Peightel carries an academic background of the liberal arts, fine art, art therapy, art history, and entrepreneurial studies from Seton Hill University, a graduate degree in museum studies from Johns Hopkins University, and continuing education certificate in Leadership and Administration in History Organizations from the American Association for State and Local History. Before leaving central Pennsylvania for Indiana, she worked almost ten years in youth camps, academic and public libraries, small historical societies and galleries, and in collections for the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum.

Peightel now serves as a manager in the Education and Engagement team at the Indiana Historical Society for the last six years, and as a chair for the bi-annual Midwestern Roots family history conference. She is also the creator of the IN 4D sensory-based research method for more experiential research and storytelling for genealogists, and as educator for family historians, law students, and museum professionals for the Indiana Historical Society, Illinois State Genealogical Society Conference, Ohio Genealogical Society Conference, The Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law, and History Leadership Institute for the American Association for State and Local History.