University of Tennessee, Knoxville, alumni Lillia Poveda King (’21) and Codey King (’21) met in eighth grade and later became high school sweethearts in their hometown of Seymour, Tennessee. Today, the now-married couple live in Washington, DC, as research analysts pursuing the career goals that first started to bloom in each of them around the same time they met.
Bonding Through Speech and Debate
They have shared a lot over the years, including undergraduate degrees in economics and a passion for speech and debate. They both served on the executive board of the Tennessee Speech and Debate Society before the organization came under the School of Communication Studies in 2023, back when TSDS student members were wholly responsible for everything the team did. Unlike some student organizations that compete, the students had to do everything for the team from fundraising and acquiring grant money for competitions, to ordering and driving fleet vehicles to transport the team around the country.
It was tough, but it was worth it, the couple said. It also gave them the perk of spending extra time with their significant other—though they intentionally avoided acting like a romantic couple and maintained a professional dynamic when conducting TSDS business. But, that unique challenge of running a team while also actively competing allowed them to see each other through a different lens.
“As individuals in these leadership roles, in turn it helped us grow as a couple because we watched each other grow. I don’t know how to explain it, but always being together with these debate trips but not necessarily being a couple, I think that brought us together in the times that we could be a couple,” King said.
Poveda King agreed, saying it was enriching to grow alongside her partner while they honed their speech and debate skills together. They both competed in their shared extracurricular activity during high school.
“We reconnected in high school over politics, and neither of us work in that now but we were drawn to each other because of that interest, and we simultaneously blossomed into economics. We both independently came to that, and we both had different areas of focus in economics,” Poveda King explained.
Though Poveda King initially attended another university for her first year of college, she transferred to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, so she could pursue a major in economics—an area of study her previous school didn’t offer. While she didn’t want people assuming she had transferred just to be with King—who was also studying economics—it was certainly a bonus, she said.
King had already immersed himself in TSDS during his first year at UT and Poveda King happily jumped on board once she came to campus her sophomore year. For them, speech and debate was more than an extracurricular activity, it was also a big part of their social lives. The community they had through TSDS was one reason they were thrilled upon learning the organization found a new home at the College of Communication and Information.
“We were very excited to see that the team got a coach and a home because we bounced around a lot,” King said, noting he’s glad current members of the team don’t have to simultaneously fundraise, coach themselves, and compete, as they did during his time at UT. “I love speech and debate, I love the team, so I thought it was all worth it and we still try to help where we can.”
They recalled how difficult it could be to get all the funds necessary to make tournaments cost-free for students. There were times when TSDS members scrounged up money to help feed each other while on the road as their funding often wasn’t allowed to be spent on meals. They said it’s encouraging that, with the financial support of an academic department, current and future TSDS members can focus on competing and not worrying about whether they have money for food or travel.
They were also pleased when Assistant Professor of Practice and Debate Coach Abbey Barnes came on board as a faculty coach for TSDS to provide much-needed guidance for the student members. Attending speech and debate tournaments throughout the state in high school and college means reconnecting with the same people year after year, and they said Barnes is well-known throughout Tennessee for skillfully running speech and debate tournaments.
Another new development the two were happy to see come to fruition is that TSDS is hosting the 2025 Tennessee Intercollegiate Forensic Association tournament at UT February 14-16. Referred to as “state” amongst Tennessee speech and debate teams—because participation is limited to Tennessee teams—it has been a long-time goal of TSDS to host this tournament at the Knoxville campus.
“I think it’s great to be able to see; where we were in our collegiate time, that was something we could never do because we didn’t have the capacity or the funding or networking in place to pull that off. It was already hard doing our small annual tournament, Vol Classic. Seeing that Abbey was able to do that was great, she was always great at running tournaments,” King said.
Becoming Young Professionals Together
While TSDS was an enjoyable extracurricular, it also helped them develop skills they’ve both use in their current careers. The last year and a half they competed at UT fell during the time classes were held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and several speech and debate tournaments were canceled. TSDS members had to make do with meeting online for practice and planning, and King said it was tough to be TSDS president while wrapping up his senior year all while job hunting. Adding another layer of responsibility was his status as a Baker Scholar his junior and senior year at the Howard Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy (now the Howard H. Baker Jr. School for Public Policy and Public Affairs), where he focused on public policy analysis.
After graduation, they moved to Washington, DC, where they acquired jobs related to their economic majors: Poveda King works as a research analyst for Numerator and King is a senior research analyst for Monument Economics Group. She uses the skills she learned from speech and debate regularly, and acquiring those skills was part of the “spiel” they’d always give when recruiting TSDS members. The set-up of their speech and debate tournaments consisted of each competitor being given a topic and 30 minutes to research arguments for or against said topic. Then they would present their key points effectively and in a conversational tone before a panel of judges.
“It’s really helpful in learning how to be really analytical and use your critical thinking skills. I’m starting to get to the point where I’m doing presentations for clients and I’m able to field their questions and understand where to find good resources and know how to do reliable research and understand how to present to certain audiences and how to write,” she said. “You learn to know your audience, how to convey what you are trying to say, and it is also about being solutions oriented.
While the young professionals’ careers keep them busy, they’ve managed to make plenty of connections in Washington, including with other UT alumni. They love their new city and all its unique offerings—though bemoaned that, despite being an intersection of global culture, there is no soft serve ice cream in Washington that measures up to Knoxville’s iconic Cruze Farms.
Shortly after they moved to the nation’s capital, they got engaged beneath Washington’s celebrated cherry trees in full blossom, in March 2022. They were married on their dating anniversary, September 9, 2023, back in East Tennessee with their friends and family. Even though home and UT are several hours away, Poveda King and King have the unique benefit of remembering so many good times together, with speech and debate being a major highlight of their nostalgia. And their experience with TSDS only strengthened their bond in a way that still shows up in their relationship today.
“It was a cool perspective to see my partner be a leader and us working together in a business capacity. It makes it a good partnership at a relationship level to know we’re compatible to plan and travel and lead together,” Poveda King said.