If you don’t know who Val Kinzler is, she is a selfless and strong woman in the world of rock and roll music. She is also the fierce leader of We The She.

Val Kinzler, aka Valkyrie, started learning piano at the age of five, picked up the guitar soon after that, and went to school for jazz piano. As a songwriter and educator, Val has been a role model for many, and most notably in recent years, she has been a major force in the New York City music scene through We The She, an annual concert event she started to recognize women and honor their achievements in the music industry.

“We’re caretakers of the universe,” Val describes. “We’ve been challenged through the ages of reclaiming our strength in public. It’s okay to be strong privately because, as we know, strong female models keep the family together very often.”

Val knows firsthand what it takes to balance motherhood and a career. This is particularly difficult for a female musician in a male-dominated industry. After giving birth to her son, she recalls the challenges of having to bring her baby to gigs and concerts, riding the trains with her son strapped to her while carrying a guitar.

“This is my life, and this is what I do,” she says. “You can’t have anything beautiful, anything graceful unless it is appreciated, and I think the appreciation comes from how hard it was for me to carve out that niche as a mother and as an older mom and rise above the stigma. It wasn’t a dignified experience; it was a very clumsy and ‘learning as I went along’ experience even though I’ve always taught children as a prevention specialist for years.”

She carried on even when some disagreed with her choices. “I lost friends along the way because they said, ‘Why are you still doing this? You’ve got a young child.’”

“I love kids and they light up my universe. It was the most wonderful thing to have a child and strengthening, and I’m all for moms who keep on doing what they love to do no matter what the people around them try to say to stop them from doing that.”

She eventually found other similar-minded musicians and they formed a group called “The Dirty Mothers,” and together, they created music that focused on female power and the Pandora’s box of emotions that women experience.

“You make it work because, as artists, we are responsible to depict the times and carry that message to others,” Val says.

To steal a line from Val Kinzler’s original song – “Rock and Roll Women” – let’s raise a torch for rock girl women!

Interview conducted and written by Louise Lau. Connect with her on social media @offstagetunes

The interview was from episode #4 of the Offstage Tunes Live – The Brunch Series.

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