investing in Herself
Shortly before graduation, Shori accepted a treasury manager position with Higginbotham, reinforcing a key business message: career advancement isn’t always about a promotion. This new role, she says, offers increased compensation, opportunities for growth, and the chance to apply new skills she developed through the PMBA program.
"This role feels like the intersection of everything I've been working toward,” she said. “It allows me to combine my MBA, finance, technology, data, and strategy in a way that challenges me and keeps me growing."
Rather than seeing the move as leaving one company for another, Shori views it as the next chapter in a journey made possible by the people who invested in her. Both the education she earned at Texas Tech and the support she received from Double Eagle prepared her for an opportunity she may not have otherwise pursued.
"It's exciting to be able to use AI and data science in this position and to apply the tools and principles I learned through my PMBA," Shori said.
Now a 2026 graduate of the program – and embarking on an exciting new chapter in her career – she would say to anybody who might be thinking about getting their MBA, but who are hesitating because they’re on the “older” side of things, you’re not behind – it’s never too late to start.
“You can't just sit there and wait for life to show you your path; I really, truly feel like things lead you to where you’re meant to be and you’ve got to find the good out of any situation,” she said. “You're not defined by cancer or whatever challenge life has placed in front of you, but you have to have those crucial conversations with yourself and figure out what and where you want to be. Just get up and go change it, do what makes you happy, because life is too short.”
Q&A
Q: Was there a specific moment or conversation that made you think, “This is the program for me?”
Shori: I will tell you, I only shopped one other school, which was SMU, but the Rawls College made everything such a seamless process starting from the info session – I found out I didn't need to take the GMAT (I'd been out of school for so long, I just knew I’d have to take the GMAT, but no GMAT is required!), it's a fixed cost, you don't have to register for classes, and the staff does everything for you. You sign up and they take it from there. It was truly the easiest, easiest thing. One info session and I was enrolled!
I have a friend who's in the PMBA program at TCU, and she was working through class registration and deciding which electives to take. It made me realize how much I valued that the Rawls College handles those details for its students – all the way to ordering graduation regalia for them. It takes a lot of stress out of the process.
Q: How would you describe the support you received from faculty?
Shori: I can't speak enough good things about the faculty. It's a true working professional program – the faculty are very aware that PMBA students have full-time jobs. They're there when you need them, even after hours and on the weekends. They get that we're all working professionals and aren’t doing class work during traditional hours. I received responses when I was sending emails at 10 o'clock at night, not expecting anything. Any of the professors I reached out to responded rather quickly.
Also, the assignment due dates are reflective of working full-time, too – they aren’t expected to be in at noon on a weekday.
Q: What did you learn about the program that you didn’t read about on the website or in promo material?
Shori: One of the good things with the PMBA program is that the professors realize that not everybody wants to learn the technical skills, but they still offer it for those who do. For example, I learned Python coding and while there's a lot more for me to learn there, I have this great new skill set now because of the PMBA program.
Professor Walden, my statistics professor, took that class beyond just learning statistics and how to do formulas. It was really more of learning to understand what the data is telling you – being able to look at data, understand it for yourself, and figure out if somebody's trying to spin the data to favor their position. He taught us to think critically and not just to believe everything that someone has presented to you.
Also, Dr. Dass and his team do a phenomenal job of keeping up with what's up-and-coming in business and updating curriculums to where they need to go.
The way leaders like Dass are shaping the program and professors like Walden are teaching the classes is amazing. Leadership isn't about having all the answers. It's about staying curious, asking better questions, and never stopping your own growth."
Q: What surprised you most about the PMBA experience?
Shori: I was really surprised to learn about all the different concentrations and that if you didn't want to do a full concentration, you could take a course or an elective from the other paths. That opens more opportunities to gain additional knowledge, which I love.
Another surprising benefit is the opportunity to come back and audit courses after you graduate. For example, Professor Williams had a negotiation course that wasn't in my track, and I’d love to take it, so that's one of the classes I for sure want to go back and audit. Plus, my concentration is in a world that is forever changing, and as a professional and business leader, you've got to keep yourself young in thought. I think to have the opportunity to be able to continue learning, to hear from the experts when you can, is amazing and so the idea of being able to volunteer to provide feedback when you audit – I’d love that opportunity to give back.
Q: How connected did you feel to the Rawls College community despite part of the program being online?
Shori: Whether we were in-person or meeting online, I loved the connections I made through this program. My cohort spanned a wide range of ages and experiences, which was one of the greatest strengths of the program. I learned a lot from my classmates, which I think is really important. You know, we all come with different backgrounds and just to be able to hear everybody's experiences, how they view things, and how they do things at their companies, it’s a whole other level of learning.
I also think the PMBA program does a great job keeping us connected to the campus community through the social aspect of the program. They host MBA Day and invite alumni to a day-long event of food, networking, and tours. I attended the most recent one and it was such an amazing weekend – we got to tour the football facility, Coach Gerlich was the guest speaker, we connected with other MBA students, other alumni…it was pretty amazing.
Q: How has earning your degree changed the way you think about your own capacity or resilience?
Shori: It’s taught me to put stock in myself. For most of my life, I put everyone else first. This experience taught me that investing in myself isn't selfish - it's what allows me to show up better for everyone else.
You don't have to have your entire life figured out. You just have to be willing to take the next step, trust that you're capable of more than you realize, and keep moving forward.
Q: Looking back, what part of your journey are you most proud of?
Shori: Growing up, I never thought of myself as the student who would be recognized academically. Being inducted into Beta Gamma Sigma and Phi Kappa Phi was incredibly meaningful because it reminded me that it's never too late to redefine what you're capable of.
Q: When you think about your graduation day, what feelings or memories stand out?
Shori: First, it’s amazing to be able to go back and finish what I didn't back in 2002 and to say now I truly am a Red Raider.
Second, I'm just grateful and proud. I mean, Rawls College made it easy removing so many obstacles, but balancing my work, school, and life…you know, I’m proud that I did it.
Third, I am forever grateful for the lifelong friendships that I have made from my cohort and, what's next?!