Valerie is an American Sikh whose grandparents immigrated from India and became farmers in Clovis, near Fresno, California in 1913. She was propelled into the social justice scene when her family friend, Balbir Singh Sodhi, was killed in anti-Muslim violence after 9/11 because he was a brown person wearing a turban. Her TED Talk, where she lays out her vision for Revolutionary Love as a social justice strategy, has been viewed 3.3 million times.