Valerie Stimac is a San Francisco Bay Area-based space tourism and travel writer. She began working with Lonely Planet in 2014, providing local content about Seattle and San Francisco. In 2019, her first book Dark Skies: A Practical Guide to Astrotourism was published by Lonely Planet, and she has also contributed to other Lonely Planet books including The Universe. Her love of space was inspired by growing up in Alaska, watching the northern lights, and seeing the Comet Hale-Bopp in 1997. While her professional career is focused on tourism rather than science, she's working to make space accessible and help more people travel to enjoy the night sky.