PUBLICATIONS and PRESENTED WORKS

ABSTRACTS

Academic Citations (APA style)
Conferences Program Papers and Works

• Williams-Sanchez, V. L. (2025, April 9). Bridging Literacies with Empathy; Connecting Worlds with Picture Books. World Literacy Summit 2025, Oxford University, England.
• Williams-Sanchez, V.L. (2024, September 18-20). Picture Books for Children's Mental Health Literacy Advancement: The Reading Builds Empathy Pilot Survey [Poster Abstract]. The 2nd Global Summit on Health Literacy, International Health Literacy Association (IHLA), Rotterdam, The Netherlands. https://www.i-hlasummit.org/
• ​Williams-Sanchez, V.L. (2024, August 30 – September 9). Getting Beyond “Good”: How the Reading Builds Empathy Tool Can Help Build Efficacious Picture Book Usage [Poster Abstract]. 2024 International Board on Books for Young People Congress, Trieste, Italy. https://www.ibbycongress2024.org/​
• Williams-Sanchez, V. L., & Cook, K. D. (2023). The Reading Builds Empathy Pilot Survey: Picturebooks for Empathy Development. Early Childhood Education Journal, 1-13.​​​
• Williams-Sanchez, V. L. (2023). Culture training for strategic marketing: Case study of a Juneteenth block party. Journal of Cultural Marketing Strategy, 7(2), 187-195.​​
• Williams-Sanchez, V. L. (2022). Reading builds empathy: a correlational study: measuring reading's impact on affective, cognitive and ethnocultural empathy. In The 22nd European Conference on Literacy Convention, Dublin, Ireland, July 4-6, 2022. Literacy Europe. https://www.literacyeurope.org/
• Williams-Sanchez, V. L. (2021). Culturally relevant marketing: Conceptualising a critical pedagogical approach to multicultural marketing strategy. Journal of Cultural Marketing Strategy, 6(1), 61-72.
• Williams-Sanchez, V. L. (2021). Reading Builds Empathy, A Literacy Research Study: Bridging the digital divide in a situated quantitative design. Presented to the 64th Annual Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers (ALER) Annual Conference, Marriott Hilton Head Resort, South Carolina, November 4-7, 2021.  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vBVM4FwmtPTyr1WheuLC3xewrqlRINz9/view?ts=619c1f14/ (p.227).
• Williams-Sanchez, V. L. (2020a, May 14). The Brownies’ Book to the Cocoa Kids Collection: Cultural Literacy Artifacts that Teach and Inform the Future. Presented to Cultural Literacy in Europe Symposium, University of Lodz, Poland and online.​​
• Williams-Sanchez, V. L. (2020b, April 7). The Brownies' Book: A call to action for today. World Literacy Summit 2020, Oxford University, England and #WLS20 online.
• Williams-Sanchez, V. L. (2020c). ILA 2020—Shaping the future of literacy: 2020 vision [Poster Presentation]. In The Brownies' Book to Cocoa Kids Collection Books: History's Call to Action, Today. October 15-18, 2020. International Literacy Association, Columbus, OH. (Conference canceled due to coronavirus concerns).
• Williams-Sanchez, V. L. (2019). The Brownies' Book. The Reading Professor, 42(1), 5.

Peer Review Activity 

• Williams-Sanchez, V. L. (2025). Peer review of a research article manuscript (Manuscript ID RHLC-2025-0011). Health Literacy and Communication Open. Unpublished manuscript review.
• Williams-Sanchez, V. L. (2025). Manuscript review of ECEJ–25–00298 for Early Childhood Education Journal.
• Williams-Sanchez, V. L. (2024). Manuscript review of CCAR-D-24-00318, Identifying Components of a Comprehensive Parent-Mediated Early Intervention for Children with ASD: A Thematic Analysis, for Child & Youth Care Forum.

