Conversations with Valerie Wade

Today we’d like to introduce you to Valerie Wade. 

Valerie, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I am Valerie, a lifelong Detroiter: the middle child of two only children; my mother who was born to parents who immigrated from Trinidad, and my father whose southern roots are in North Carolina. In Highland Park, the city of trees, my parents raised our stair step family. My love of reading, which was a wonderful escape for me as a shy introvert, inspired my love of writing. The thrill of being promoted from second to fourth grade solely on the basis of my reading skills quickly subsided. It turned out that I was significantly behind because I had to learn multiplication in the fourth grade while the class were already proficient in that subject. As a result, I encountered my first difficulty—a math challenge that would persist for years. Ironically, I have spent the last 30 years as a research administrator completely engrossed in budget creation. 

So how did this shy middle child become a self-published author of my first work, Ivy Lee’s Rue, nearly a year ago? 

It began with me penning a simple short story about a young girl’s summer adventures on my mother’s manual typewriter during a monotonous summer in my early teens. Each page that came off the typewriter was eagerly anticipated by my best childhood friend. Before I started writing again, many years had passed. In my early thirties, I started writing poetry inspired by daily life and even had a few poems published. 

In 2005 at the age of forty-six, I enrolled at Wayne State University to work towards a bachelor’s degree in the Interdisciplinary Studies Program. I accepted this challenge while maintaining a full-time job and a family. Despite being a self-described late bloomer, I took the challenge head-on and even managed to make the Dean’s list along the way. In my final semester at WSU, I enrolled in an imaginative writing course. The course was instructed by Professor William Harris, a renowned playwright who was retiring from academia. I felt so privileged to be in that class. My desire to write was once again reignited. 

One of the final assignments in that class was to develop a story from a photograph. I found a black and white photograph in a magazine of a black family with their old sedan loaded down with luggage. The image was found to be from the time of the Great Migration. My upcoming novella, Leaving Jacksonville, was inspired by that photograph. Over a twelve-year period, I intermittently worked on Leaving Jacksonville. A few years before the pandemic, I joined two writers’ groups. Being a member of these groups has helped me stay focused and motivated by seeing other writers publish their works. These groups continued throughout the pandemic, and writing provided me with a creative outlet, a diversion, and a way to relieve some of the stress that the pandemic was causing. I became more focused, established a deadline, and completed my manuscript at the end of 2021. Leaving Jacksonville was halted when the fictional character of Ivy Lee emerged. Ivy Lee was inspired by early memories of a family member’s circumstance and represents countless people struggling with mental health issues which have become more prevalent since the pandemic. 

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
My early academic struggles helped me develop compassion for people who have difficulty reading. I recognized the same shame that I carried and a sense of embarrassment some people feel as a result of their literary limitations. Because of my compassion, I became a volunteer reading tutor. I’ve volunteered as a tutor at the Siena Literacy Center for ten years, and I really enjoy it. An ESL (English as a Second Language) student from Gambia is my current student. I have gained a great deal of knowledge from all of the students, who have persevered through challenges and are grateful for the time I invest in helping them on their journey. 

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I have been a Research Administrator for over thirty years. My primary responsibility is to support faculty research efforts in submitting grant applications to pursue research funding for cancer research. Budget development and meeting agency deadlines is a major part of my pre-award efforts. I am known for my patience (which I learned from my father). My goal has always been to have the researcher to focus on the science while I absorb the stress and keep an eye on the deadline. While I can’t control whether the applications are funded, I am proud that our researchers know that they can rely on our grants administration team; I try to lead by example. 

Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
First and foremost, I credit my devoted daughters, sisters, nieces, local and distant friends, and other family members for their never-ending support whenever my drive wavered. 

As I look back, there were many women who influenced my path, which I recognize in hindsight. One of my first mentors was my fifth-grade teacher, Miss Elizabeth Miller. Being a shy child, there is a feeling of not only being invisible but wanting to be invisible. Miss Miller really saw me. She allowed me to lead readings without any pressure. She left the school after that year, and never saw her again; I thank her for her kindness. Ms. Theresa Howard nurtured me as a work-study student during secretarial school for full-time employment; she hired me full-time and gave me the much-needed skills before I entered the workforce I spent years as an administrative assistant, and Dr. Marie Swanson saw that I was ready to move into a manager role, gave me the confidence to do so, and I found a career in grants administration, my current occupation. In my creative life, the prolific published author Sylvia Hubbard, creator of The Motown Writers Network shared her knowledge of self-publishing and nudged me through that process, that is where I met, Andrea Knott, who created the Pen and Tablet writers’ group, where I was kept accountable and committed to writing on a regular basis. I have made lasting friendships.

My goal in life is to do my part, give back, and raise my children to be good citizens, and that they are. As I head into retirement in a few years, I plan to pursue my last late-bloomer dream of learning to play the drums. A corner of the basement holds a dusty drum set waiting for an inspired baby boomer to tap out a tune. 

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Valeriewadeonline.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/valeried.wade/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ValDWade
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/valerie-w-66723719/