Valerie Joi (Fiddmont) is a multifaceted pianist, vocalist, composer, arranger, producer and choral director, as well as scholar and activist, passionate about creating a world of love, equity and justice.

Valerie Joi teaches music as ministry and connection. Her CD of original compositions, Singing the Sacred Yes, is an invitation to deepen our relationship with the Divine. Her release with the incomparable pianist Tammy Hall, Remembering to Remember: Hymns for the Soul, pays beautiful tribute to her experience of the spiritual heritage of our country. Her as yet to be released recording, The SHINE! Project, reflects her life journey of learning the importance of forgiveness and authenticity, and recognizing the relationship between love and justice. Her original music can also currently be heard in the documentary films Jumpin’ the Broom and God and Gays: Bridging the Gap and most recently, the widely distributed podcast Mindfulness for the Culture.

Valerie Joi’s most inspirational musical moments include leading inmates in a song about forgiveness at a women’s prison correctional facility, soloing on the stage of Carnegie Hall, and singing background vocals for Quincy Jones at the 2016 Monterey Jazz Festival. Another recent career highlight was her 2022 narration of Battle for the Ballot, a commissioned work of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music. She is committed to spiritual activism and social justice, and her greatest joy is witnessing transformation and healing through song. Valerie Joi is a Ph.D. Candidate in Transformative Studies at the California Institute of Integral Studies focusing on using music to deepen cultural humility in cross-cultural communication, and currently serves as the Minister of Music for Heart and Soul Center of Light in Oakland, California.

Through her music, Valerie Joi conveys a powerful message of social justice, challenging people to go deeper, to heal and to forgive. She asks us to remember the planet, our ancestors and elders, and the children. And she reminds us to trust ourselves and each other, knowing that just like the choirs she directs, we are much more powerful when we join our voices together as one.