Valencia Belle’s interest in helping students achieve their academic potential took root early. The Mobile native was 12 years old when she began tutoring fellow students, charging a small fee that kept her in business as she went on to excel as a scholar and track and field athlete at Murphy High School.
Belle went on to earn her bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Alabama, then spent several years working as a researcher for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where she was part of team credited with advancing development of HIV medications. She left NIH to continue her education, earning a nursing degree from Virginia Commonwealth University before completing her master’s in family studies and system integration at the University of Maryland. Belle continued to reach for the highest echelons of education: a Ph.D. in organizational leadership from the University of Southern California.
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