NICE TO MEET YOU

I'm Valerie Peterson

After time in a Fortune 200 Company (my last gig was as a strategic and market planner), I moved to New York City and pursued my first love — book publishing.

Working in-house for major publishers (Random House, Doubleday, Wiley), my jobs included marketing, strategic leadership, and acquisitions sign-off authority. The innovative branding and marketing campaigns I developed and implemented have been award-recognized, have amplified attention to languishing lines of books, and have helped get books on bestseller lists. 

On the digital side, I inaugurated and for six years was the contracted Industry Expert for Barry Diller's oft-renamed DotDash Meredith, in charge of all professional book publishing content. 

At the same time, I became the author/co-author of four traditionally published books. I've written for the Washington Post, the New York Times, and national magazines and have received recognition for my screenplays, teleplays and short films.

I've taught and have spoken at a wide variety of conferences and events from Massachusetts to Montana to Montreal — and beyond.

My Story

I always knew I wanted to go far in life, so I worked hard to become the first person in my family to graduate from college. After graduation, I thought my future was a guaranteed success. Then once I started having to make student loan payments, my dreams of a better life seemed out of reach.

I felt frustrated and helpless, but I had worked too hard to let my dreams slip away. I dove into financial literacy and came up with a system that allowed me to eliminate debt, save more, and invest for my future. Now I empower others on their journey to financial freedom.

Why I Do It

Financial literacy is not a term I ever heard growing up. While my parents did their best to provide for our family, they lived paycheck to paycheck most of their lives. Seeing my family struggle inspired me to aim higher. But despite my best efforts, I still found myself drowning in debt.

Once I was debt-free, I realized that the methods I used could help others like me who wanted the same but didn’t grow up with the framework to make it happen. So I made it my mission to help as many people as possible create healthy financial habits and a better life for themselves and their families.