Valerie Plesch

Valerie Plesch is a freelance Vietnamese-Argentine American photojournalist, documentary photographer, and writer currently based in northern Virginia. Since early 2021, she has documented the growing Afghan community in the Washington, D.C., region, including the resettlement of Afghan refugees and asylum seekers before and after the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan.

From 2014-2019, she was based in Pristina, Kosovo, where she focused on the aftermath of war, including the legacy of sexual violence, and covered breaking news, human rights issues, religion, sports, politics, and culture. In 2014 she reported from Afghanistan during the historic presidential election and produced other feature stories. Valerie holds a master's degree in journalism from the Columbia University School of Journalism and a bachelor's degree in political science from Colorado College.