Valerie Sakimura

Valerie Sakimura is the Executive Director of DFI, where she leads the organization’s overall strategy and impact, working closely with staff and partners to fulfill DFI's mission of ensuring every child has well-prepared teachers.

Valerie brings 20 years of experience supporting leaders and teams across education, non-profit, and for-profit organizations, and previously served as Vice President of Program at DFI, overseeing its programming for teacher-preparation leaders and faculty. Prior to joining DFI, she served as an Associate Partner at NewSchools Venture Fund and a consultant with Monitor Group. She holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

Valerie lives with her husband and three young children in Colorado, where she enjoys spending time outdoors and preparing elaborate home-cooked meals. Originally from Hawai‘i, she is proudly hapa and sansei.

Describe a teacher or student who made a lasting impact in your life.

In Hawai’i where I grew up, many kids speak Hawaiian Pidgin, a local dialect often used in everyday conversation, but looked down on in academic settings as an uneducated way to speak and write. My high school English teacher, Mr. Teter, asked us to read literary works in both standard English and Pidgin. It was the first time that I had experienced Pidgin being treated by a teacher as worthy of study and intellectually on par with standard English. I remember how affirming it was for my classmates to see their language lifted up like that and how engaged students were in the learning they were invited into. Mr. Teter really opened my eyes to how teachers have the power to honor students in their fullness and, in doing so, open up new ways of thinking and seeing the world.

What’s the best thing about working at DFI?

When I drop my daughters off at school, the questions running in the back of my mind are: Do their teachers see them as I do? Do they cherish them as I do? Do they want for them what I do? Families put incredible trust in teachers to see and care for their children and help them build the knowledge, skills, sense of self, and sense of the world that will ultimately enable them to live full, meaningful lives. And because kids don’t get to start their educational journeys over each new year, every teacher they encounter in their history of schooling matters. Helping shape how future teachers are prepared so that they can stand in front of kids better able to see them, lift them up, and foster their potential is an immense privilege.

What's a local place or activity you would want DFI colleagues and/or program partners to experience if they came to your town?

There are so many great hiking spots around Boulder - there's a perfect trail no matter what kind of adventure you're looking for! Recently, we've been loving the Ceran Saint Vrain Trail. It's perfect for young kids to be able to play in the creek, leaf-peep the shimmering gold aspen trees overhead, and get out some energy balancing on fallen logs and hopping from stump to stump.