Meet Grace
Grace has been a part of the Valley Energy family since October 31, 2023 as the marketing/communications manager.. Yep.. you read that right. She started on Halloween, and yes, it did cross her mind if she was supposed to wear a costume on her first day. Unfortunately, she did not. Grace is the mind behind all of Valley Energy’s themed photoshoots, every social media post, writing blog posts, the design of our website, all Valley Energy community involvement events, and so much more.
Grace is a lady of many talents and a mind for learning about new industries and career paths. Marketing and creativity have always been a passion of hers and continued to be a part of her life even when her full-time job wasn’t necessarily always related to it directly. With a degree in psychology and early childhood education, Grace spent many years working full-time as a special education pre-k and kindergarten teacher as well as an Applied Behavioral Analysis Therapist technician. During that time, she continued creating and photographing in her spare time.
The love for serving those within her community continues to live on as she facilitates collaboration with local non-profit organizations throughout the year. One of Grace’s favorite things about Valley Energy is the company’s involvement with the community through Grillz. Grillz offers $9.99 propane grill tank cylinder fills every other Saturday, all spring and summer. Portions of the proceeds from these events are donated to a different non-profit every Saturday it takes place.
Outside of work, Grace is a dog mom to two Boston terriers, Lulu (her little old lady) and Epcot (her spunky puppy). To Grace, Lulu and Epcot are more than just dogs; they are her kids (very spoiled ones).
Grace and her husband Mark are annual Disney Annual Passholders and fly down to Florida whenever they get the chance. As Disney adults, of course, they had to name their puppy after their favorite park, Epcot. Grace and Mark got married this past March and are looking forward to their next adventure, a Disney Cruise in April.
Grace’s favorite pastimes include designing and making stickers, feeding her Amazon shopping addiction, and finding the next unique piece of decor for her home at thrift shops. Her favorite second-hand find was a hot pink gumball machine, which she has filled completely with disco balls and displays proudly in her living room. Grace had disco ball decor before it was trendy and likes to take full credit for this decor craze that is now all over stores.
5 Facts About Grace
1. Grace and Mark did their engagement photos at Target in Leesburg. This required the couple and their very brave photographer to arrive right at the store’s opening time on a Sunday morning to avoid the crowds.
2. Grace is fluent in American Sign Language (ASL) and has spoken it in her home since birth. Her mom is an ASL interpreter, and she has two siblings who are deaf. Her entire family knows how to speak ASL.
3. After high school Grace moved to Ukraine where she worked as an english teacher for almost a year. On the weekends she traveled to nearby countries with her co-teachers. She has visited over 12 countries on her adventures and flown on over 100 planes.
4. During her European travels, Grace visited Disneyland Paris, which still ranks as her favorite Disney park.
5. Grace can be found decorating her office door monthly with a theme fitting for the month.
Grace loves being a part of the Valley Energy team and being involved in the community that Valley Energy serves. Grace is always up for a challenge and a new project. She comes into the office ready to learn something new and create something unique daily. She is thankful for her co-workers and their willingness to be involved in her wacky social media ideas.
P.S. If you read the first paragraph of this blog, you might have noticed that it says that she writes all of the blog posts. So yes, this means she did write almost 700 words about herself entirely in the third person. 😉