Who Am I?

Hi! My name is Valerie Desire, I am a student at the University of North Florida studying Communication with a concentration in Public Relations. In the spring of 2022 I will be a first-generation American graduate, my Haitian parents wildest dreams! Hard work and sacrifice is nothing foreign to me. Seeing my parents create a new life, in a new country, all with their descendants in mind, creates a drive that’s incomparable. I am not only a full-time student, but a full-time creative. In my spare time, I take on projects as a freelancer for peers around the city, creating/strategizing branding, writing blogs, as well as managing social media accounts. 

As I embark into the field as a public relations practitioner, I hope to bring my passion for diversity and inclusion, specifically for women of color, into professional spaces. I aspire to be a beacon of hope for the young black girl who thinks she’s incapable of being in the room where it happened. Representation is key, and I recognize that diversity can’t happen if there aren’t people that are underrepresented in the room to begin with. As I recognize I am only one person, I hope to trailblaze ways in these professional spaces to be an advocate for others, and pioneer for young women behind me.

Over the last year, I have created and curated content for a space I’ve created for young black women on Instagram. This passion project was birthed out of quarantine in order to exercise my skills outside of the zoom classroom. This social media page is available on Instagram, and it showcases more of my passion for inclusion, as well as my love of empowering women. The page has reached hundreds, nearly a thousand people with my relatable reels, raw tutorials, and my own graphics/illustrations. This page is my pride and joy, not for the possible fame or the audience growth, but for the fact that I get to inspire and uplift women. This is the same thing I hope to do for any company, to not just enhance numbers, but to foster inspiration and build up people.