Meet Our June Alumna Spotlight: Abby Peoples

Our June Alumna Spotlight features Abby Peoples! Read more to hear what she has been doing since she graduated in 2018!

Name: Abby Peoples

Theta Member Class: MC ‘14

Graduation Year: 2018

Major/Degree: Bachelors of Business Administration, emphasis in Marketing

Hometown: Kansas City, MO

Where do you live now? Kansas City, MO

Where do you work now? What have you been up to since graduation?

After graduating from Mizzou, I moved to Seattle, WA for a Career Development Program rotation on Hallmark’s Amazon team. When I was there, I met my first friends through advising the Alpha Lambda chapter of Theta and joining the Young Alumnae group in Seattle. I moved home to KC in 2020 and now continue my career at Hallmark on the Global Licensing team as a Licensing Account Executive.

What's your favorite thing about your job?

I love getting to represent the Hallmark brand and build external relationships with Licensors, including Paramount, the NFL, and Nickelodeon.

What's your favorite thing about the city you live in?

First and foremost, I love that my family is close by. I also love that Kansas City is known as one of the best “biggest small towns” — you can always make a connection with someone and every day can look different. Downtown living is amazing, but I also like getting out — in KC, you can be in the city at one moment and out enjoying nature the next. Truly the best of both worlds!

What are you passionate about?

I have a passion for people and their stories. What has made someone who they are today? What are their own passions? What has shaped their worldview?

What do you do in your free time?

I love finding new restaurants and neighborhoods in KC, traveling to visit friends across the country, and spending time outside — fishing with my dad or photography with my mom are restorative days for me. I also spend a lot of time with my church and have started playing soccer again in a local adult league.

Do you have any other future career or life goals?

I look forward to continuing leaning into my passion around people and relationship building in my current role at Hallmark. I’m working on my MBA at UMKC and will graduate next spring — we will see where life takes me from there!

What do you miss most about Mizzou?

I miss living within minutes of all my best friends. It’s not until you live in a different time zone and a whole flight away from the people who feel like home that you realize how special it was to have those people living within walking distance, doing the same seemingly mundane hours of life together.

What do you miss most about Theta?

I miss how natural the ease of community was within Theta. Theta is filled with women who call you higher and encourage this desire in yourself to thrive in the best way, and you get to be surrounded by them every day because of the way paths so naturally intersect. In the post-grad world, it takes an added effort and bit of luck to cross paths with people of that caliber!

What is one thing you took away from being a part of Theta in college that has shaped you into the woman you are today?

On preference day as a potential new member, I remember looking around thinking, “THESE are the women I want to become”. Thetas can command a room with respect, can stand firm in differing viewpoints, and can use their varying gifts to benefit the greater good. Theta not only showed me I could be a confident woman in leadership, but it taught me how to be one!

Do you have a specific favorite Theta memory?

2017 Theta Exec was a memorable gift to me! I served as President of Alpha Mu on an executive board with seven of the strongest, most hard working friends. There were times of growth and imperfections, but also remarkable joy and laughter that can’t be replaced! We received the Golden Kite Award, myself and the CFO (my now co-worker!) were the first to live in the Officer Suite, and we shared a closeness that went beyond Sunday evening Exec meetings. I wept like a little baby that last chapter meeting we served together, being so impacted by the power of true Leading Women and a special chapter of life coming to a close.

Is there anything else you'd like to add?

When I think back at my four years at Mizzou, my thoughts go right to my memories as a Theta. So many of my college memories were in the Theta house, included my Theta sisters, or were brought into my life because of Theta. Not only the memories, but the growth and connections truly do last a lifetime. Theta is a source of connection — a feeling of “home”— that has proven to be true as I live in different cities, begin new business relationships, and reflect on pivotal moments in my life. I owe so much of who I am today, my successes, and my friendships to Kappa Alpha Theta.