Originally from Kenya and with a background in information technology, Cheptoo is the Deputy Director of the Kansas City Public Library. In this role she works to bring all of the library’s collections to the public, and in particular has been working on several innovative programs in local and public history. The library’s website Civil War on the Western Border, which engages Civil War buffs, scholars, students, and local residents in research and discussion on the Missouri-Kansas Border War, won several awards in public history. Also, in 2014 the American Library Association named the Kansas City Public Library winner of the 2014 Excellence in Library Programming Award for the original exhibit Greetings from Kansas City: Postcard Views of a Midwestern Metropolis, 1900-1950. Cheptoo is a board member of the Missouri Library Alliance, the Black Archives of Mid-America and the Kansas City Public School Retirement System.