Angie Graham, born and raised in the Champaign-Urbana area, has worked at the University since 2014. Last September, she was promoted to store manager at the Illini Union Starbucks. 

Her favorite Starbucks drink is a mango dragonfruit with lemonade refresher. 

“I’ve been wanting to be a store manager for several years, but apparently it wasn’t my turn yet,” she said. 

Graham also worked at the Starbucks in the Illini Union Bookstore and helped open the Starbucks at the Sidney Lu Mechanical Engineering Building. 

“I’m still learning a lot with this new job as a store manager,” she said.

Graham attended college off and on between 1993-2006 at Parkland Community College and the Greenville College program for full-time working adults. She received her bachelor’s degree in management while continuing to work full time. 

While attending school she worked at the Provena Covenant Medical Center in Champaign, Illinois. 

She then worked as an assistant manager at Walgreens, where a bachelor’s degree is required for that position, according to Graham. She worked there for eight years. 

“Then that’s when the University contacted me and … I heard the University was such a great place to work,” she said. “I chose to take a little bit of a pay cut to come to the University.” 

When Graham began working at the Illini Union, she was the assistant manager of the bowling alley recreation room at the Illini Union.

She worked there for two and a half years before moving to the assistant manager position at Starbucks for five years. In September of 2021, she was promoted to store manager. 

“I really, really enjoy working with the students and getting to know all the students and where they’re from, and just helping them become better workers by managing them,” Graham said. “I kind of act like I’m young at heart, so we try to make it really fun around here.” 

Kerri Ruggieri, the current assistant manager at the Illini Union Starbucks, met Graham in September 2018, when she began working there. 

According to Ruggieri, Graham “exudes good energy.”

“She’s outgoing, fun spirited, but when it comes down to getting the work done, she gets the work done,” Ruggieri said. 

Graham said she’s content where she is right now and believes that working hard helps you accomplish anything. 

“I never thought I would have graduated with a bachelor’s degree,” Graham said. “I wasn’t sure I was going to go to college after high school. Whatever you put your mind to, you can do. I made it as far as I wanted to go and then some.” 

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