Valerie Cantrell has 28 years' experience as a trial attorney and is a member of both the Tennessee and Florida bars. Ms. Cantrell has litigated personal injury, insurance defense, and domestic relations cases. Ms. Cantrell changed the direction of her advocacy focus in 2004 when she began lobbying for healthy school vending in Tennessee public schools. She helped to pass and draft the healthy school vending bill in 2005. Ms. Cantrell then began a career with the Department of Children's Services and as Regional General Counsel litigated dependency and neglect and termination of parental rights cases. She is currently in private practice representing caregivers in termination of parental rights and adoption cases.