Who is Valencia from Me Talk Pretty One Day and what is their importance?

Valencia is a Columbian woman who purchases a townhouse that Sedaris admires, and paints it an obnoxious hot pink with tangerine trim. She is an independently wealthy woman who wants to live life like a starving artist. Valencia always acts as if she cannot afford a thing and chooses to furnish her apartment in used dumpster fare and the latest piece made by one of her deadbeat artist friends.