When Jasmine Knight returned to Georgia State’s Robinson College of Business in 2023, she was picking up a dream she’d carried for more than the past two decades. Years earlier, she paused her college pursuits to raise her daughter.
“Stepping away from college 20 years ago is one of my biggest regrets, but choosing to be a mother is not,” Knight said. “Being a mom is my favorite role and brings me so much joy.”
As life and parenthood marched on, Knight never lost her ambition. She worked full-time, raised children, and took classes part-time at Georgia State’s Perimeter College, where she wrapped up her associate degree in business administration in December 2022.
Knight immediately transitioned to Robinson the following January to pursue a career in data analytics, a field one of Knight's former managers thought might be a good fit. So Knight did what she always does—researched thoroughly and planned with care. Upon discovering Robinson’s B.B.A. in computer information systems program, she read the description over and over until she knew without a doubt that it was the right path.
Knight’s steel-clad determination paid off. While enrolled at Robinson, she also worked as a data quality analyst at cybersecurity solutions company BeyondTrust. In January 2024, she was promoted to data analyst on its data management team.
“It was an exciting season for a data nerd like me,” she said.
The role allowed her to apply the knowledge she built at school to real-world projects, including migrating data from multiple systems and working with tools such as dbt, Fivetran, and Databricks.
In the classroom, Knight went all in on challenges that stretched her skills.
“Professor Aria’s course traumatized me in the best way,” she laughed. “I had to take it twice, but it was worth it.”
Data programming, machine learning, and cloud computing courses helped Knight build a strong technical foundation, while hands-on assignments brought those skills to life. She learned how to connect theory to practice, from designing a database with Spotify song data to forecasting Netflix stock prices. Those experiences opened her eyes to opportunities beyond data engineering and sparked a deep interest in machine learning, which she may pursue later into her career.
Balancing work, school, and family has been no walk in the park; Knight credits her support system with helping her succeed. “The answer to how I overcame it: family, community, therapy, and God,” she said. “I could not be where I am now without those things.” Friday movie nights, park visits, and cheering her kids on in their own activities keep her grounded and remind her why she continues to push forward.
Knight graduates this December and is closer than ever to her endgame of becoming a data engineer. She sees herself building strong data pipelines for a team of analysts and scientists and is open to exploring paths through analytics engineering along the way. More than anything, she feels stronger and more confident than she ever imagined.
“One of the biggest realizations I’ve had is that I can do hard things,” she said. “Challenges that once felt overwhelming don’t seem so intimidating anymore.”
To Knight, her degree is more than a resume bullet point. It proves that persistence, resilience, and faith pay off—qualities she hopes will trickle down to her children as they chart their own unique paths.