Better Together: Two MBAs, One Love Story

Anushka and Abhishek are both dentists by training. Anushka earned her Doctor of Dental Surgery degree right here in Chicago! Funnily enough, she considers herself an entrepreneur by accident as she’s someone who clearly thought, “You know what would be fun? Adding an MBA on top of an already full plate.”

Together, they co-founded and now serve as co-CEOs of a multi-practice dental group they started in 2016. What began as a single practice quickly expanded into several—partly because they got tired of looking at each other every day (and now, ironically, they’re back to doing exactly that and enjoying it immensely). Along the way came a crash course in leadership, hiring, finance, M&A, and plenty of learning things the hard way; and after years of building in real time, Anushka realized she wanted sharper tools, not just better instincts. Chicago Booth stood out to her for three reasons: (1) for being in their backyard, (2) for being an M7 in their backyard, and (3) she appreciated how Booth doesn’t romanticize business but challenges you to prove it. She wasn’t looking to pause her career; she wanted to think better, faster, and more clearly while still running it. For Anushka, Chicago Booth’s Sokolov Executive MBA Program felt like the right mix of rigor, flexibility, and intellectual honesty.

Fun Facts About Anushka: She loves hiking, exploring new places and cultures, working with her hands (one reason she became a dentist), and painting. A former varsity swimmer and teen newspaper writer, she also wrote a children’s book called The House That Threw Up, which she says is a fitting tribute to her self-proclaimed neat-freak tendencies.

Abhishek came to the U.S. as an immigrant dentist with very little money and a lot of uncertainty, learning the system one door knock at a time. At a young age, his parents instilled in him to be a force for good in the world. Building dental practices taught him how much he loves scaling businesses, leading teams, and creating opportunities for others. For Abhishek, Chicago Booth felt like the right place to sharpen his thinking and pair real-world execution with rigorous strategy, especially alongside his wife and partner.

Fun Facts about Abhishek: He loves strength training and hiking, reading about business and ancient philosophy, building strong teams and scalable systems, and having big, thought-provoking conversations.

Anushka and Abhishek met 20 years ago as teenagers when Anushka left Florida (where she grew up) to study abroad in Bangalore, India, where Abhishek grew up! They would pass each other in the halls and one day he asked for her number—the rest is history! This year marks 10 years since they tied the knot.

Anushka: The people. Full stop. Every class feels like a group project with people who casually lead teams of hundreds, manage decisions with real consequences, run companies, and grasp concepts like lightning. It’s humbling, energizing, and occasionally intimidating in the best way. I also love that Booth doesn’t let you hide behind vibes—if your logic is off, it will be exposed. Quickly. I also love that I am learning new things I have never been exposed to before (shout-out Microeconomics) and am stretching my brain in ways I never thought possible!

Abhishek: My favorite part by far has been having enriching conversations with my cohort, as well as being able to share some of the discomfort of learning new topics and getting back to math (as it’s been 23 years since I did any math) with Anushka. I’ve found a new level of appreciation for what building new brain muscles looks like!

Anushka: Lower the bar for perfection and raise the bar for communication. Some weeks, you’re both thriving. Other weeks, one of you is running on caffeine and determination while the other quietly picks up the slack. The key is being honest about bandwidth and remembering that this is a season—not a referendum on your relationship. One week I may be at 20% and Abhishek picks up the other 80, and the next week he may be at 20% and I pick up the 80. Together we figure out how to make it 100!

Abhishek: Treat the MBA like a shared mission, not a competing priority. Communicate often, protect a few non-negotiable moments together, and give each other grace during intense weeks, life is short and it’s not worth being upset at your spouse, we are in it to win it!

Anushka: Support for us is mostly about being on the same team. Some weeks that means dividing and conquering, other weeks it means one of us saying, “I’ve got you—go focus.” We’re honest about capacity and adjust as things get busy, without keeping score. And having a built-in study buddy doesn’t hurt either!

Abhishek: Sometimes support is strategy, sometimes it’s just listening. We step in for each other when one of us is stretched thin. As I always say, some weeks I am at 20 and Anushka is at 80 and she is carrying me and other weeks I have to bring my 80 for her when she is at 20.

Surprisingly we don’t know any other Booth couples but what we’ve picked up is don’t try to experience Booth identically. We don’t sit together all the time, we create our own friendships and friend circles and then bring them together; we experience Booth differently and bring those experiences together. That’s not a problem—it’s a feature. Let each other have your own Booth journey and compare notes later.

Anushka: The shorthand. No explanations needed. If I say, “This week is… a lot,” the response isn’t questions—it’s understanding. There’s something comforting about being with someone who knows exactly what a Booth weekend entails and still chooses you anyway. That said, we made a pact a long time ago that we grow together, so we do almost all learning together to ensure we are on the same page.

Abhishek: Having someone who truly understands the workload and stakes makes the late nights a little bit lighter. Also, having a built in at-home study buddy is so great. Neither of us get to say, “You don’t understand what I am going through”. 

Anushka: There have been so many, but I think my top one would be seeing Hong Kong for the first time with each other, and experiencing the culture and the food together along with our classmates!

Abhishek: Aside from seeing Hong Kong together for the first time, the late-night study sessions followed by laughing about how intense it all felt, then realizing how grateful we were to be doing it together.

Favorite date night spot?

We’re honestly pretty low key—our favorite date night is hanging out with our two pups, Pumpkin and Cannoli, and having a chill dinner at home while talking about our joint goals and how far we have come together!