Valerie Walker

I attribute my success to my mom and my dad. They were my first teachers from even before I was born on October 18, 1969 - my mama was reading to me while I was in the womb. Just seeing them operate as a husband and wife in a house shaped who I am. My mom was educated with a bachelor's, master's, and several different certifications, and she taught school for 32 or 33 years before she retired. My dad had an 8th grade education, but he went to the military, became an embalmer, worked at the funeral home for almost 52 years, and in between he fixed houses and cars, worked at the sheriff's office as a deputy sheriff. We never had our lights turned off, never went without food, and me and my brother always had the nicest of the nicest. I didn't realize until later in my life that my mom sacrificed so many things she wanted in order for her kids to have. Those type of things that my mom and my dad did for me and my brother, it kind of made me the person that I am today.

To be honest, I really don't know if I have career advice I've received, because I just knew what I needed to do. I've had leaders tell me I'm doing such a good job, but with no type of real compensation - a quarter here, 50 cents there, that's not showing appreciation, and a pizza party is not showing appreciation. So it was just in me. If anything, my mom and my daddy telling me that if you don't get a good job and learn to fend for yourself, you're not gonna be in a good place.

My advice is this: First, you don't necessarily have to go to a PWI or a big university to get those prerequisites out the way. Save your money, stay at home, go to school, get that, then go to a university. Stay in school as long as you can - don't just stop at your bachelor's, don't stop at your doctorate, stay in school and get as much as you can before you get in the real workforce. There's plenty of time for the extracurricular activities, partying, and all of that stuff - leave all of that where it is. Focus on getting your education and getting a firm foundation. Get in a job, not just a job, but land a career that's gonna lead you to growth, and that you'll be there for a long period of time. In 30 years, I've had probably 7 jobs, and my retirement is gonna be chopped up. If they could get somewhere and sit down, don't always be opposed to taking advice and recommendation from the older people. I was a single mom at a young age, but my village allowed me to go to school - my mom and my dad kept my child during the week while I lived on campus. When I graduated, I wanted to be an adult, but their plea to me was to stay in school, and I chose to go to the casino instead and stayed there for 6 years. I didn't go back and get my master's, but I lucked up and landed a career where I am good and can take care of myself. Just be a kid as long as you can be a kid, go to school, get as much education as you possibly can, be available, put yourself in places where your ways and things that you do speak volumes. That networking skill is important - you never know, you might be in a room at a meeting and somebody in a high place sees you, and you might be at the right place at the right time. Just not be so eager to say no, and learn as much as you can, early as you can.

The biggest challenges are the reality in seeing a person with a disability or a barrier. I can't tell you how often people say 'you don't look like you have a disability' - what does that look like? You see it a lot at the mall or grocery store when somebody is parked in a handicapped spot, and to anybody it may look like they don't have a disability, but disabilities are not always visual. It's not always physical, it's not always a person in a wheelchair or on a cane. That's a big to-do, a big to-don't for me - not enough people really advocating for it. There are so many individuals that are unhoused and mentally challenged, and I figure if I ever come into a whole lot of money, there are so many empty buildings around here. I can just see opening one and making it available to people, making sure they have proper mental health care, physical healthcare, and making sure they're able to get their medications and that they are taking them like they're supposed to and not abusing them. There are too many resources, or people with the resources, but they choose to put them in different things.

I value honesty and integrity above all. It's almost like the four pillars of life - you have to have a purpose, your why. I'm constantly asking myself why I'm doing what I'm doing, and understanding that I'm really valued in what I do. Another thing is well-being and boundaries. I learned just this year that no is a full sentence - you can say no and not have a full explanation of why. Family is very important to me because of the way I grew up. My mom was the only girl of 13 boys, and just seeing that made me understand and value what family is. It's just me and my brother, but we still value that relationship. Even in my older years, I feel like you have to continue learning something new everywhere. I feel like you have to, especially where we're going in the next five years with technology - staying abreast of everything that's going on around and in the world. So my values are: your why, boundaries and health, family and relationships, and learning new things often.