Valerie (she/her) is a twice published illustrator with her most recent work, "Connecticut Cryptids" being featured on NPR’s Where We Live. Her work was also featured on the label for Armada Brewing’s Pride Month beer, "QUEER OCCULT". She is active in community building all over the state of Connecticut, with a special focus on the greater New Haven area. Val works diligently to create space, art, and community that honors people as they are, no matter the circumstances. A pioneer in the online fat-fab and fat acceptance movements of the 2010s, she hopes to keep moving forward and evolving in all her endeavors and to lift the artists around her and around the state up as she does so.