The goal of this research was to understand how alternative ways of teaching and learning in business education allows for identity crystallization. To achieve the objective, we collected data through semi-structured interviews with all 19 students enrolled in an alternative educational program in the first semester of 2021. The program aims to develop, through practical activities, skills and competencies related to leadership, communication, team work, listening, and autonomy. The data analysis revealed occurrences mapped in an isolated way in the previous literature, such as disidentification as a way of dissociating oneself from attributes perceived as negative; the expression of resistance as a form of identity work; the search for preferred identities; and crystallization: the coexistence of different facets of identity. We highlight the potential of educational experiences as facilitators of IW, especially non-traditional ones which are more likely to contain elements for that. The original contribution of this study was to organize the occurrences of identity work in a process: starting with a dynamic of disidentification and resistance to the prevalent discourses; passing through alternative routes, to build a preferred identity; and culminating in the emergence of a crystalized identity.
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