As Valerie watched a 25-ton pile of discarded lumber go through an industrial grinder to be sold as boiler fuel, with over 20 yrs in residential construction, she immediately recognized that diverse markets could use this material at scale. Valerie founded Sankofa Lumber as a closed-loop supply-chain solution to bring these materials back into the built environment. Valerie has an MA in Int’l Management, and a BA in English from Bryn Mawr, but her forklift certification she finds most useful.