Being a late-identified neurodivergent, first generation college, decolonial Professor (emeritus) of English and Africana Studies for 20+ years, speaker, writer, curator, artist, meditator, survivor, and social justice advocate, I've developed an original modality grounded in narrative studies, myth and archetype studies, polyvagal theory, ecocritical research, cultural studies, and intuitive exploration. My coaching and consulting centers clients' safety, growth, and development toward authentic expression and connecting with your particular internal and imaginative resources. As a Black woman who honed survival strategies while confronting ableism, racism, misogyny/misogynoir, classism, workplace violence, and workplace bullying, I bring empathy, real-world knowledge, and cultural resources to the table. I have been a meditation and yoga practitioner (bhakti, hatha) for 30 years. As a scholar, my subject areas include African American and African Diaspora literature, film, Native American literature, Gender and Women's studies, American Studies, and creative writing at the intersection of arts, healing centered engagement, and social justice. I'm also a certified EFL (equine facilitated learning/equine assisted learning) professional.
While eclectic, my methods are not "new age;" my work is grounded in my embodied experience as a Black woman of Afro-Indigenous lineage in diaspora, my scholarly training, my commitment to decolonial education, and my family's and community's teachings and ancestral, vernacular knowledge. All my work is rooted in my understanding of how to close read narrative, within my Black feminist decolonial praxis.
I support organizations and professionals, artists, executives, students, teachers, academics, activists, and individuals at all life stages. I remain committed to working with first generation students, working class, and marginalized people. My practice utilizes decolonial theory, polyvagal theory, intuitive inquiry, somatics, yogic mindfulness, African Diaspora and indigenous ancestral knowledge, and over 25 years of scholarship and award winning university teaching.
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Interacting with horses has been proven by researchers to build human social-emotional skills, build the sense of embodied awareness, and stimulate neuroplasticity. In respectful contact with horses we build skills of connection, relational skills, finding community, and self-reflection. This is an effective way of becoming aware of your own story as you embody it, supports liberatory creative work, and sharpens critical thinking by vitalizing and regulating the nervous (*horses are highly sensitive, socially complex, sentient beings; we are not riding, forcing, or "using" horses as tools, and while you may find this experience therapeutic, I am an educator not a psychologist and this modality is not "therapy").
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Anyone can apply for customized individual sessions or group workshops with horses -- no previous horse experience needed!
About Valorie Thomas, PhD
Our Mission
At Valorie Thomas, PhD, our mission is to provide exceptional consulting services that empower clients to achieve their business and personal goals. We deliver transformative solutions tailored to the particular needs of each client.
Background
I earned a PhD and MA in English from UC Berkeley, an MFA in Screenwriting from UCLA, and am the first African American and first BIPOC tenure track faculty ever hired as tenure track in the Pomona College English Dept (also core faculty in Africana Studies, and affiliated with Gender & Women's Studies, American Studies, and Media Studies). I taught Pomona’s first and for decades only courses in Screenwriting and in Contemporary Native American Literature and Native American Women Writers. I was awarded two Wig Foundation Teaching Awards, the Draper Center Community Outreach Award, a Queer Allyship Award from the Claremont Colleges Queer Resource Center. I curated the first African Diaspora art exhibition and symposium at Pomona, “Vertigo@Midnight: New Visual AfroFuturisms & Speculative Migrations,” and organized the biannual collaborative symposium “Healing Ways: Decolonizing Our Minds, Our Bodies, Ourselves — A Week of Healing,” introducing mindfulness and somatic pedagogy and practices into English and Africana Studies courses and programming, and organizing DEI related curriculum, programming, and outreach in English for 25 years. I worked as Program Coordinator for American Studies and Gender & Women's Studies, chaired multiple job searches, and was an advisor to the Pomona College Art Museum (now Benton Art Museum). My courses include Literature of Incarceration, AfroFuturisms, Introduction to African American Literature, Film and Literature of the African Diaspora, Toni Morrison, and Healing Narratives. I hold certifications from the HERD Institute, Mindful Leaders Project, and Innerlight Method.
Approach
I listen, and together we develop an understanding of your goal and a plan to make it happen. And we stay open to inspiration.
