Originally from North Carolina, Payton Blaney is a graduate candidate in the Master of Science in Foreign Service (MSFS) program at Georgetown University.

Prior to joining the MSFS program, Payton was a Fulbright U.S. Student Program grant recipient and served as an English Teaching Assistant in Berlin, Germany, for the 2022-2023 school year. She is proficient in German.

Most recently, she served as a Lead for North Carolina Fellow in Bladen County, where she specialized in financial reporting, policy writing, and rural water infrastructure.

Payton graduated summa cum laude from Appalachian State University with bachelor's degrees in German language, literature, and culture, and in political science with a focus on international and comparative politics.

She is also the recipient of the AmeriCorps Education Award.