Natalie Waters started two big things the same week. She stepped into a project director role at the Washington State Department of Health, a jump from project manager that she calls “an exciting next step.” And she began the University of Washington Foster School of Business Hybrid MBA program.
It was a lot at once. But it also meant she could apply what she was learning to her new job from day one.
Waters believes everybody has a superpower. Hers are discernment and tenacity. “I’m able to say, yes, this looks great. No, this doesn’t. Maybe we should tweak this,” she says. “And then have the energy to make it happen.”
Leadership is her strong suit. But business, she admits, didn’t always come so naturally. She enrolled in the Hybrid MBA to understand the financial and strategic thinking behind the decisions leaders make, like how an agency funds the people doing the work and whether that aligns with its long-term strategy.
“Earning an MBA is about more than just letters behind your name or getting a piece of paper that proves you did it,” she says. “It’s really about taking what you’ve learned and using it to positively impact people.”
Hybrid MBA student Natalie Waters gets ready for accounting class during Foster’s fall immersion, bringing lessons from the classroom directly into her work at the Washington State Department of Health.
Learning today, applying tomorrow
The payoff came fast.
Her new role supports One Washington, a statewide initiative to modernize Washington’s core administrative systems. Its first phase focuses on core financials for state agencies. One of her very first MBA courses? Accounting.
“That immediate refresher right out of the gate couldn’t have been more timely,” she says. “It was perfect.”
MBA courses on building effective teams and leading organizations landed just as she was stepping into a new team herself. Operations management gave her tools for spotting bottlenecks in state processes. And corporate finance, which she admits is “not my typical jam,” won her over thanks to the enthusiasm of professor Lance Young and a shift in perspective.
“It’s not just the numbers, right? It’s why,” she says. “Why are we making these decisions?”
The real-world AI skills she’s learned are valuable as well. “Foster has an AI task force and several professors who are highly invested in making sure we’re at the forefront of this frontier. Léonard Boussioux, for example, is incredible. He partnered with our AI chair for the student council to put together events that let us test AI in real time. Foster’s leaning into it, which I appreciate.”
Her favorite MBA moment so far came during an in-person immersion for her global strategy course. Students were sorted into teams and, as she puts it, “boom, you need to go negotiate.”
“I was all over that,” she says. She also enjoyed seeing classmates surprise her. “You wouldn’t necessarily think somebody would be a firm negotiator, but there they are, standing strong.”The exercise sharpened a skill she uses all the time at work. When she needs leaders to make a decision, she lays out the options and shows how each one would play out.
Not every lesson is that serious. In her marketing course, Waters’ team used AI tools to design a bottle for a small spirits brand run by Foster alumni, and won the cohort-wide competition. Waters doesn’t drink alcohol, which she took in stride. Marketing something you don’t personally use is a real-world skill, too.
Waters jumped into career coaching right away as well. Rather than waiting until graduation to figure out her next move, she’s mapping out possibilities now, and it’s already helped in conversations with leadership at the Department of Health and the state’s Office of Financial Management.
“It’s so great that MBA students get the chance to do that in tandem with the program and not after,” she says. “If you’re not careful, you could get too locked in with what you think you want to do and miss some good opportunities.”
Hybrid MBA student Natalie Waters connects with fellow members of Foster’s Women in Business (WiB) club, which brings MBA students together for community, professional networking and leadership development.
Finding strength in the hybrid MBA community
Ask Waters how she balances a demanding job, an MBA, and family life, and she’ll start with her calendar. It’s color-coded. “If it’s not in my calendar, it doesn’t happen,” she says.
Her family treats the MBA as a short-term loss for a long-term gain, picking up tasks she’d normally handle. “There is no doubt by the end of this, it will be a family win,” she says. “I could not have done this by myself.”
Then there’s her MBA cohort team. At the start of each quarter, they compare calendars, flag busy weeks, and plan who will pick up the slack. “I know I’m biased,” she says, “But they could not have placed us together in a better way.”
Her cohort stretches well beyond Seattle, with classmates flying in from as far as Boston and Virginia for quarterly on-campus immersions. The mix of online coursework and in-person immersions lets everyone fit school “into the cracks of your life” without giving up time together in a classroom.
The rest, she says, comes down to grit and prioritization. “It may be hard, but it’s not difficult.”
Years as a military spouse prepared her for that. Military families know a move is coming, but not always when or where. A quarter works the same way: midterms, finals, and team projects are coming, you just don’t know which week will be heaviest.
“You just have to go with the flow and control what you can and let go of the rest,” she says.
Military life also taught her how fast strangers can become close. “You form those bonds so quickly, even though you just met you’re somehow connected for life,” she says. “And I think that’s how the teams go within the cohort as well.”
That’s at the heart of her advice to incoming students: Don’t treat the degree as a solo project. Lean into what she calls the three pillars: academics, career management and networking.
“There’s so much wealth within the Hybrid MBA cohort,” she says. “We should glean from each other as much as we can.”
For anyone still on the fence, she keeps it simple. “If you’re wondering if it’s for you, go for it,” she says. “You can do hard things.”
Hybrid MBA student Natalie Waters makes the most of a break during Foster’s fall immersion, catching up with classmates between sessions.
Putting down roots
For Waters, the relationships she’s building at Foster are part of something more personal: finding a place to call home.
After years of military moves, her family settled in Black Diamond, Washington, outside Seattle, in 2022. Since then, she’s grown more connected to the community through her work with the state, her service on the city’s planning commission, and now Foster.
“It feels like I’m truly putting down roots,” she says.
She means that literally, too. The military won’t move plants during relocations, so for years, she couldn’t keep any. Now, settled in Washington, she’s finally buying and growing plants of her own.
As she looks toward finishing her MBA in 2027, she sees her education as another way to invest in the place she’s chosen.
“It feels more and more like this is where we’re meant to be,” she says. “This is home.”
“You can do hard things.” For Hybrid MBA student Natalie Waters, taking on a new leadership role and an MBA in the same week was proof of that philosophy in action.
Learn more about the Foster School of Business Hybrid MBA.