Valerie Coleman is an American composer and flutist as well as the creator of the wind quintet, Imani Winds. Coleman is a distinguished artist of the century who was named Performance Today's 2020 Classical Woman of the year and was listed as “one of the Top 35 Women Composers” in the Washington Post. In the year 2019, Valerie Coleman composed a piece titled Umoja, Anthem for Unity which was performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra. This achievement was a very special one because it was the first time that a living African-American woman composer was commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra.