Hello! I’m Valerie (Val for casual days, Valerie for fancy days), and I’m represented by the wonderful Bethany Hendrix at Spencerhill Associates. I left the glories of sunny Southern California in search of adventure in Manhattan, where I’m a Senior Director of public relations in the video games industry. I graduated magna cum laude from the USC School of Cinematic Arts in ’13, and my time there fueled an endless passion for all forms of storytelling.

In 2021, I was selected as a mentee for the Write Mentor program, and in 2022, I was a mentor for the program. My mentee went on to sign her agent from that project!

I lean heavily toward writing upper YA/A fantasy novels with tons of adventure, dangerous romance, and morally gray girls who will either kiss you or kill you. Maybe both.

When I’m not writing, you can find me playing video games, baking new recipes, crying over a book, or exploring a new city in search of adventure. You can catch me most on Instagram, TikTok, or my bookstagram if you love bookish content!

Current and forever favorites

Books: Six of Crows, The Wicked King, Queen of Shadows, A Court of Mist and Fury, The Kingdom, The Shadows Between Us, Empire of Storms, Crescent City, People We Meet On Vacation, Cemetery Boys, Book Lovers, Stalking Jack the Ripper, Kingdom of the Wicked

Video games: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, Super Mario Odyssey, Animal Crossing, Halo Infinite, Fallout 4, Uncharted 4, Final Fantasy VII Remake/Rebirth, DEVICE 6

Television: Stranger Things, Dark, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Great British Bake Off, Schitt’s Creek, What We Do In The Shadows, The Vampire Diaries, Parks & Recreation, Ted Lasso, All of Us Are Dead, Yellowjackets

Movies: The Mummy, Jumanji, Ever After, Pride & Prejudice, The Matrix, Spider-Man: Homecoming, The Lord of The Rings, John Wick, Avengers: Infinity War, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Happy Death Day, Pirates of the Caribbean, One Cut of the Dead

Cover Photo by Jakob Braun on Unsplash; logo by Mia Bordlee