“You just can’t believe the richness of
culture; the joie de vivre that’s here. New
Orleans exemplifies living life to its fullest.
It gives you ample opportunities and many
of them are free. There’s no place like it in
the world.”
Completing her move to New Orleans
on January 6, 2016 (Twelfth Night, the start
of the Carnival Season), Val went out that
evening and enjoyed watching the annual
St. Joan of Arc parade. As she fondly recalls,
“Just hours into living here I knew I had
made the best decision of my life.”
Growing up in rural Indiana, Val was an
avid moviegoer at a young age. She recalls
telling her mother at the age of five that she
wanted to write a book and live in New York
City. “Well, guess what? I did both,” she
said. “I’ve written two books and I’ve lived
in New York.”
After graduating high school, Val enrolled
at Kettering University in Flint, Michigan.
She received her degree in mechanical
engineering there and her MBA from
Indiana University’s Kelley School of
Business.
Working in the field of her first major,
Val was an engineer for the aircraft engine
division of Rolls Royce. Later she became a
key figure in the startup of Oxygen Media,
serving as vice president of operations,
and she also served as corporate director
of operations for media mogul Barry Diller
during the inception of InterActive Corp.
After Oxygen’s purchase by NBC
Universal in 2007, Val transitioned with
it to the parent network, splitting her
workdays between NBC headquarters in 30
Rockefeller Plaza and their satellite office
in New Jersey. The following year she left
NBC and founded Val Grubb & Associates
Ltd., spending the next eight years in
New York while jetting all over the U.S. to
wherever she was called.
Up near the top of her list of
accomplishments are two published books,
Clash of the Generations: Managing the New
Workplace Reality (John F. Wiley, 2016) and
Planes, Canes and Automobiles: Connecting
with your Aging Parents Through Travel
(Greenleaf Press, 2015).
Val’s decision to move to New Orleans,
where she has extended family and friends,
came after what she described as a period
of “analysis paralysis.” She had grown weary
of living in the big city and was thinking
about where to go next. Having visited New
Orleans often since 1990, she said, “I loved
it every time I’d gone there so I decided to
give it a whirl.”
The move gives Val the best of both
worlds. She can fly or drive from New
Orleans to anywhere her work takes her
and, during her downtime on the home
front, she can partake in the revelry that
attracted her to the city in the first place.
Locally she lists among her clients the
Archdiocese of New Orleans and NOCCA
and she also does pro bono consulting for
Grow Dat and Habitat for Humanity, in
addition to her work with NOFS.
One of Val’s longtime clients is the Los
Angeles-based Academy of Motion Picture
Arts & Sciences, the parent organization
for the Academy Awards. Her interactions
with the Academy, which includes
coaching and training for senior leaders
and managers, plus her lifelong love for the
movies, tie in neatly with her position at the
NOFS, host organization for the annual
New Orleans Film Festival.
One thing that attracted Val to
join NOFS is their commitment
to diversity among filmmakers.
“I love the fact that we highlight
under-represented voices,” she
said, adding that this includes
minorities, women, LGBTQ and
gender-nonconforming filmmakers. “We
don’t talk about diversity; we go out there
and find these vibrant projects that are
telling the stories of our time.”
Another one of NOFS’ focal points, along
with the board members’, is attracting more
Louisiana-based filmmakers. “We really
want to discover, cultivate and amplify local
voices as well,” she explained.
But, for all of her accomplishments,
credentials and satisfied clients, Val freely
acknowledges that the work she does allows
her the means to get out and show her fun
side. As she puts it, “In New York people
live to work. In New Orleans people work
to live. The work you do here enables you
to get out and enjoy life. Laissez le bon temps
rouler! I’ve never seen a city that embraces
that lifestyle so much
and I’m in.”
PHOTOS COURTESY OF VALARIE GRUBB
MAY / J U N E 2 0 1 8 breakthrumediamagazine.com | BREAKTHRU MEDIA | 9
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