Hi, I’m Holly-Jo

I’m obsessed with death, healing, and how we can live our best lives.

About Me

I was introduced to death at five when my mother died unexpectedly of a cerebral hemorrhage. Five years later my maternal grandmother died, and I was told of a broken heart from the loss of my mother. When I was fifteen my father died suddenly of a heart attack. Death was a natural state in my life, but no one talked about it or the people who were gone…so neither did I.

Then in 1990, when I was 19 I found out I had melanoma, but not to worry, one of my doctors shared my prognosis optimistically telling me “I would probably live another 15 years”. Great! That’s 34, the same age my mother was when she died.

Well, clearly I lived, YAY…spent decades moving forward, doing what I thought was expected of me, smiling and laughing, surviving but never really thriving.

It wasn’t until 2012 when I experienced, what I would call, a Nervous Breakdown, that I had to make the decision to heal my anxiety and depression or certainly die. I was committed to healing. I sought help in Therapy and the practices of Yoga, Meditation, Mindfulness, and Reiki. These practices instilled new-found freedom and the ability to make compassionate choices that were loving and nurturing of the self. As a result, I left behind my 20-year marketing career, moved to Durham, North Carolina, and began to pursue my coaching and energy work.

I have learned the value and power of making conscious, heart-centered choices that are aligned with self-love, and truly believe my life’s purpose centers around helping others to do the same.

Since 2016 I have pursued my education in professional coaching and energy healing.

Training:

Angelic Reiki Master Teacher – One Light Center – 2023 – Master Teachers Marcia Hebrank and Sera Huwang

Certified Grief Coach – Institute of Professional Grief Coaching (IOPGC) – 2019 – Dora Carpenter, CPC

USUI Reiki Master – One Light Center – 2018 – Master Teacher Marcia Hebrank

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction – 2016 – University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Certified Authentic Leadership Coach (CALC) – Raleigh Coaching Academy – 2016 – Kathleen O’Grady, MCC, CALC

Education:

Wilkes University – 2000

Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.)

King’s College – 1994

Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Accounting