How Community Support Helped Brendaliz Earn a Master’s Degree

After years of careful consideration, Brendaliz De Los Santos ’24G decided to go back to school and become the first in her family to earn a master’s degree. While she waited for her first class to start, she said she was filled with self-doubt and scared of failure. It had been a while since she was in school.

So, she asked her network for support — and support her, they did, she said.

“I got everyone involved,” De Los Santos said. “I allowed myself to be vulnerable and tell my community, tell my people, listen, I'm entering this new thing, and I need your support."

Deciding What and Where to Study

De Los Santos said she spent more than five years thinking about program options.

“I understand that a master's degree is something that I'm going to specialize in,” she said. “Something that I want to be passionate about.”

Finding an online program was also important, she noted, since she was working and an active member of her church. Her manager at the time was earning a degree at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) — and so was her pastor.

“I got very good word from them about the school and how flexible the schedule was,” De Los Santos said. "They were both busy women at that time, and they were still studying, and they did it well.”

The option to take one class per term was especially helpful, according to De Los Santos.

So, after years of deliberation, she ultimately decided to earn a master’s in marketing with a concentration in digital marketing at SNHU.

"It dropped in like a puzzle into everything that I was doing at the moment,” she said.

A Community of Support

De Los Santos had a lot of people in her corner as she worked through her fear of failing, from her family and church to her work and her college.

Her parents, for instance, supported her in quiet ways. She said her mom would bring her tea as she did assignments at the kitchen table. And if he sensed she was stressed out, her dad would prepare one of her favorite meals — gandules with ribs.

She said her family also held her accountable when she needed it. “They didn't let me fail,” she said. “They didn't let me procrastinate.”

Her academic advisor, Cynthia Padilla, also made a big difference, according to De Los Santos. She’d check in and ask what she needed to keep going. Most often, De Los Santos said it was words of affirmation and encouragement.

“I really got that sense that she really cared about my success as a student, and that showed in her words and showed in her actions, and she really helped me with completing this degree,” De Los Santos said. “I’m forever grateful with her.”

Other resources at SNHU proved helpful as well, including on-demand tutoring in the middle of the night, whether she wanted feedback on a paragraph she wrote or had questions about plagiarism.

“For me to know that I had access to those types of tools, it gave me peace,” she said. “It gave me confidence to just continue working and to know that I'll receive the help (I need).”

Newfound Confidence and Marketing Skills

While going to school, De Los Santos worked full-time as a project coordinator at a healthcare system, volunteered as the social media director for her church and managed a personal brand as a life coach.

As she worked through her classes, she said she started making connections between what she was learning and what she was already doing — gaining a deeper understanding in the process. Her courses in social media, storytelling and brand were particularly beneficial, she noted.

It wasn’t just skills she learned, though.

“Earning my degree at SNHU gave me a boost in my self-esteem,” she said. “It gave me a boost in my confidence.”

Now that she’s done with her program, De Los Santos said she hopes to focus on her life coach brand in a bigger way. Her goal? To help women grow their confidence and recognize their worth as they work toward their goals.

And to anyone interested in a master’s degree but plagued by self-doubt and fear, De Los Santos has a message.

“You might be telling yourself, 'Who am I to think that I can get a master's degree?' But the simple fact that you are thinking about it is the reason why," she said. "You can do it... and I 100% encourage you to go to SNHU because of the flexibility that they will have for you."

Rebecca LeBoeuf Blanchette '18 '22G is a writer at Southern New Hampshire University, where she fulfills her love of learning daily through conversations with professionals across a range of fields. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Communication with a minor in Professional Writing at SNHU’s campus in Manchester, New Hampshire, and followed her love of storytelling into the online Master of Arts in English and Creative Writing at SNHU. Connect with her on LinkedIn.