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Dr. Valerie Young is an internationally-recognized expert on impostor syndrome. Her award-winning book, The Secret Thoughts of Successful Women: Why Capable People Suffer from the Impostor Syndrome and How to Thrive in Spite of It, published by Crown Business/Random House is now available in Italian, Portuguese, Czech, and Ukrainian.

Valerie has spoken to tens of thousands of executives, managers, and professionals in the United States, Canada, and Europe including at such diverse organizations as Boeing, Apple, UBS, Intel, Facebook, Procter & Gamble, IBM, Ernst & Young, BP, Emerson, McDonalds, Chrysler, Merck, and the Space Science Telescope Institute.

Valerie has also spoken at over 80 colleges and universities including MIT, Harvard, Cal Tech, Columbia, Princeton, and 45 other R-1 institutions. And she’s led professional development sessions for faculty at Stanford, Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, and elsewhere.

Finally, she has addressed members of numerous associations including Society of Women Engineers, American Society for Microbiology, American Association of Chemical Engineers, National Lung Partnership, Women in Trucking, and many others.

Valerie is a former manager of strategic marketing and communications at CIGNA corporation and the Director of Training at Time/Design. She earned her doctoral degree in education from the University of Massachusetts.

Her career-related tips have been cited in The Wall Street Journal, USA Weekend magazine, Science, The Boston Globe, The Chicago Tribune, O magazine, Elle, Woman’s Day, Psychology Today, Canadian Living, The Globe & Mail. The Sydney Morning Herald, The Daily Mail, The Irish Independent, on BBC radio and in dozens of other popular and business publications around the world.

She brings her insights and humor to the LIPPI program, hosting a day-long session on the Imposter Syndrome. She leads an in-depth session on public speaking, offering tangible tips and tools for improving confidence, clarity, and overcoming fear when communicating publically or professionally. Valerie has been training LIPPI women for over three years now, and remains a dedicated and steadfast supporter of the Fund and our LIPPI women.