Valerie was born in Worcester, MA and grew up in the suburb, Shrewsbury, MA. At a young age, Valerie started writing stories. Also, at a young age, Valerie heard about meditation and deep relaxations. She used the deep relaxations as an escape from her day-to-day problems. Valerie became interested in Psychology in high school and received her BA from U Mass Dartmouth. After graduation she was a Clerical Instructor with disabled adults for a number of years. Feeling she wanted to change careers and through a few set of coincidences, Valerie became a Technical Writer. She received her certificate from Clark University in Worcester. She has since made a very good career as a Technical Writer, specializing in writing hardare and software manuals. Valerie started writing Surviving Unemployment at one time when she was laid off from her job.  She saw herself and others going through emotional distress not only from losing a job, but from the anxiety that occured when they were job hunting. Valerie searched the bookstores to get help with these issues, but to no avail.  She tried to find a comprehensive book, that not only dealt with the trauma of losing and getting a job, but also one that dealt with how to find another job.  This search was not fruitful.  She decided to write Surviving Unemployment.  A book that starts off dealing with the emotional trauma of losing a job, then moves on to solving practical (mostly financial) problems, then finding a job.  The last chapter of the book is most unique in that it contains meditations and affirmations to use during a job search.  Meditations that are specifically written for the job seeker, so that they may go out on their job interview confident and prepared. Today, Valerie lives in Massachusetts with her husband Mark and Chihuahua Lily. Valerie has been a practicing Buddhist since 1988 and performs her Buddhist practice daily.