Val attended the Institute of Child Study, a progressive primary school operated by the University of Toronto.
Before establishing her career as a freelance writer, she worked in urban planning, tourism writing and as a broadcaster at CBC.
In the early 1970s she began studying Washin Ryu, a form of karate taught by Sensei Burt Konzak, attaining a brown belt.
She wrote for Chatelaine, Saturday Night, and Toronto Life, and then was hired as a staff writer and editor at Maclean's, where she worked in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
She reported on the conflict in El Salvador, and became an important voice for human rights and freedom of expression.