Continuing a mission of service

For Ayesha Ahmad, a United States Marine Corps uniform is much more than just a garment. It is a symbol of a life lived in service of her country and community. 

Ayesha graduated from the United States Naval Academy and was commissioned by the Marine Corps. In the 12 years that followed, she worked as a technical information officer in Okinawa, Japan, and did disaster relief work in Haiti, among other roles. Even as she hung up her uniform and began her transition to civilian life, Ayesha knew she didn’t want to leave behind the Marine Corps values — and the sense of purpose that comes with them. 

“As a person, I want to be of service to others,” said Ayesha, who credits her mother, her father and her faith with instilling strong community values. “That is what led me to the military in the first place.” 

Those same values drew her to the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business. As Ayesha was planning her departure from the military, her executive officer, who happened to be a Notre Dame alum, suggested she consider the Notre Dame MBA. 

“Mendoza’s 'Business as a Force for Good' motto really resonated with me,” said Ayesha. “It helped realize that taking off the Marine Corps uniform doesn’t mean that I have to stop serving others.”  

Business on the front lines

At Mendoza, Ayesha gravitated toward the Meyer Business on the Frontlines program, a course that uses the power of business to improve the lives of people living in some of the world’s most vulnerable communities. In early 2026, she visited Olancho, Honduras, where she worked with the Olancho Aid Foundation. 

In Honduras, schools are free and compulsory, but only nine years of basic education are covered. Only about half of Honduran girls complete secondary school. For boys, the completion rate is even lower — just 37.5%. The Olancho Aid seeks to improve these numbers through operating two Catholic educational institutions that provide hope and enable transformation through education:

• Escualita Nazareth delivers specialized attention and helps special needs students acquire life skills and reach personalized educational goals.
• The Instituto Oscar Cardenal Rodriguez offers college preparatory courses to students in grades 7-11.

“It was a powerful experience,” Ayesha said. “We weren’t just reading case studies; we were on the ground, listening to the challenges these organizations face every day.”  

Notre Dame MBA smooths transition from military life

The highly structured military life gave Ayesha a strong sense that her work was part of something bigger than herself. But the transition to civilian work can be challenging for many who have served. Ayesha knew she wanted to replicate that same sense of purpose in the next phase of her professional life, but she wasn’t sure how to go about it. 

As part of her transition out of the Marine Corps, Ayesha took a week-long course called a transition readiness seminar. But it was so jam-packed with information that she compares the experience to drinking from a fire hose. 

“There are resources to help you,” she said. “But when it comes to how to propel yourself to a leadership role in business, it’s a bit harder to navigate.” 

At first, Ayesha struggled to put her Marine Corps experience into language that civilian hiring managers would understand. She credits the Mendoza Graduate Career Services team with helping her to do it. 

“Coming from the military, you talk in acronyms and mission sets,” she laughed. “But Mike Newberry, the associate director of Graduate Career Development at Mendoza, helped me see that managing a $20 million R&D portfolio while I was stationed in Okinawa is exactly the kind of strategic operations experience that top-tier companies are looking for.” 

Her efforts in military-to-civilian translation are paying off. Ayesha landed a strategy and planning internship with the Ford Motor Company in a leadership development role. She also hopes that the skills she developed during her time in the military will prove to be universal. 

“I like looking at big, difficult problems and trying to break them apart to see what the solution could be,” she said. “Collaborating with others is important. While one mind is powerful, a group of many minds is much more powerful than any one individual can be.” 

Her Notre Dame MBA is the skeleton key unlocking the pathway between these two very different phases of her career.

"In the military, I never had to develop foundational business skills, and I think of my MBA as a transition opportunity," Ayesha said. "It allows me to refine who I am as an individual and familiarize myself with the world of business. I wanted to carry with me the lessons from my Marine Corps career. These lessons will serve me well, as learn and develop new skills I will need to be a leader in business, and a stand-out employee."