My name is Val, and I used to be a full time Assistant Editor in broadcast television, a producer for a legendary classic rock radio DJ, & a surf instructor for the world famous Corky Carroll's Surf School in Huntington Beach

When I was working full time at the tv show Judge Judy, I had begun to teach myself how to surf.  I also adopted a pitbull mix puppy I named Bodhi.  When my landlord told me I couldn't have any dogs, I immediately moved out of my one bedroom house in Hollywood, and into my 1987 Toyota 4Runner, surfing & camping with Bodhi when we weren't at work in Hollywood.  After living in the 4Runner for a year while still working days at Judge Judy and sneaking Bodhi into work, I switched to working nights so I could surf more often.  I also upgraded to my 1976 Dodge RV when I adopted another pit bull mix puppy who turned out to be part Great Dane. I was living on the road in my RV full time, while still working in TV, DJ'ing on the weekends, and teaching surfing in the summer when we were on hiatus from TV.  Back then VanLife wasn't yet a hashtag, and most of us who were living the full time RV/van/truck camping lifestyle didn't want to give up our secret spots.  Nowadays everyone is doing it!

I started working on my own RV out of a love of the vintage rigs, and then started working on projects for friends and various animal rescues as well.  After several not-at-fault auto accidents, I was not able to return to working full time in my former careers due to physical restrictions from my accident injuries, and over the past decade had to reinvent myself as my health has improved.  Prior to the start of the pandemic lock-down, I had been thinking of how I could try to support myself and came to the conclusion that I would be better suited to working in a position where I'm able to set my own hours, and work alone, close to home.  

HandyChickUSA is what came to fruition.