UOPX alumni spotlight: Sakinah Mackey

As a young girl, University of Phoenix alumna Sakinah Mackey (MBA, 2025) was drawn to the big screen — not to the classic aspiration of being a leading lady, but rather to what goes on behind the scenes. This interest would guide her to work at multiple major television networks, win 23 Emmy Awards (as of 2025) and step into a different kind of leading role — that of industry leadership.

Convinced of her career destiny, Mackey acknowledges she was unsure of how to break into the field. “I didn’t know how to get into it,” she shares. “It was just something I wanted.”

Mackey had built the right foundation. She attended Arts High School in Newark, New Jersey, and, later, a liberal arts college to study graphic design. After watching a television series about The Temptations with her grandmother during her sophomore year of college, Mackey realized her destiny wasn’t in digital art. 

After gaining her bachelor’s degree, she landed an internship with a premium television network in its documentary and human resources department. She stayed on after the internship to work as a freelancer in sports for a year before getting hired on in a full-time role as a media operations specialist.

Mackey spent the next three and a half years growing her skill set before joining NBC as a broadcast editor and media manager. There, Mackey met leadership who ignited in her a deeper passion to learn and lead.  

“I had these great mentors, like my director and our president for the station,” says Mackey. “The leaders set the foundation and the tone of the work environment. They were so engaging and encouraging. The environment was so inclusive and vibrating. It was just amazing.”

Mackey knew she wanted to be like them someday, leading and establishing a healthy culture. Her only hesitation? She didn’t know how.

Mackey began to think about going back to school to learn those skills. When she learned that NBC offered tuition benefit opportunities for continued education, she saw an opening.

Mackey reviewed several options, including University of Phoenix. She talked about the MBA program with a UOPX counselor who helped Mackey understand what to expect. She also spoke with her director at work, who believed that she could accomplish earning the degree.

Once she took her first course, there was no looking back. 

“I was in love with the program,” says Mackey. “I was implementing stuff as I was earning my degree. Even if I was in the class, I was immediately applying what was in the workbooks. They helped me become more efficient.”

Mackey carried this efficiency mindset into how she approached homework and her home life.  

“It was very important to have a system,” says Mackey. “That’s what I would tell anybody who’s going into the MBA program, because you can give yourself time to study and absorb and create a good work, life and school balance.”

One area where Mackey needed to be especially balanced was taking care of her husband, particularly in anticipating the dinner hour.

“When you are married, you have to spend time together,” says Mackey. “And I told [my husband], ‘Listen, if you come in the door and I am on the laptop, just go into the kitchen. You’re going to see your food on the stove. It’s there. Don’t worry. I didn’t forget you.’ And you know, it worked for me.”

Things went from good to great when Mackey took a class that included a stock market project — her husband’s area of expertise.

“This man wouldn’t stop talking,” she laughs. “‘What’s the next stock you are looking at?’” he would ask.”

With her husband, Mackey practiced her class presentation in which she recommended investing in a certain stock. She was so compelling that he took her advice and reaped the benefit. That year, the stock did so well that her husband asked if Mackey would consider working for him. Mackey grins as she explains that she declined. She feels they work best with some space between home life and careers.

Pursuing her MBA may have been a net positive for Mackey, but it wasn’t easy. She sacrificed both time and leisure in achieving that goal.

“You have to go straight home [after work],” she explains. “I can’t go to Shake Shack. [And] instead of coming home and catching up on my DVR or my Stories, I had to come in and study and eat that apple instead.”

The payoff for such sacrifice? Skills. “It’s given me a strong foundation in strategy and leading,” she says of her MBA. “Now I lead projects with more clarity and confidence, and I’ve been connecting at a higher level.”

While Mackey has gained both accolades and Emmys throughout her career, she views her successes with humility. Erin Donovan, the manager of scheduling and planning at WNBC/WNJU (Telemundo), puts it this way: “She has her hand in so many pots and is so modest about it, you never know what great big thing is coming out of her next!”

Donovan and Mackey started working together in 2024, and Donovan didn’t know Mackey was pursuing her MBA until she was graduating. “It never came up in conversation until she asked me for that day [graduation] off.”

Now, Mackey has Donovan thinking about her own graduation.

For Mackey, she may have another graduation on the horizon. Once she’s had a year to implement the lessons and skills acquired during her MBA, she has her eye on a doctorate.

“I think you have to continuously learn. Why stay where I am now?” she asks. “Let me go for the doctorate so I can run a network. I think having a doctorate will keep me relevant and fresh [with] new ways of being innovative and passing it on to my colleagues and employees. That’s my dream right now.”

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