Member Profile: Abigail Staples ’09, ’17 MBA

As Abigail Staples began her senior year at Northwestern, she realized she wanted to pursue a career in media and entertainment on the West Coast.

She knew breaking into the industry wouldn’t be easy: she’d never been to the West Coast, and she didn’t know anyone who worked in the media and entertainment industry there.

Instead of lowering her expectations, Staples turned to Northwestern’s alumni network for help.

During spring break of her senior year, she shadowed an alumnus at a communications firm in Los Angeles through the Northwestern Alumni Association’s NEXT externship program.

After graduation, she moved to Los Angeles, where another Northwestern graduate helped her land an unpaid internship. That position soon led to her first full-time job, launching her career in marketing, brand strategy, and entertainment.

“This was the height of the recession, and career opportunities were pretty bleak,” says Staples, a bronze-level member of NU Loyal. “But I connected with the Northwestern alumni network—the Purple Mafia, as they call it—and so many people went out of their way to help me.

“That’s the biggest reason I’ve stayed so connected to the alumni network and a huge reason why I’ve given to the University every year, because the Northwestern alumni community has been so good to me throughout my career.”

After working for Creative Artists Agency in Los Angeles for nearly two years, Staples moved to New York City, where she worked for leading global advertising and communications agencies.

She stayed involved with the Northwestern community in both cities: In Los Angeles, she joined the Northwestern University Entertainment Alliance West, an alumni organization for graduates who work in the entertainment industry. In New York, she served in various leadership positions, including a two-year stint as the city’s alumni club president.

“I’ve always felt that it was important to give financially in addition to giving of my time,” Staples says. “I tell young alumni all the time that they should give whatever they can. It gets you in the habit of giving back, of putting resources into a place that poured its resources into you. If it hadn’t been for donors before me who had given to Northwestern, I wouldn’t have been able to go to such a great school.”

Staples grew up in the small town of Martinsville, Virginia, where her mother taught English and her father worked as a machinist. Her two older brothers attended top universities, and Staples wanted to follow their lead, but she knew her family couldn’t afford to pay her full college tuition.

“When I got into Northwestern, I was over-the-moon excited, but I was also concerned about the price tag,” she says. “When I saw my financial aid package, that was the moment of truth for me. That was the moment that made me forever a Wildcat.”

After arriving at Northwestern, Staples joined the varsity cheerleading team and the University’s chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.—the same sorority her mother, Joyce, had joined in Martinsville in 1977.

Since graduating, Staples has directed many of her gifts to Northwestern funds that support student-athletes and underrepresented groups on campus.

She’s also taken an active role in promoting engagement among alumni of the Kellogg School of Management, where she began the full-time MBA program last fall. She plans to intern in Pepsi’s marketing department in New York this summer, and she hopes her Kellogg MBA will help her fulfill her long-term goal of becoming the chief marketing officer of a media or entertainment company.

As she prepares for the next phase of her career, Staples says she’s confident her alma mater will again help her meet her goals.

“Northwestern gave me access to my industry,” she says, “and a foundation for success.”