ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rev. Tamira Wimbish Valley
Hello and welcome. I’m honored to join you on this sacred healing journey.
If you’re here, know that you are not alone. I’ve stood in the very place you may find yourself now—burned out, exhausted, and carrying the weight of everyone and everything as if it were mine alone to bear. I lived inside the Strong Black Woman narrative for far too long, wearing the cape proudly… until it nearly cost me everything.
Putting Down the Cape isn’t just a message—it’s a personal call to liberation. One I had to answer for myself. This work was born out of necessity, not convenience. It came from the edge of survival, from the realization that the life I was living—one of constant overfunctioning, silence, and emotional depletion—was not sustainable.
This is more than a book. It’s a life-giving invitation to let go of what was never yours to carry. To release the cape with grace. To choose thriving over merely surviving. My hope is that through these words, you will find language, courage, and permission to be whole.
You are worthy of rest. You are worthy of softness. And you are worthy of healing.
Let’s walk this path together.
Rev. Tamira D. Wimbish Valley is a licensed pastor in the Arkansas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. She currently serves as the spiritual leader of Levy United Methodist Church in Little Rock, Arkansas, where she is known for her heart-centered preaching, deep compassion, and commitment to spiritual and emotional healing.
Raised in Marietta, Georgia, Tamira was nurtured by a strong family foundation and a deeply rooted church community. From a young age, she displayed a natural gift for leadership, empathy, and spiritual insight. Her early experiences—surrounded by women of faith, community elders, and mentors—planted the seeds of her passion for ministry and social justice.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from Fort Valley State University and has earned both a Master of Divinity and a Master of Arts in Practical Theology. Her ministry extends into hospice chaplaincy, trauma-informed care, and nonprofit leadership. She was honored with the Ethel K. Millar Award for Religion and Social Awareness for her work at the intersection of faith and community service.
Rev. Valley’s ministry is defined by her commitment to healing justice, mental wellness, and the spiritual liberation of Black women. Through preaching, pastoral care, and spiritual direction, she invites others to lay down the burdens of over-functioning and reclaim the joy of rest, softness, and sacred identity. She is the author of *Putting Down the Cape*, a powerful call for Black women to release the myth of unbreakable strength and embrace the truth of their humanity.
She resides in Little Rock, Arkansas, and treasures time with loved ones, soul care through prayer and rest, and lives by a faith that centers liberation, wholeness, and healing.