Being a successful college dropout is worn like a badge of honor for many in the business world. After all, some of the wealthiest leaders—Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and Larry Ellison—never finished their degrees, and they’re proud of it.
Lauren Antonoff once wore that badge, too. After her apartment burned down as a student at University of California, Berkeley, and she missed finishing her diploma, she still managed to break into tech, spending nearly two decades at Microsoft and later serving as a senior executive at GoDaddy. After building a career without the credential she was supposed to have, Antonoff took pride in proving she didn’t need it.
But after 25 years in the industry, Antonoff became burdened by what she felt was “unfinished business.” So in 2022, during a rare career break, she was back in a UC Berkeley lecture hall—this time as a 52-year-old peer among classmates half her age. Antonoff’s schedule was filled with courses in rhetoric, political science, and even biotech.
Going back to school wasn’t ultimately revolutionary for her career, she admitted to Fortune, but it did sharpen her perspective on adaptivity and staying focused on long-term goals—even when life takes unexpected turns.
