I’m an extrovert (or maybe an omnivert – quiet time is also nice!). I love being with people. I have multiple interests and have done a lot of different things over the years, all while being the mom to a large family.
First and foremost, I love people and love to learn about other people, cultures and traditions. I also love to speak, teach, train and workshop solutions. I love to write and am the editor of a newsletter that goes out every weekday morning: Utah Policy. I also write for the Deseret News and occasionally for the Church News. I was a columnist for the Salt Lake Tribune from January 2017 to December 2020. Prior to that, I wrote an award-winning political blog, “Holly on the Hill.” Clever, right?
I’ve done some political things too: I’ve been a member of the Utah House of Representatives and I’ve worked on multiple political campaigns. I also served for a decade on the board of Utah Women Run, a nonpartisan organization focused on helping women run for political office and win and on the Advisory Council for the Dignity Index, an organization dedicated to reducing contempt in political speech.
My first degree was as Registered Nurse. I also became a childbirth educator, a doula and a midwife. After a long break from formal schooling, I enrolled at Utah Valley University where I earned a Bachelor’s of Science in Communication, with an emphasis in Public Relations in 2016 and have now spent many years working in communication.
After completely my undergraduate degree, I continued with my formal education and went straight into a Master’s degree program in Professional Communication at Southern Utah University. Two years later, I graduated, after completing a capstone project where I created and then implemented a strategic communications plan for a small nonprofit agency.
In the fall of 2018, I began a PhD program in Political Science at the University of Utah. I majored in Public Administration, specifically Nonprofit Management and minored in International Relations. I graduated in 2022. My research interests are public policy, emotional labor, burnout, deep self-care, grassroots international nongovernmental organization and volunteers. Now that the PhD is done, I find myself very interested in teaching and in learning more about conflict resolution and peace-building.
I love being involved in humanitarian work, and even though it can be heart-wrenching at times, it can also be tremendously rewarding. My first international humanitarian trip was to Kenya in 2006. I have continued working internationally and since 2016, my work has been focused on refugees.
I love to read and go through around 100 books a year (mostly on Audible, double speed), I love the color pink, peonies, tulips and daffodils. I love brave women of all ages. My favorite movies are the three in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. And, I LOVE being a grandma to nine awesome grandkids!
I’m outspoken and tender-hearted, with a strong streak of Mama Bear that comes out when people I love are being marginalized, mistreated, dismissed, threatened or otherwise looked down upon.
Having ADHD is my super power – and sometimes my Kryptonite. My life mantra is this quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson: “That which we persist in doing becomes easier to do, not that the nature of the thing has changed but that our power to do has increased.”