Hilda M. Valentine was born in Ringgold, Virginia, on a small farm. She moved to New York after college, chasing a dream of a better life. Working in insurance claims for more than twenty years, she climbed the ranks to management and landed her dream job on the hundredth floor of the South Tower of the World Trade Center. Within two months of landing the job, the dream was shattered by the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
