My name is Dr. Valerie Williams-Sanchez and I am currently the Vice President of Cultural Intelligence and Relevance for Blue Chip Worldwide, a full-service brand and marketing agency based in Chicago.

With more than 25 years of experience in marketing and communications, and a theoretical grounding in Culturally Relevant Pedagogy, I blend my professional and academic practices and acumen to “put pedagogy into practice” across industries. In the academic arena, I have earned degrees from St. John’s University (PhD, Literacy), Columbia University (Master’s, Journalism), and the University of California, Berkeley (BA, Literature). I also extend my literacy purview through my children’s book series the Cocoa Kids Collection® (which puts multicultural kids center stage) and my small business Valorena Online, LLC.

Through service on nonprofit Boards related culture, education, and health literacies, I am an active agent who puts my talents to work in communities of concern. I currently serve on Boards for 1) Black Public Media, 2) Multicultural Children’s Book Day, 30 Nyack (New York) Library Board of Trustees, 4) Say-Ah! A Health Literacy non-profit, and 5) Cultural Literacy Everywhere (Core Group). I am also a certified project manager member of Project Management Institute. With my tenure soon ending for three Boards, I’m looking for new engagements more closely aligned with my current work.

I identify as a divorced, Black American cisgender woman who is a Gen X, mother of a multicultural, Afro-Hispana daughter.