Cultivating inner work over outer performance
In fourth grade, I read an issue of “American Girl.” The magazine featured a DIY craft called “Pen Pals,” which involved wrapping and gluing colorful, embroidery thread around a pen, creating a doll.
I made “Pen Pals” for my friends, each one looking and dressing just like them. I even invented a way for the doll to have curly hair, like mine. I added beads to braids, molded earmuffs with pipe cleaners, and designed mini fashion outfits. I innovated the craft beyond its predefined limits.
I’ve always enjoyed being creative. Through my sound design skills and unwavering commitment to excellence, I’ve had a rewarding 13-year career in design. My work has propelled startups and large companies, such as Johnson & Johnson and Martha Stewart.
I’m currently leading the Product Design department at Nelnet, overseeing the design of our enterprise software ecosystem. I guide the team in unifying the experience across disparate software systems, while working to build trust, transparency, and process.
I have transformed company-wide design and product practices to deliver customer value and business impact. My contributions have even been coined “Holly Dust” by our CEO and various teams. ✨
I bring insights that teams crave, gain momentum through uncertainty, and lead like a human. I’ve kept our design team happy and thriving through several reorgs in a short span of time.
The last part — leading like a human — is most important to me. Earlier in my career, my work began to shape my view of myself. Linking my worth to achievements, I realized, came at cost.
High-quality therapy has been life-changing. Therapy helped me pursue the things that would actually help me be the best version of myself — reflection, connection, and curiosity — instead of overworking.
Whether I’m leading my team, designing innovative technology, or building relationships, I want to cultivate an emotionally-connected world that celebrates discovering, encountering, and nurturing oneself. I want to create and support a future where doing the inner work to care for ourselves is accessible, comfortable, full of hope, sustainable, and stigma-free for everyone.
