Humanitarian at Heart & Creative in Business
"The Life of a Business & Humanitarian Lovie in Action"
From working on this initiative, to serving as a volunteer with the Social Justice Team at her LA Church, and volunteering to help with the Thirst Project, an organization impacting the global water crisis, Tabitha experienced an exponential growth in her passion for humanitarian aid, along with the opportunity to gain more knowledge in these areas. It was at this time that she learned that her father was diagnosed with cancer and she decided to return home to help care for him.
Finding herself back in Houston, Tabitha & her parents endured a very difficult time, but thankfully, it ended with her father being healed. Tabitha was unsure of God’s plan for her life and decided to use this time to seek God’s direction. It was then that she was able to see how God gave her opportunities to utilize the skills she obtained and pursue her passions on a much grander scale through her new church home The 429. Through this her wonderful Pastor, Jeremy Foster, gave his blessing for the flourishing of community service projects to impact on a weekly basis. In doing so, The 429 Serve Team became a volunteer based initiative made up of various volunteers who go out into the city of Houston and its surrounding areas to simply give back at least once a week, but at times, up to two to four times a week. With hundreds of volunteers, the mission of The 429 Serve Team was to partner with non-profits who are already doing work in their communities and provide a support system for them with volunteers and donations. Because of this amazing organization, thousands of lives are impacted weekly with their homeless projects, food pantry assistance, nursing home assistance, home restorations, playground projects, school assistance, youth mentoring and much more.
In August of 2014, after 4 years of leading The 429 Serve Team, Tabitha made a decision to resign from her position as the Director of The 429 Serve Team to pursue God's calling for her to continue her humanitarian passions through her Pastor's new church, Hope City. Since then, she gratefully leads Hope City's Local & International Missions Team which also includes Hope City's Water Project. Through this initiative in collaboration with Living Water Int'l, water wells continue to be funded throughout international areas where the basic necessity of water does not exist. During the past four years through leading the 429 Water Project & now Hope City's Water Project, over $46,500 has been raised to fund eight water wells that are providing clean drinking water to over 5,000 lives in different parts of the world!!!
Along with that recent transition, in November of 2014 Tabitha and her family became informed that the lymphoma her father had 4 years ago had returned more aggressively. Prior to receiving these news, she continued feeling a stirring in her heart to pursue her business of Elegant and Unique Creations full time; however she did not want to step out of God's perfect timing. As her father continued receiving treatment, she took a step of faith and took a leave of absence from her full time employer of two years. During this time, God sent clients back to back and thankfully she had the time to focus more towards her business. After a month of growth in her business, she knew that God was opening the door for her to purse her business full time and she then gracefully resigned from her full time position with her full time employer.
Since this transition, for the past four years, she has pursued her business with her father, by helping grown the business and being blessed with new commercial contracts with restaurants such as, Mamacitas and The Houston Texans Grille. During this transitional period, in September of 2017, she was blessed with the opportunity to marry her best friend, Jeremy Abraham Valdez. He has also played a significant role within her business as he has assisted her in many ways.
After four years of pursing her business full time with her father, she was recently offered a phenomenal position with the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, now known as Arnold Ventures. Arnold Ventures is a philanthropy dedicated to tackling some of the most pressing problems in the United States. "We invest in sustainable change, building it from the ground up based on research, deep thinking, and a strong foundation of evidence. We drive public conversation, craft policy, and inspire action through education and advocacy. We are a team of more than 80 subject-matter experts headquartered in Houston with offices in New York and Washington, D.C. We work in four key issue areas: Criminal Justice, Education, Health, and Public Finance. Our work is guided by Evidence-Based Policy, Research, and Advocacy." Tabitha began her career with Arnold Ventures at the end of 2017 as the Receptionist and Administrative Assistant. Within less than a year of working within that role, she was promoted to Executive Assistant for Laura and John Arnold. This was truly a God given opportunity that she could have only dreamed of...but God...He always does exceeding above and beyond what we ask or think. With her role in this position, she is able to pursue her humanitarian passion on a grander scale, while continuing to pursue her passions in event planning, organizing, decor and fashion through her small business, Elegant and Unique Creations.
At times, we may not understand what we are facing or where our next steps may lead, but with God on our side, He so graciously guides our steps into the amazing plans He has for us.
"By doing what you love, you inspire and awaken the hearts of others."
From a very young age Tabitha (Gonzalez) Valdez exhibited a passion for helping people as well as for organization and unique presentation. As a child she was often found giving her toys to children in need while alphabetizing her stuffed animals. Even though she demonstrated these abilities she often found herself feeling as though she wasn't as talented, as her elementary school classmates' talents were more obvious, such as in athletics or the arts.
It wasn't until she was attending Southwestern Assemblies of God University (SAGU) that God placed people in her life who helped her to identify the gifts that He had given her in organizing, planning events, logistical implementation and more importantly, humanitarian aid. Thankfully, she was able to put this into practice during her years at SAGU by being elected as the Student Congress Special Events Coordinator, where she had the opportunity of implementing the University's events such as their annual Homecoming & Class Night. During the years she served in this position, she was blessed to receive the Student Congress "Outstanding Staff Member" award, along with receiving the honor of being titled "Miss Southwestern," her senior year at SAGU.
Along with graduating early from SAGU, she was blessed with the amazing opportunity to not just live in London, England but she was also accepted to intern with The London Chamber of Commerce Events Team. During this time, she pursued her passion in event planning, such as assisting with the planning of the London Chamber of Commerce's Summer Party at the historic & exquisite Westminster Abbey.
After returning home to Houston, her passion for events and humanitarian aid grew even more and as she sought after God for her next steps, He opened an amazing door for her to live and work in Los Angeles, CA. During her time there, she was the Project Analyst for Futuronow where she supported the development of a 5 year federal initiative that received $1.1 million annually to serve over 5,000 lower income participants each year, along with building relationships with over 30 other non-profit organizations.