This is a story about a small ripple effect Hollie created, but I think it illustrates something unique about her that I loved.

I got a note once from a former coworker on LinkedIn:

“Hey Andy, I hear that you have a talent for acquiring in-use domain names.”

Unfortunately, I have no such talents. But I immediately knew how this message came to be: Hollie Haggans.

I tend to be pretty reserved, but for reasons that boil down to “Hollie is the most engaging person ever”, I would overshare various things about my life with her. I don’t think I was the only one to do this.

Hollie would pick up on things you’d say and ask you more about them, she would remember things and bring them up again later. And she was 100% genuine about it.

Being genuine meant she would call you on your BS and tell you when she disagreed with something or thought you were being ridiculous, usually with dramatic raised eyebrows and a laugh.

Back to the linkedin story: at some point I talked to her about buying domain names.

This is where the next amazing thing kicks in. Nobody held their friends up higher than Hollie. She understood who you aspired to be, and described you that way to everyone else.

I probably told Hollie I buy too many domains. That got translated over to my former coworker as “Andy is some kind of prodigy in the domain name space."

At the time, I joked about it with her, but I think about the message every once in a while as a little ripple effect example of how lucky I am to have gotten to know Hollie. (I’m still working on living up to the aspirational Andy she described to others.)

Hollie connected and lifted up so many people through her life, her work with start-ups, Geekettes, behind-the-scenes work creating opportunities for people and making real improvements on diversity and inclusion. I miss Hollie and I’m so sad that such a wonderful person was taken from her family and friends too soon, but I hope her generous love and positivity lives on in the memories and actions of all of us who were lucky enough to know her.