​Press, Presentations & Readings (Chronology)​
Presentations and Talks 

• GW Health PR Teams Up with Valorena Online to Address Health Literacy in Pharma Public Relations and Marketing, (December 3, 2024). Press Release.
• ​The READING BUILDS EMPATHY Study: New opportunities for leveraging emergent literacy methods and measurement for pediatric mental health literacy and research. Presented to Intellus Worldwide, Clear Health Literacy Communications Task Force (November 13, 2024). https://www.intellus.org/  ​
• Member Spotlight, March-April. Path To Purchase Institute.com. (April 8, 2024). https://p2pi.com/member-spotlight-march-april-2024/p2pi.com/member-spotlight-march-april-2024
• Psychology, Pop Culture, and the Power of Picture Books. [Conference presentation]. Presented to the Southwest Popular/American Culture Association Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico (February 22, 2024). https://southwestpca.org/
• Association of National Advertisers (2023) The Overlooked touchpoint: Infusing multicultural thinking into retail marketing. Presented to the Association of National Advertisers February 9, 2023 [Webinar]. https://www.ana.net/miccontent/showvideo/id/wv-2023-02-comwwp-230209p/ 
• Culturally Relevant Strategy to Achieve Meaningful Project Outcomes; Featuring Valerie Williams-Sanchez. Presented to Project Management Magazine.com. January 11, 2023.  [Webinar] https://www.projectmanagement.com/videos/831473/culturally-relevant-strategy-to-achieve-meaningful-project-outcomes
• Williams-Sanchez, V. (2022, September 21). Culturally Relevant Strategy to Achieve Meaningful Project Outcomes [Presentation]. Southern New England Chapter of the Project Management Institute (SNEC-PMI) Meeting, Virtual.
• Reading Builds Empathy: A Correlational Study: Measuring Reading's Impact on Affective, Cognitive and Ethnocultural Empathy. [Conference presentation]. Presented to the 22nd European Conference on Literacy Convention, Dublin, Ireland (July 4-6, 2022). https://www.literacyeurope.org/
• Digital Memoir Workshop. [Conference Workshop]. ​Dwelling: A Virtual Symposium by Cultural Literacy Everywhere, (May 11-13, 2022). Presented at the University College Dublin, Ireland.
• "Culturally Relevant Strategy to Achieve Meaningful Project Outcomes: A presentation to PMI Westchester" ​PMI Westchester, Chapter Meeting. April 12, 2022.
• "Website Basics for Consultants: A Breakfast Roundtable Presentation for PMI Westchester." Presented to PMI Westchester. March 23, 2021.
• ILA 2020—Shaping the Future of Literacy: 2020 Vision.  The Brownies' Book to Cocoa Kids Collection Books: History's Call to Action, Today. October 15-18, 2020. Poster session. Columbus, OH. International Literacy Association. (Conference canceled due to coronavirus concerns).  
• "Eddie and the Hot Cocoa Hot Rod" Reading. Orange County Children's Virtual Book Festival, September 14-26, 2020.
• "In the Beginning Was the Word" Moderator. Presented to Say Ah! Racism & Health Literacy, A Free Online Series to Advance Health Equity, August 24-26, 2020.
• Digital Marketing to Grow Your Business, July 28, 2020. Presented for Women's Venture Fund, New York, NY.
• The Brownies’ Book to the Cocoa Kids Collection: Cultural Literacy Artifacts that Teach and Inform the Future, May 14, 2020. Presented to Cultural Literacy in Europe Symposium, University of Lodz, Poland and online.​​
• Celebrating the Anniversary of THE BROWNIES’ BOOK by W.E.B. DuBois, Apr. 27, 2020. We Need Diverse Books (www.diversebooks.org) 
• The Brownies' Book: A Call to Action for Today, April 7, 2020. Presented for the World Literacy Summit 2020, Oxford University, England and #WLS20 online. (Preview above.)​
• MarCom: Successful Strategies for Marketing and PR, June 27, 2019. Presented for Women's Venture Fund, New York City, NY.
• Lorena and the Magic Mocha Mirror, Featured Author Reading, March 9, 2019. Presented to Studio Museum Harlem and NY Public Library’s “Books, Authors, Kids” program, George Bruce Branch of New York Public Library, New York City, NY.
• The Cocoa Kids Collection,  Author Talk and Book Reading, April 10, 2016. Presented to Nyack Library Local Author Book Fair, Nyack Library, New York.

