As a seasoned professional in the State’s capital, Holly has more than two decades of experience delivering results to clients and stakeholders across multifaceted issue areas, often integrating media and public relations strategies with legislative advocacy to provide successful outcomes for her clients.
After 18 years of lobbying at one of the largest consulting firms in Sacramento, Platinum Advisors, she joined Lighthouse Public Affairs in 2018. LHPA’s boutique culture allows her to provide individual attention to her clients, spend time in the Capitol educating and influencing key decision-makers, and produce winning results for the firm’s clientele.
Holly is recognized in the Capitol community for her creative legislative campaign strategies that have overcome relentless local grassroots opposition to local planning and housing policy reforms. Holly was the lead lobbyist and strategist for the Committee to House the Bay Area (CASA) in 2019, which led the coalition to pass a package of over a dozen policy proposals aimed at protecting tenants, preserving affordable housing, and producing more housing stock throughout the Bay Area. The CASA Compact was intended to be Bay Area specific regional policy reforms to enhance the funding generated from the creation of the Bay Area Housing Finance Agency (BAHFA), however, its innovative approach evolved the entire bill package into a set of major statewide housing policy reforms.
Holly is regularly featured as a speaker at annual conferences for trade associations and advocacy organizations including Habitat for Humanity, the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals, San Francisco Urban and Planning Research Center (SPUR), and California YIMBY (Yes in My Backyard). In addition, she conducts advocacy training workshops for grassroots advocates and boards of directors of non-profit organizations and advises on how to structure non-profits and associations for maximum advocacy impact.
Holly demonstrates that knowledge is power. She is a fierce advocate for her clients and holds a deep working knowledge of current laws and regulations impacting her clients’ constituency or business, as well as their legislative priorities and proposals for change. She takes immense pride in her work supporting clients in achieving social justice and equity and overcoming today’s most complicated policy challenges including addressing our global housing affordability crisis and creating diverse, thriving, healthy and vibrant communities throughout the state for future generations.
Before launching her career in Sacramento as a lobbyist Holly served as a Special Advisor to the Secretary of Foreign Affairs in the Office of Governor Gray Davis. She also has expertise in local government finance and procurement from her tenure with the Orange County Board of Supervisors during the bankruptcy era in the mid-1990s. Her personal interest in constitutional law and fighting for social change also stems from her experience as an intern in the Public Information Office of the United States Supreme Court.
Holly also has a special personal interest in the history of Cuban-US relations. Her passion for Latin American culture comes from her experience leading over 40 delegations and cultural exchanges to Cuba as a member of the Board of Directors for California Building Bridges for more than a decade. These delegations included many members of the California State Legislature and U.S. Congress. She also consulted with the California Wine Institute, Napa Valley Vintners, and Sonoma Vintners on the first California Wine Symposium in Havana in 2016 on how to navigate the complexities of directly selling and providing agricultural products and food to Cuba.
Holly holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Chapman University with a minor in legal studies, and a master’s in public administration from the University of Southern California. She lives in Sacramento with her husband Chris De Jesus and daughter Angelina.
