Annie Peyton

Annie Peyton is an architect, designer, world-traveler, and adventurist. She received her Bachelors and Masters in Architecture from Tulane University. During her time in school, she spent a year studying in Copenhagen, Denmark. After school, she became the recipient of two national fellowships. As a Global Health Corps fellow, she worked in design for a year in Rwanda. As a Luce Scholar, she worked for for an architecture firm for a year in Thailand.

Annie’s outlook on life is perhaps even more impressive than her resume. There are so many qualities that I admire about Annie. The first is her unshakable resiliency. Whether she’s on a bike in middle of wind storm, or at a lunch table when everyone around her is speaking a foreign language, or meeting with a random group of artists in the middle of Bangkok -- Annie is capable of adapting to any situation. Perhaps this is due to her incredibly high emotional intelligence.Throughout our conversation, you’ll hear how Annie is able to recognize her emotions, take ownership of them, and then use them to her benefit. Finally, I admire Annie’s holistic approach to life. She refuses to follow convention or stay in her comfort zone. Instead, she searches for alternative ways to challenge herself. And although she’s had such a diverse background, she’s still able to synthesize all her experiences into a cohesive narrative.

Throughout our conversation, Annie explains her proven strategy for landing big opportunities and shares stories from her year in Thailand. She also explains her most memorable day and a story about the kindest thing that anyone’s ever done for her. But before all that, Annie talks about her recent bike adventure.Over the course of 69 days, she biked from Washington, DC to Los Angeles, California, covering a total of 3,760 miles.And that is where our conversation starts

00:00 - Introduction | 02:59 - What motivated Annie to bike from Washington, D.C. to Los Angeles, CA | 06:30 - The logistics of packing, cooking, and sleeping while on the road | 11:59 - How Annie responded to the physical challenges of her trek | 14:20 - Annie’s bike route, along with her favorite and least favorite parts of the ride | 17:19 - Annie’s takeaways from the bike trip | 20:05 - Background on the Luce Scholars Program | 22:35 - Annie’s general approach with her written application | 26:15 - Annie’s approach to her first interview | 31:20 - Annie’s daily life in Bangkok, Thailand | 34:40 - Annie’s perspective on learning Thai | 36:30 - Annie’s involvement in the Bangkok Urban Sketchers group | 41:30 - How talking to people informs Annie’s decisions as a designer | 43:32 - How living in Thailand for a year changed Annie as a person | 46:49 - Annie’s philosophy on leading a nontraditional, exciting lifestyle | 50:00 - Annie shares one of her memorable days | 54:33 - Annie shares the kindest thing that anyone has ever done for her

Annie's Blogs at ProFellow

Luce Scholar's Program

Global Health Corps

Music credit: Lee Rosevere's "Southside" (adapted) (CC BY 4.0)