When Women's Champion Mickie James isn't kicking ass in the ring, she's hitting the books. She recently earned her associate of arts degree in business administration and plans to begin studying in February for her bachelor's in business administration with a concentration in operations management.

"I felt like I needed to do this, and I wanted something to fall back on. You never know -- if I got hurt or something like that -- where would I go from there?" James told WWE.com. "I set myself up so I'm prepared, no matter what."

By earning her bachelor's degree, James will be able to open and run her own businesses -- something she has many ideas about.

"I've always wanted to run my horse farm. So I'd definitely like to have a background to understand that," she said, referring to her lifelong passion for horses.

The Diva has plans to share her business knowledge as well.

"I wanted to help my sister, Latoya, because she's an awesome cook. She's one of the best culinary people I've ever met," she said. "She makes awesome cakes, so I was thinking about starting a little coffee shop café where she could sell them. I want to open a little small, mom-and-pop place, but she can also do catering, too."

James takes classes online, signing on in the evening or when she has free time, at least once a day.

"I get two to three assignments each week before class, and I communicate with a group for assignments. I have two to three classes at a time, so that's six or seven assignments," she explained. "Plus I'm traveling on the road and doing all this other stuff. So I have to make sure I put my time into it."

While a few of her classmates have curiously inquired if she is indeed "the" Mickie James of WWE fame, she tries to keep to herself and focus all her time online studying. She listed her favorite classes as anything related to art, English and literature. Her least favorite? Math.

"I love art, painting and drawing; and studying art, like Rembrandt and Van Gogh. I love English and literature," she admitted. "I hate math! I'm horrible at it, but I have to take it."

James also offered a bit of advice to any students who might feel discouraged about completing a college degree.

"When I got out of high school I didn't go straight to college. If I could do it, then I hope they could do it, because I'm juggling a lot here. Don't give up," she encouragingly said.
 
"Go for it and finish that degree because it's useful. It's not going to hurt you, it's only going to help you."

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