Hey, I'm Val
(she/her)—
And I help heart-centered high-achievers consistently follow-through with their big ambitions without burning out or feeling like 💩 about themselves.
I like to think of myself as the Queen of Aligned Action-Taking 👸— but if you wanna talk credentials, I’m a therapist (LCSW) with 12 years of experience, a Certified High Performance Coach and Certified Quantum Coach, and the owner of a multi-six figure business.
Coaching and teaching on how to cultivate more compassionate self-discipline is my JAM.
I’ve been obsessed with psychology and human behavior since I was a kid and built my first membership website in 1998 called Shimmer Gurl. ✨
(Oh, and then there was that time our internet service provider called my house asking, “What in the name of ever-loving bandwidth are you doing over there??” I mean, how was I supposed to know my Spice Girls fan site was too big? 😄)
My ideal clients are high-achievers (👋 to my fellow adult gifted kids), but they struggle to follow through consistently with their ambitions for a lot of reasons: ADHD / 🐿️ brain, perfectionism, overwhelm— the list goes on.
And sometimes they DO follow through, but are relentlessly hard on themselves in the process and never feel like they’re doing enough or ARE enough without continuing to push at full-speed… and their health (both physical and mental) and relationships suffer.
Not only is it OKAY to need support to break through your current stuck points— it’s COURAGEOUS to seek it.
The strategies and accountability you can get with high-quality coaching are not a "crutch"— they're valuable tools that the most successful (AND most content) people use to their advantage.
A look back at my journey
- 2007: Graduate a year early from the University of Texas at Austin & get hired at a boutique PR firm.
- 2010: Shift from full-time Account Manager to full-time grad student (at UT Austin again 🤘)
- 2012: Move “temporarily” to Nashville for my internship at a residential treatment center, graduate with my Masters in Social Work, and get hired post-graduation (…guess I’m moving to Nashville for real). Meet Chris on OK Cupid (pre-apps 👵🏻).
- 2014: Marry Chris, my amazing teacher/drummer husband. Start jamming with him & a couple of our friends, and we form a band (then called Más Moss, now called Conventional Wisdom.)
- 2017: Earn my LCSW license and build up a successful private pay practice… sayonara, 9-to-5. ✌️
- 2018: Start my podcast “What’s the Fucking Point?” 😜
- 2020: Make my first hire, expanding from my solo practice to found The Gaia Center for Embodied Healing. Complete training as a Certified Heroic Coach.
- 2021: Move from one office in a shared suite to my own suite of 4 offices. Hire more. Pivot the podcast to “Bodyful”.
- 2023: Launch Bad Bitch Therapist, my online playground for coaching, courses, and content. Complete training as a Certified Quantum Coach and Certified High Performance Coach. Found my LIT AF membership and launch HeartFire, my signature coaching program.
- 2024: Rebrand BBT and the podcast to “Honor Your Spark”. The Gaia Center now has more offices and a team of 15. Can’t wait to see what’s next. 🤩
Let's get personal
- Harry Potter House: Ravenclaw
- Enneagram Number: Seven
- Comfort Show: Sex & the City
- Guilty Pleasure: Trick question, I’m not guilty about my pleasures 😇
- Humblebrag: I can go from idea to website in a day 🤓
- Fashion Style: Gimme all the 90s throwbacks— baggy jeans, rhinestones, glitter, velvet, and Doc Martens
- Reading: Like 8 books at any given time. Reading more is a big goal of mine right now!
My Values
I believe you don’t get the life you want by hoping for it and showing up halfway— you get it through consistently PUTTING IN THE WORK. And it is possible to do that in a way that not only doesn’t sacrifice your wellbeing in the process, but actually STRENGTHENS your vitality and relationships.
DISCIPLINE
The skills and practice of self-discipline are atrophying in most people today. Hustle has been made a bad word, and it’s not— it’s just not the mode to be in ALL the time. Building discipline is how you cultivate self-trust that your commitments to yourself MATTER.
COMPASSION
Compassion without discipline results in complacence; discipline without compassion results in a crushed spirit. I also believe in extending our circles of compassion ever-wider, treating ALL beings (every human AND animal) as individuals worthy of love, safety, and protection.
BELONGING
You can sit with us. Yes, especially my fellow weirdos. Fostering true belonging requires a recognition of privilege and social location. I strive to make my spaces inclusive not just in theory but in practice, and am always learning how to do this better. Black lives matter. Trans lives matter. Period.
VIBRANCE
To me, the whole point of *gestures at everything* is becoming more fully alive in a world that is fully alive (thank you Gaia). But especially in the modern world, it takes ongoing intention and commitment to stay aligned with the bold, bright, zestful human YOU were made to be.
Wanna work together?
Here are the ways I can support you in shifting from procrastination, self-doubt, and stagnation into grounded confidence and keeping your promises to yourself to craft the life YOU want.
Courses
My Aligned Action Mini-Course is a fantastic starting point if you’re looking to go deeper and build momentum for under $100.
Coaching
In addition to my signature HeartFire coaching program, I offer some single-session and intensive options for coaching and hypnotherapy.
