Mother to Theodosia Stokes, Valodja was an escape slave from the Spanish colony of San Blas. In 1823, the rich plantation owner got Valodja pregnant, and the owner's wife demanded the child be destroyed, so Valodja fled and lived on the run, having killed a couple of soldiers on her way to freedom.
The Spanish King abolished slavery in 1833, but there was still a price on Valodja's head for the murder of the soldiers.
Valodja claimed to have "The Gift" and worked as a medium and fortune teller to provide for her daughter. The life of a fortune teller and speaker oto the dead was served well by the itinerant lifestyle -she never stayed anywhere long enough to come to the notice of the local clergy.
Valodja died in 1836 at the age of 34 of an illness.