Valencia Gunder

Valencia Gunder or as most recognize her, “Vee”, is an enthusiastic, self-motivated and driven community leader who has been branded as the “Modern Day Fannie Lou Hamer”. A Miami native, Valencia is the Founder/Co- Director of the Smile Trust Inc., Executive Director of The Black Collective and The Lead MADD Scientist of The Freedom Lab. 

Though she is not an environmentalist, Valencia has led conversations around climate awareness in many communities on topics including sea level rise, emergency preparedness, climate gentrification, food safety and housing. She served on the Steering Committee for Greater Miami, 100 Resilient Cities and has spoken around the country on her work around Climate Gentrification. She is the founder of the Community Emergency Operations Center that assisted over 23,000 residents in the wake of Hurricane Irma. After Hurricane Dorian, Valencia and the Smile Team expanded their emergency response outreach to the global south with their “One Bahamas” programs, providing over 3 tons of supplies to the islands of Bahamas in less than a week, building coalition with local Bahamian organizations and assisting Bahamians that were seeking refuge in South Florida.  And now she has scaled her programs to 4 countries and 8 U.S. States. 

After experiencing the tragedy of losing her goddaughter Jada Page to gun violence, Valencia worked through her grief and pulled her community together to fight against the status quo, receiving the Soros Justice Fellowship. As a Soros fellow, Valencia created a Rapid Response toolkit “LIFT” to help decrease police- and inter-community violence in Miami.  Valencia, who is a returning citizen, was a leader on passing Amendment 4 in Florida which restored the right to vote to 1.4 million Floridians and works alongside over 80 Formerly incarcerated Black Women (Dignity Florida) to change legislation to assist with de-incarcerating women in the State of Florida. Valencia has been a faithful advocate fighting alongside the residents of her community to ensure they receive fair and just treatment.