Georgia Southern MBA graduate designs her own future
Midday sunlight pours through large windows, illuminating Esther Chukwujekwu’s sewing table at home. The Georgia Southern University Master of Business Administration student is hard at work, hemming her latest creation: a new dress made from a stretchy red velvet.
“The thing I love about velvet is that it isn’t like any other fabric,” she said. “I love the look you get when it’s stretched or draped. It’s so luxurious.”
She stitches quickly with a speed granted only to those with a mastery of the craft. Chukwujekwu has worked as a dressmaker for more than seven years. She started as a pattern designer at Martwayne Fashion Institute.
“It was hard work!” she said, laughing. “Some days, I would come home and cry. I’d say ‘I’m not going to come back’! And then the next day, I’d remember why I fell in love with it all over again. It’s just something I couldn’t stay away from.”
Chukwujekwu worked tirelessly to hone her skills before launching her own business, designing and creating couture dresses for clients in her native Nigeria.
“So much goes into dressmaking,” she explained. “From developing the pattern to the fabric you use, getting the right measurements, and so on. You have to make sure your stitches are clean, that the zipper is sitting properly.”
But she realized she needed a little something extra to help her streamline operations.
” I didn’t have that business background,” she explained. “So I wanted to find a university program that could teach me how to structure and operate my business efficiently. So I started doing my research.”
Friends attending Georgia Southern encouraged her to see what the university had to offer.
“I found the curriculum for the Master’s of Business Administration online,” she said. “I saw courses that covered subjects like operations management, finance management and business analytics. So I applied and was so excited when I was accepted.”
She only needed to figure out how to get to the United States. But she knew she would make it.
“The first time I left the country was in a dream,” she explained. “It was a dream I kept having over and over again. I knew that one day I was going to leave because God would open a door for me to go through.”
Getting to the United States was only the first step in Chukwujekwu’s journey. She credits the MBA program with pushing her beyond her limits.
“I really don’t know how I did it,” she admitted. “But I had a vision. And while it was my creativity that brought me here, the program made me realize that no one thing defines me. It’s made my relationship with my craft and my business stronger.”
Chukwujekwu will graduate in fall 2025, with plans to complete a graduate certificate in spring 2026. But as her family cheers her on across the stage at the Jack and Ruth Ann Hill Convocation Center this fall, she knows that her father won’t be joining the applause.
“My father wanted me to be a doctor,” she explained. “African parents take pride in what their children are becoming or who their children are. If something doesn’t look good for them, they take it very personally as a blow to their identity.”
“He didn’t like what I was doing,” Chukwujekwu said. “Our relationship was tense. I would come back some days from jobs, and I would be locked outside.”
She moved in with a friend after she turned 18.
“Ultimately, I’m grateful,” she said. “It forced me to become more confident in myself.”
The sun has begun to set as Chukwejuku finishes up the last of her stitching. She sets her needle and thread down, sitting back to admire her work.
“One of the things fashion school trained me for was knowing that hard work can create something beautiful,” she explained. “That’s what I found at Georgia Southern, and it’s something I’m never going to stop looking for.”