_by Selma Grows
Support and Education for Local Music and Arts (S.E.L.M.A.) Coachella Valley Chapter would like to take a moment to appreciate one of the Wells of our desert home as the life supporting, nurturing and creative forces they are. The Well we are speaking of today happens to be a human being with a befitting name. Introducing Ms.Valerie Wells, Executive Producer at Edge T.V Productions. She is the founder and creator of many local community media projects; including Palm Springs EDGE TV, Red Hot Date (see cover story) and the new It’s your Nickel series with John Paul Valdez premiering this week on KNEWS 94.3 FM. She also serves as a Program Director for SELMA, helping interested youth explore the world of television and film. Ms. Wells’ contagious predestined attitude refines itself, as this behind-the-scenes creative force continues to build her own organic presence while staying committed to community enrichment in the Coachella Valley.
The daughter of an inner city school principal, Wells was a highly inquisitive child from the start. She happily recants long, lazy summers in her father’s elementary school library, getting lost in Laura Ingalls Wilder, Stephen King, Madeleine L’Engle, Judy Blume and many more. She remembers gathering old textbooks from the throw pile to bring to her childcare so she could teach the younger children the ins and outs of English, Math and History. A bit of a tomboy, she remembers rarely leaving her father’s side, once even helping, at the age of 12, to roof a house. “My father always taught me that anything is possible. He never once said to me, ‘you’re a girl, you can’t do that!’ Maybe that’s where I get my persistence!”
Perhaps it’s this early exposure to education that kept Valerie in college for nearly ten years. She had four different majors including business and psychology before graduating her last semester with all A’s and a Bachelors in Communications with a Public Relations emphasis and Minor in Psychology from San Diego State University … all as a single mother.
“It drives me crazy when I hear some students making the excuse that continuing education is too hard and not worth it. College was such a great experience and opened up so many opportunities for me. Yes it was difficult at times, but now I can do many of the things myself that I would have once depended on someone else to do for me. It’s freedom,” she says.
Valerie has been producing with EDGE TV Productions since 2009.When asked about some of her most memorable accounts, she recalls when Palm Springs EDGE TV former host, Sarah D, was nominated for Deserts Best of the Best in 2009, shortly after the show premiered. Sports correspondent, Julie Buehler’s sports segment with Mark Cuban was memorable as it occurred right when he was seriously considering purchasing the Dodgers. One that she particularly enjoyed was when MTV music darlings, Dev and the Cataracts showed her how to “Drop the Beat Down Low” during a telling private interview in their Riviera, Palm Springs, Hotel Room in 2010. Valerie adds however, that her most memorable experience is and continues to be the people she works with. “I’ve been blessed to have the opportunity to be on a team with some of the most creative and passionate minds I’ve ever met.” Adding, “not only that, but they’re good people too.”
Valerie’s faithful attitude towards relationships has manifested itself as an exciting addition to the Coachella Valley networking/ dating scene and the word is spreading like wildfire. She envisions a job creating a revenue producing production where the prominent, up and coming, and general members of our community can come together for recordable entertainment and a chance at a “Red Hot Date” (www.hotDATEevents.com). It is clear that we can rely on Valerie Wells and Edge TV as she continues her commitment to creating chance and opportunity for us all to laugh, learn and WORK TOGETHER.
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