A view from the top…

Accesso is a technology company that delivers ticketing, point-of-sale, virtual queuing, guest experience and distribution solutions for the attractions and leisure industries. The company has seen an enormous growth over the last decade.

Valerie Schein began with Accesso in 2013 and is now its director of marketing. 

Accomplishments and affiliations…

• Attended the University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, receiving two BAs,  Psychology and Mass Communications. She graduated Magna Cum Laude.
• IAAPA Member, serves on the IAAPA Marketing Committee

Putting passion into everything

LEESBURG, Va. — As an avid reader from an early age, Valerie Schein loves a good story. She likes reading them, and, as a marketing specialist, she likes telling them. 

“I have always loved reading and writing,” she said. “I have always enjoyed being creative.”

Growing up, Schein had other hobbies and other interests, such softball and horseback riding. In fact, she rode competitively. 

“But, most of the time, if you tried to find me, I would be somewhere reading” she said.

Now as the marketing director for Accesso, she finds her talent for storytelling is helping her portray the company’s story. 

“I have found storytelling to be a means people can use to overcome challenges,” she said.

To Accesso’s clients, her story is quite simple — it can be easy to approach the technology you need. If it is not easy, why use it? 

“It is all about helping an operator feel like they are in control,” she said. “They are in the driver’s seat.

“And we don’t leave them after they are up and running. They have become our partners.”

Schein’s passion is very obvious. Her spirit of enthusiasm — which drives her to continue the learning process — has brought her to this point and it is what will carry her on. 

She has had many mentors. She lists her family members as some of her most supportive.

Her mother, Melissa Cristiani, a registered nurse who worked for 35 successful years, is certainly one of them. 

Her father, Bruce Pinder, a Porsche certified brand ambassador, based in Marietta, Georgia, is another. 

“We have a wonderful relationship and frequently spend hours on the phone each week chatting about work, leadership, self-development, etc.,” she said. “He’s been incredibly encouraging and supportive during my career.”

Her parents divorced in the mid-1990s and her mother remarried Tony Cristiana while Schein was in high school living with her mom and sister in Lakeland Ranch, Florida. Her step dad also has been an inspiration to her. 

“He is part of the Cristiani circus family from Italy,” she said. 

And he was a football two-time All American at the University of Miami. 

Becoming part of his family, she said, made for some very interesting dinner conversations. 

Her sister, Yvonne Pinder, is a behavioral health counselor soon to be a PsyD Doctoral student. She lives in Denver, Colorado.

Her husband, Blake Duvall, is vice president of security and infrastructure at GoCanvas. 

Schein has been surrounded by success. She has taken that to heart. In fact, when it came time for college, she chose a school close to her family, the University of South Florida. 

She was invited into that school’s Honors College and was awarded several scholarships. 

She started out in pre-med, influenced by her mother’s profession, but her first chemistry class showed her she had made a mistake.

 “I just couldn’t get my head around that.”

She switched to psychology, then, decided to go for two bachelor degrees. The second in communications with a focus on public relations. 

She graduated Magna Cum Laude, a distinction of high academic achievement, with both bachelor degrees in 2011. 

Having already taken internships in communications her final two years in college, she knew that was the direction she wanted.

Her first job after graduation was creative development executive and social media manager for NCrowd Inc. There, she designed and scheduled email campaigns for daily deals in 13 regional markets, reaching more than 2 million subscribers.

After two years there, she landed the job with Accesso as marketing associate. She was in that position for four years, moving into the brand manager position for over two and a half years. She became Accesso’s director of marketing in August 2020.

The theme of passion, fervor and zest runs through Schein’s story, both personally and in her career. 

“I just love the passion at this company,” she said. “There is such a willingness to share with each other. There is such passion for our clients.”

And she has discovered another love. 

“I have found it rewarding connecting with other women along the way and helping them to find a way to tell their stories,” she said. 

“Right now, I have an all-female team. I love them. They are passionate and intelligent. I love coaching them and helping them feel more comfortable and confident. 

“This is something I hope I can always keep doing, whatever comes. For me, it is very personal and profound.”

—Pam Sherborne

This article appears in the  MARCH 2022 issue of Amusement Today.
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