Courtney McCune

*Originally appeared on ASU Online’s website.

What is it like to be a full-time employee, a mother of six, a wife and a student?

“Total chaos,” according to Tiffany Crandell.

Fortunately for Crandell, the chaos brings out her best: “I function better with having a lot of things going on than to not. Days I don’t have anything going on, I don’t really know what to do with myself.”

Of course, those free days are few and far between. Crandell is married with six children ranging in age from seven to twenty-one years old.

She works full time as an assistant store director at AJ’s Fine Foods, a specialty market that is part of the Arizona-based Bashas’ supermarkets chain. Along with that, Crandell is pursuing her Bachelor of Arts in business with a concentration in food industry management online through ASU.

Her grace under fire mindset serves her well, particularly in her professional life. As someone who loves challenges, learning new things and working with people, it’s not surprising that she has advanced quickly in her job, going from a cashier to a manager in the course of seven years.

Working in the food industry is not only a family tradition for Crandell, whose father worked for Bashas’ for forty-four years, but it is also a career that she loves. “I like being a manager. I love food and I love new things. It’s just fun to try to stay ahead in the industry and to bring new things to customers – to figure out what they like and what they don’t like.”

With her many professional and personal achievements in hand, the one Tiffany had yet to attain was her college degree. An earlier attempt at college didn’t work out and she completed a few management courses at a community college, but with her energies split between an extensive family and a rising career, school had fallen by the wayside.

Through her job with AJ’s, Tiffany learned about ASU’s BA in Business – Food Industry Management program. Offered through the W. P. Carey School of Business, the degree provides essential business skills that are directly applicable to the food industry, one of the largest sectors of the global economy.

With the support of her family and her co-workers and Bashas’, a company that encourages employees to pursue their education, Crandell is able to take a career she is passionate about to the next level.

She is in the early stages of her degree, but it has already enriched Tiffany’s career. Her psychology and communications courses gave her a better perspective of how to work with others. “I deal with people every day and being in management, you have to adapt to other peoples’ personalities,” says Crandell. “You can talk to two people, but you have to use two totally different statements for them to understand where you’re coming from.”

She has gained skills that she puts to use everyday at AJ’s, and will continue to build on that foundation as she focuses in on her food industry-related courses.

It’s a lot of work balancing family, career and school, and where some students might unwind from it by getting their nails done or watching Netflix on the couch, Tiffany relaxes with her schoolwork. “With my college classes, it’s my time. I don’t do anything else for myself except for my college classes. The kids will leave me alone for a little bit and I just totally focus on my class and nothing else.”

It’s her time to invest in herself, but ultimately, it’s an investment that will payoff for her for her family, her employer and for her future. And it’s one she wholeheartedly recommends to others like herself. Her advice?

“Just do it, just dive into it. It makes you feel really good about yourself. I know a lot of moms who feel like they can’t. They’re a housewife and a mother and they didn’t have the chance to go to school, and they can, they really can. It’s never too late.”