Valerie Rodriguez is Senior Director of People Experience & Head of Global Impact at StockX – a role that, for her, sits at the exact intersection of everything she cares about: people, community, and a genuine, long-running love of sneakers and fashion.

A proud first-generation Latina and Dominican American, Valerie carries her background with her in everything she does — it's shaped how she sees community, connection, and what it means to build spaces where people feel like they truly belong. For more than 10 years, Valerie worked directly with youth in urban communities , building programs centered on personal growth and development; the kind of work that doesn't show up on a resume but shapes everything else she does. That instinct, that people grow when someone actually invests in them, not just manages them, carried straight through into a 12+ year HR career across a global team, and now into her work leading People Experience & Global Impact at StockX.

But StockX isn't just where her professional path landed; it's where her personal passions did too. Sneaker and fashion culture have been a through-line in Valerie's life well before she ever worked in the industry, and getting to build community programs, Team Member Resource Groups, and leadership sessions like "Shift Happens" inside a company built around that same culture is, for her, the rare case of a career actually catching up to a passion. 

Whether she's mentoring youth, supporting organizational changes, or geeking out over a new release, Valerie's approach doesn't change: people do their best work — and become their best selves — when they feel like they belong somewhere real.

She holds an MPA with an HR concentration and a B.A. in Psychology and Public Affairs from Rutgers University, along with a certification in Global Employment Law from Cornell.