Valarie Kaur is a Sikh lawyer and civil rights activist who was born and grew up in Clovis, California. Kaur specializes in working with communities of color in post-9/11 America. Kaur experienced the first-hand effects of racial and religious prejudice as she grew up in a white, Christian community. She also traveled across the nation post-9/11, recording the effects hate crimes had on non-white, turban-wearing communities. She attended Stanford University, Harvard Divinity School, and Yale Law School. As a lawyer, she has fought for justice for many marginalized communities. She is also an award-winning filmmaker whose documentaries advocate for marginalized communities, promote gun control, and criticize America’s prison system.

Married to Sharat Raju, Valarie Kaur has two children. She became widely known in the US in 2016 after a speech she gave about Trump’s election went viral. It has since been viewed over 40 million times. She is the founder of Groundswell, an online network of faith-based organizations working together to pursue social change. She also directs The Revolutionary Love Project, which is a nonprofit, focused on community building through love. See No Stranger recounts her personal history and work. The book became a bestseller and was nominated for the 2021 Dayton Literary Peace Prize.