(Photo by Oscar Perry Abello)
Valerie Red-Horse Mohl has been an oddball for a long time. Of Cherokee ancestry, Red-Horse Mohl was the first Native American to start an investment bank, Red-Horse Financial Group, based on Wall Street. Over 25 years in the investment world, she helped indigenous communities raise $3 billion in capital for affordable housing and economic development projects on tribal lands. She also started one of the first native-owned production companies in Hollywood. In 2018 she moved to the Bay Area, to stay close to her youngest daughter who was starting college at Stanford.