Art and Editorial Works

• Williams-Sanchez, V. L., Umansky, T., Lytle, H., & Bright, J. (2023, February 13). Black to the Future: Blue Chip's Afrofuturism Metaverse Gallery [Curated audio/visual content and artifacts]. Blue Chip - Meta. https://www.spatial.io/s/BC-Afrofuturism-Pop-Up-63e3ff36ca1cef3dbe607ef7?share=4973018299969424060/ February 15 through March 15, 2023.
• Precision Ophthalmology 2020: Applied Genetics, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, Department of Ophthalmology, (p. 44, 2019).​
• Williams-Sanchez, V. Grandma Mimi's Kitchen. Rockland Center for the Arts, West Nyack, NY. Home Exhibit, 2017.
• Precision Ophthalmology at Columbia, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, Department of Ophthalmology, (p. 73, 2016). ​
• Williams-Sanchez, V. Valory, the Koi of Courage (2.0). Figment Festival,  

               -Roosevelt Island, New York, NY. 2014
               -Clark  Park, West Philadelphia, PA., 2014
               -Rose Kennedy Greenway, Boston, MA. 2013

Articles 
     Feature Stories  

• Williams-Sanchez, V. L. 2022, June 9. The Face of the American Shopper Is Changing, ANA Forward Magazine. https://www.ana.net/magazines/show/id/forward-2022-06-bluechip-multicultural-shop.
• H​ook Magazine: Arts, Culture and Community of the Lower Hudson Valley. "Tuning Up; Rose Raccioppi Tunes with APOGEE AcuTone," published October/November 2014
• NBPC’s “AfroPoP: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange,” Caribbean Shorts Series, Filmmaker Interviews, August 2014:

                "Auntie from Barbados: Women and the Caribbean                           International Family"
                "A Small Life with Grand Visions"
                "A Modern Day Middle Passage"
                "Vivre: A Young Boy's Flight of Reality"​

•  How Breast Cancer Changed Me, More magazine online, Readers Voices (2012​).
• Letter to the Editors, Injuve, Madrid, Spain (1990)

Books and Reviews 
The Cocoa Kids Collection Books 

• Isaiah and the Chocolate Mountain, Second Edition© (2021). Valorena Publishing - ISBN - 9780692466391 
• Lorena and the Magic Mocha Mirror© (2018) - TX0008605962; ISBN - 9781483478036
• Eddie and the Hot Cocoa Hot Rod© (2015) - TX0008345961; ISBN - 9781483441733
• ​Isaiah and the Chocolate Mountain© (2015) - TX0008016627; ISBN - 9781483419312 

Visible Ink Anthology Short stories

• Williams-Sanchez, V.L. (2015). Care Instructions for Love. Visible Ink, (7). Memorial Sloan Kettering.
• Williams-Sanchez, V.L. (2013). Sisters of Circumstance. Visible Ink, (5). Memorial Sloan Kettering.​  ​

Valerie’s Vignettes Book Reviews (2010 - Present). Retrieved at www.ValorenaOnline.com
     Children's Book Reviews by Valerie Williams-Sanchez 
    Multicultural Children's Book Day, 2021

• The Big Day, by Terry Lee Caruthers, Illustrated by Robert Castilla. Star Bright Books (2021).
• Juneteenth for Mazie by Floyd Cooper. Capstone Editions, (2021).

     Multicultural Children's Book Day, 2020

• The Escape of Robert Smalls: A Daring Voyage Out of Slavery, by Jehan Jones-Radgowski; Illustrated by Poppy Kang. Capstone Editions, (2020).   

     Multicultural Children's Book Day, 2019

• Rice & Rocks, by Sandra Richards and illustrated by Megan Kayleigh Sullivan. Wise Ink Creative Publishing (2016​).
• Little Man, Little Man: A Story of Childhood by James Baldwin, illustrated by Yoran Cazac. Duke University Press (1976).

     Multicultural Children's Book Day, 2018

• Sofia Martinez: Every Day is Exciting by Jacqueline Jules and illustrated by Kim Smith. Capstone - Imprint (2018). 

    Multicultural Children's Book Day, 2017

•  Monster Slayer by Gladys Elizabeth Barbara​ by Lina Safar. Castlebridge Books (2016).​​