More than “good enough”

When Sean Erdrich (MBA ’24) was 15, he left a home that had long been emotionally and physically abusive, where he was told that he would never be good enough and that he wouldn’t make it in the world.

He lived out of his car for four months, showering in the Raleigh grocery store where he found work. He learned he didn’t have to tackle life’s obstacles alone, getting by with support from close friends, his church and local food pantry. He soon felt a calling to help people in the way his new community had helped him.

That goal guided him during a seven-year stint in the U.S. Army, including serving as a liaison officer in Turkey, a military policeman in Germany and a squad leader and later platoon sergeant in Fort Stewart, Georgia. He volunteered with the United Services Organization (USO), which named him Volunteer of the Year outside of the continental U.S. in 2020.

After leaving the Army in 2022, he joined the USO full time as a mobile operations and program specialist in Fort Benning, Georgia.

Others leaned on him. When he left the USO later that year to join UNC Kenan-Flagler’s Full-Time MBA Program, he learned he could still lean on others there, too.

It took a while to build trust with his study group those first few months. Eventually, he began to open up to them. Eventually, someone suggested looking into UNC’s Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS). With the support of those who would become his close friends at UNC, and later his fiancée, he took steps to address his own mental health, something he had never focused on before.

“We talk about the UNC family, the Tar Heel family,” he says. “For me, it’s deeper than that. They’re the family that I’ve been able to choose and invite into my life. I’m grateful to have found that family. I truly saw that there are people in this world who are willing to build trusting and lasting relationships with you. I didn’t have a vocabulary for that when I first got here.”

And after graduating in 2024 and landing a senior consultant job with Deloitte in Charlotte, Erdrich is more confident about himself than he ever has been.

“I feel like more of a complete person coming out of this program,” he says. “When you come to UNC Kenan-Flagler for an MBA, you’re not just going to get an MBA. It’s more than just a degree. It’s going to challenge you as a person and help you grow as a person. And you’ll never look back.”

Redefining service

Erdrich, a Vetter Dean’s Fellow, would find his footing at UNC Kenan-Flagler working on the types of business projects he had always wanted to.

He enrolled in STAR (Student Teams Achieving Results) and as part of his research for a STAR consulting project his first year, he reached out to the American Red Cross. That morphed into a self-led, second-year project creating a post-COVID-era hybrid service delivery model with the potential to revolutionize how the venerable institution provides care.

“Service has always been important to me, but its meaning has changed over time,” he says. “Right now, what service means is giving back to the people and organizations that need help. It’s giving yourself and your resources to help others grow. I want to create a positive impact on the world and on business. I firmly believe that the good that you sow into the world spreads.”

He reveled in courses like Managing the Professional Service Firm with Professor Atul Nerkar and the atmosphere of pure debate and discussion. Leading in the Middle with Professor Mark McNeilly exposed him to the intricacies of cultural and power dynamics of business organizations. Professor Alex Dickey, other consulting faculty members and STAR Director Karin Cochran offered mentorship. After a summer internship with Deloitte, he spent much of his second year in the program mentoring other MBA students, serving as the vice president of learning and development for the MBA Consulting Club.

Erdrich focused on finishing his work on the American Red Cross project and another STAR project before heading to Deloitte full time. In March 2025, another chapter in life will begin when he gets married near Greenville, South Carolina, at a venue with mountain views that everyone calls Pretty Place Chapel.