Valerie is the wife of Billy Blood, who is the Associate Athletic Director of Finance and Administration for the Oregon athletic department. She currently is a stay-at-home mom for their two kids as their daughter is five and is on the autism spectrum along with having turrets, while their son is three and was recently diagnosed as having non-verbal autism.
Despite not ever living on the west coast, the Blood family picked up and moved from Florida to Oregon in 2016 as Billy had been hired at the University of Oregon. Valerie had a career in emergency management in Florida at the time but gave that up to move and become a stay-at-home mom to assist with their growing family.
“When the opportunity came up at Oregon, we made the decision together as a family to move,” Billy Blood said. “Our families are from the east coast so that was a hard decision.”
Valerie is the rock of the family and ensures the children have all their needs met. She takes them to all their doctors’ appointments and remains engaged with them throughout their day-to-day lives.
“I wanted to highlight what she’s done for her family and our children specifically,” Billy Blood said. “She makes a lot of sacrifices for our family and at the end of the day you couldn’t ask for anything more than that.”
When asked what he wants for women everywhere, Billy replied, “Equal opportunities for success and happiness both personally and professionally.”