Hi! Thank you for being here. I'm Valerie, or Val. I was born in Caracas, Venezuela and moved to Miami, FL when I was 10 with my younger brother and dad. I didn't speak English. On my first day of school, I remember walking into homeroom class and hearing the sound of the English language, washii washii washii washii. That was English to me then. I've been fortunate to have experienced a great public school education. High School was fun, shout out to Palmetto Sr High! I ended up with a full academic scholarship to the University of Miami where I studied International Finance and Marketing, Spanish and French. While there, I made great friends, briefly walked on the Cross Country Team, studied abroad in Paris, and did a crazy summer internship where I sold books door to door for five summers with a company that has been around since the 1800's (more on this later). To my surprise, that internship opened many fruitful doors. It also gave me experiences and friendships I will forever cherish. After college, I worked in sales. I built a career in social media and advertising where I had a blast leading strategy, creative, and execution for Influencer Marketing campaigns for big brands like Google, Sony Pictures, Amazon, L'Oreal, Calvin Klein, Bumble among others and winning a few awards along the way. Working with creators across YouTube, blogs, podcasts, Instagram was so fun.
In late 2013, shortly after meeting my husband @derekgtaylor (a.k.a @thepark), I started to explore the crypto space. Got involved with Bitcoin, used it in 11 different countries, bought a fringe jacket with it, paid for haircuts, airfare, even chapstick. Derek and I would go to bitcoin ATMs where we could find them, talk to people who would want to chat about it. It was an electric moment in time. Ethereum came along and the use case made so much sense to me. Smart contracts, genius! Got involved, got some CryptoKitties (they were cuter than CryptoPunks... doh!). I have learned so much along the way. Crypto has changed my life.
I have a daughter named Eeth, yes after Ethereum. We added an extra "e" so people wouldn't read it as Beth without the "B." Eeth has changed my life. She's my biggest teacher.
My husband, Derek, is my biggest inspiration. I've seen his kindness, laughter, ideas, and courage move mountains. Music, Coffee and Crypto are his passions and are big parts of our lives. It is such an inspiration to see him turn his passions into his profession, all while uplifting his friends and community along the way. I'm so thankful for him.
For all of my adult life I've worked. I've worked in fast paced environments, excelled, traveled, had fun, and burned out. When Derek and I learned we were pregnant with Eeth, I resigned my very awesome job at a big agency to be full time with our family. It's been 3 years since that decision was made, and I'm so glad I made it. Aside from spending most of my days experiencing the world through the eyes of Eeth, I've been helping Derek with our coffee shop Menotti's, and onchain project Fridays at The Park secure partnerships with awesome brands and experiences. Most recently, I've been really interested and actively participating in the Nouns DAO. Derek, and I, alongside our friend Drew Coffman, published Prop 450 to get a Nounish coffee shop funded by the Nouns DAO. Inspired by this proposal, I bid for Noun 933 and won. What a rush! Watching the proposal unfold across four days was a rollercoaster of emotions. In the end, the Proposal succeeded and we are in the process of making Noun a reality. I'm beyond honored to be the CEO for this awesome project, and feel so thankful to get to visualize and realize alongside such great humans like Drew, his wife Kristine, and my husband Derek. I'm thankful for the Nouns community who have all been so kind, helpful, and really fun people to spend time with URL and IRL. A big theme of mine is to have fun, I work on it constantly. It’s something I have to remind myself to do. When I do, magic happens.
Thank you for being interested in learning more about me. I look forward to sharing more about experiences that have shaped me, lessons I've learned along the way, and the ones to come. I want to learn more about you! Please reach out to me @valgtaylor on Warpcaster.
With Love!
~From Val
