Valerie/a Venecia (she/her/ella) is a third generation El Pasoan and graduate of Texas State University.  She has been a public servant throughout her career in a variety of capacities:  Elementary school teacher, immigration paralegal, non-profit manager, and cultural preservationist.  The past decade has afforded Valerie the ability to engage in community economic development through several key roles.  She created programs for recruitment of local food and artisan start ups and small business incubation through the City of El Paso’s Museums and Cultural Affairs Department as coordinator of Downtown Farmers Market and vendors for Chalk the Block Public Arts Festival.  Her next position called for administration of the Healthy Food Financing Initiative for the County of El Paso Economic Development Department, where she also led their historic preservation portfolio and served as Board Liaison to the County Historical Commission.  Most recently, Valerie worked at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research Center at El Paso, as the Director of the new, but very recently terminated Rio Grande Colonias USDA Regional Food Business Center.  

Valerie credits her career of service to her time volunteering at area community-based organizations as soon as she was old enough.  Despite her diverse professional trajectory, her interests and passions always seem to return to food systems, cultural, and environmental conservation work.  She believes it to stem from her bisabuelo’s work as a ranch hand, and her tatara abuela’s use of food as medicine in her work as a partera (midwife).   Valerie strongly believes in the intersection of cultural foods, art, and collective community care and direct action as a vehicle to addressing numerous societal issues.