Holly Lowe Jones is a PhD student and writing instructor in the English Department at the University of Oregon. She is currently working on her dissertation, which archives and analyzes Black American textual production at Playboy magazine between the 1960’s and early 1990’s.
Alongside and within her academic scholarship, Holly enjoys memoir/autobiography writing.
As a content creator, Holly has covered a range of health and lifestyle topics in short, accessible, informative and inspirational blog posts. As a fitness expert, she draws on her extensive experience as a former Certified Personal Trainer and competitive triathlete and runner.
In 2010, Holly ventured into the unknown as a social media entrepreneur. She has worked as a sole proprietor in roles as a digital influencer, social media manager and consultant for small businesses. Since 2002, Holly has utilized web-monetization as a side-hustle, generating revenue with various online ecommerce platforms. Beginning with Ebay, she eventually branched out to other marketplaces such as Poshmark, OfferUp, LTKit/RewardStyle, and Google Adsense.
Archival blog posts also include written and photographic content from Holly’s various experiences in the entertainment industry including print modeling, commercial acting, artist management and free-lance writing.
Writer. Creative. Archivist.
In her early career, Holly spent more than a decade as a professional sales executive in the medical, health, and communications industries. The majority of these years Holly worked as a Pharmaceutical Sales Executive in both big and little pharma. She also has B2B sales experience in hospice care, medical equipment, media and sound solutions, and telecommunications. Prior to that, she spent many of her teen and college years working in retail at management level and in high-end establishments.
Holly earned her B.A. from Hobart & William Smith Colleges, where she studied Dance, English and Women’s Studies. She holds an M.A. in English from La Sierra University, and is currently writing her dissertation as a PhD student in the English Department at the University of Oregon.
Her academic research interests center around Mid-Late 20th century Black American literature, Afrofuturism, critical race theory, medical humanities, African American popular culture, psychological thought, memoir/autobiography writing, Ethnic Studies and sound studies.
Holly’s scholarly work has appeared in the James Baldwin Review, Vol 9 (Sept. 2023), Manchester University Press. Forthcoming, an article will appear in the 2023 issue of The Perch Magazine: A creative arts journal with a mental health theme, Yale University. An essay has been accepted for future publication by Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, University of Nebraska Press. “The African American Playboy Archive (1960-2014): An Annotated Bibliography” is under review with the editors at Resources for American Literary Study, Penn State University Press.
She has presented her research at several conferences including (2022 October) at 27th Annual Gender & Sexuality Writing Collective, Susan B. Anthony Institute for Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, in (2021 March) at 2021 OEB Literary Society Conference, St. Paul, MN (held online due to COVID-19) (2019 November) and at 2019 PAMLA, San Diego, CA.
Holly started her teaching career as a College Writing Instructor at La Sierra University in Riverside, California.
At the University of Oregon, Holly teaches College Composition II. Using the politics of sports to engage students in critical discourse, this class develops written reasoning as a process of argument. Attention is given to increasingly complex critical reading in the academic setting. Students focus on the revision process and the practice of writing.
She is the 2023 recipient of the American Federation of Teachers-Oregon Diedre Mackey & Grace Misztal Scholarship, a 2020 recipient of the University of Oregon Graduate School Promising Scholar Award, a 2021 recipient of the Steingart Fellowship, and numerous travel and research grants.
Holly was born in Chicago, Illinois and is the daughter of native Chicagoans. Her childhood home was located in Gary, Indiana in the town of Miller Beach along the Indiana Dunes Lakeshore. She has also lived in Maryland, Texas, California, Washington State, and Oregon. She enjoys spending time with her young adult twins and being silent in nature.
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