Willa and Michael’s Story

Willa and Michael’s story is one of patience, persistence, serendipity, and the magically small world of Fuqua.

Willa and Michael both enrolled at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business in the fall of 2019; Willa in the MMS program, Michael in the MBA program. And though there were close to 1000 students walking the halls of the building, Michael noticed one beautiful blonde girl again and again. One night in February at the local dive bar, Tavern (“Tav”), Michael saw that blonde girl across the bar and decided to finally introduce himself. He walked up to Willa and her friend and turned on as much charm as he could, but Willa was completely impervious to it. Deterred, but not defeated, Michael grabbed his refilled beverage and retreated back into the crowd. It wasn’t their time yet.

Just a few weeks later, the pandemic hit and life changed for everyone. As the world shut down and companies froze their hiring plans, Willa decided to take advantage of the newly launched Accelerated MBA (“AMBA”) program, returning her to Fuqua for the 2020 school year. Willa and her fellow AMBAs assimilated into Michael’s 2nd year MBA class, presenting another opportunity for the two to get together. During the first socially-distanced, but in-person (!!), Consumer Behavior class, Michael and Willa sat next to each other. While Michael had a girlfriend at the time, the two became close friends very quickly.

As their friendship grew and they spent more time together, Michael decided that their chemistry was impossible to ignore. And finally, in November of 2020, their love story could formally begin. Since then, they have traveled, skied, sailed, biked, watched countless shows, and raised a beautiful dog (Gibson) together. They are so excited for this next chapter and can’t wait to build their married life together.