Maria ValdehuezaSenior Vice President, Ticketing and Events Golden State Valkyries

Age: 39

Born: Martinez, Calif.

Education: San Francisco State University, B.S., business administration

Family: Spouse, Czar; children, Cadence (12); Camdyn (8) and Cashton (7)

If the Golden State Valkyries seemed like an overnight success last year — at least in the ticket-selling department — go back five or six months. Go back to when the number of season-ticket deposits was 10,000, then 15,000, then 20,000. Go back to when Maria Valdehueza, the franchise’s senior vice president, ticketing and events, decided to hit the ground … crawling.

Valdehueza decided to take the long route, to hire a staff of 10 ticket reps who would arrange a face-to-face meeting with every prospective ticket holder. In other words, upward of 20,000 separate get-togethers. That is not overnight.

“A lot of teams host one event and just bring people down to the arena … come in, select your seat and be done with it,” Valdehueza said. “And we really advocated this needs to be a one-to-one process. We hired our team of 10. I trained every single person that came in here. We developed a road map that was a five- to six-month process. We brought in every single person who had a deposit. We trained the staff to tell a story, to pitch every single person and to sell the season-ticket experience.”

Eventually, those one-on-ones led to Chase Center averaging a WNBA-record 18,064 fans for Valkyries games last season. Continued conversations throughout 2025 led to a 90% renewal rate for 2026. But from the beginning, Valdehueza had always envisioned the Valkyries being the sale of all sales.

Once the Valkyries were greenlit by the WNBA, Valdehueza — who started in the Golden State organization as an intern in 2007 — was elevated from the Warriors’ vice president of ticketing to her current role.

“It was my job to make sure that we had the right stewards for the brand and that I could create that passion in them every single day to carry that story in their process,” she said.

So heading into those season-ticket one-on-ones — the thousands and thousands of them over five to six months — she had her pep talks to the ticketing team down pat.

“It was, ‘You came here for a purpose. This is it. You’re a part of history, you’re making history. So, live the story,’” she said.

They’ve lived the story, and she is the story. Under Valdehueza’s watch, the Valkyries have sold out every game in their existence.