Valerie Deneen Despite the success of running her business, Valerie Deneen’s desire to expand her leadership skills has led her to KU. After graduating with her bachelor’s degree from Bucknell University, Valerie has returned to academia to pursue her MBA. During her undergrad, majoring in both biology and Spanish, Valerie discovered her passion through her oncampus jobs in the computer center. After graduation, she applied these skills at Saucon Technologies in software engineering before finding her claim to fame in a blend of arts and programming with a blog titled Inner Child Fun. The family blog offers parents affordable, step-by-step crafting instructions with common items, gaining traction using keyword optimization and post consistency. As the blog gained global traction, Valerie turned it into a business by hiring a team of contributing writers and appearing on morning talk shows. MBA Experience At KU, Valerie is pursuing her master’s in business administration and management. A fundamental course she took was advising and supporting students in higher education. While seemingly unrelated to her major, the skills transferred to how she has helped business owners at the SBDC. During her undergrad and now MBA, Valerie has prioritized networking and expanding her skillsets to incorporate as many new expertise as she can, combining them to provide clients with a unique service. As she reaches her graduation date of May 2026, Valerie has multiple businesses requesting her services. However, she’s not set on one path: “I’m trying to keep as many doors open for as long as possible.” MBA SPOTLIGHT SBDC Valerie is the market trends and strategic communications specialist at KU’s Small Business Development Center located in Old Main. Her specialty is the same optimization technique that made her blog successful, helping aspiring business owners find trending topics to capitalize on. Valerie also utilizes market data tailored to the businesses and guides them to become and stay successful in their field. “If you help one small business, you help a whole family. An entire town. An entire community. They’re crucial to the economy.” Valerie offers consultations through online webinars, workshops, or in-person sessions at the SBDC. 19
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