Valerie LeMaistre, Founder Red Square Pegs

Valerie is a wife, mother, dyslexic, an advocate for dyslexia awareness, author, and founder of Red Square Pegs—among other things!

Her dyslexia story is a few decades long, but the real journey started for her in early 2019. She spent much of her life not understanding her learning difference which kept her from fully knowing who she was and influenced how she showed up in the world, relationships, and for herself.

Through her younger self’s eyes, dyslexia was an unnamed stranger that made her believe parts of her were broken—something she accepted—a weight carried for way too long.

As she got older, Val experienced successes of her own, but in many ways held herself back, unsure she was fully capable or scared of what she believed was the unavoidable certainty of failure. She became an expert at masking challenges and hiding pieces of who she was—strong on the outside, but everyday conflicted with the internal battle of not feeling good enough and terrified of being discovered—mortified when she was.

Now a mother of two young boys, both diagnosed with dyslexia in 2019, Val chose to seek understanding and knowledge. It started with Google searches, which led to seminars and conferences, and then classes that dug deep. A mountain of information and data shifted her thinking around dyslexia.

Coming to the realization that awareness is key, she became empowered and wanted others struggling with the challenges of dyslexia to experience the freedom of shedding misconceptions and stigmas by connecting to the facts. As a result, Red Square Pegs was born. With the motto Made to Stand Out, Val strives to empower dyslexics by embracing dyslexia.