Jael Holzman

Jael Holzman was born in Rockville, Maryland, where she attended Rockville High School.{{Cite web |last=Goldchain |first=Michelle |date=2025-01-16 |title=Why this DC punk band describes its music as 'mascara mosh pit' |url=https://wtop.com/music/2025/01/trying-to-give-you-that-soul-nourishment-dc-punk-band-ekko-astral-revels-in-honesty-and-critical-acclaim/ |access-date=2025-03-13 |website=WTOP News |language=en}}

She has spoken about having been particularly close to her maternal grandfather, Manny, who passed away in 2023. A Korean War veteran and Bronze Star Medal recipient, Manny spent most of his working life making cars for Chrysler. Politically conscious, he was the head of his local union chapter. In 1967, he was living in Detroit when the city was the scene of one of the worst riots in US history. Jael describes how, afterward, he took Holzman's mother and aunt out to look at the ruins and "actually have a conversation with them about why the riots were happening."

From 2013–2017, Holzman studied at the University of Vermont, where she was awarded a Bachelor's Degree in English Language and Literature.

In 2016, Holzman interned for the New England Center for Investigative Reporting in Boston.{{Cite web |last=Roush |first=Chris |date=2024-06-20 |title=Heatmap News hires Holzman as a senior reporter |url=https://talkingbiznews.com/media-news/heatmap-news-hires-holzman-as-a-senior-reporter/ |access-date=2025-03-13 |website=Talking Biz News |language=en-US}}

In January 2017, during the week of the first inauguration of Donald Trump as US President, Holzman started working as a congressional reporter on Capitol Hill.{{Cite web |last=Holzman |first=Jael |date=June 1, 2024 |title=Why I'm leaving congressional journalism. |url=https://medium.com/@jaelholzman/why-im-leaving-congressional-journalism-ee97e2bbebf6 |access-date=March 12, 2025 |website=Medium}}

She initially worked for Congressional Quarterly's Roll Call as a legislative researcher, before taking on the role of energy and environment reporter in May 2018.{{Cite web |title=Jael Holzman |url=https://rollcall.com/author/jael-holzman/ |access-date=2025-03-14 |website=Roll Call |language=en-US}}

From February 2020 until October 2021, she worked as a metals and mining reporter for S&P Global Market Intelligence. During this time she covered the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the metals market.

From October 2021 until November 2022, Holzman worked as a mining reporter for E&E News (owned by Politico).

In November 2022, she started working for Axios as an energy and climate reporter, where she was the author of a new energy and climate policy newsletter.{{Cite web |title=Jael Holzman |url=https://thebreakthrough.org/people/jael-holzman |access-date=2025-03-13 |website=The Breakthrough Institute |language=en}} On January 17, 2023, she appeared on C-SPAN, where she discussed the energy and climate policy goals in the House Republicans' "Commitment to America" plan.{{Cite web |title=Jael Holzman on House Republican Energy Proposals in "Commitment to America" |url=https://www.c-span.org/program/washington-journal/jael-holzman-on-house-republican-energy-proposals-in-commitment-to-america/622756 |access-date=March 13, 2025 |website=C-Span}}

On May 22, 2024, it was reported that Holzman would be leaving Axios.{{Cite web |last=Roush |first=Chris |date=2024-05-22 |title=Axios energy and climate reporter Holzman is departing |url=https://talkingbiznews.com/media-news/axios-energy-and-climate-reporter-holzman-is-departing/ |access-date=2025-03-13 |website=Talking Biz News |language=en-US}}

On June 1, 2024, Holzman published an article through Medium entitled [https://medium.com/@jaelholzman/why-im-leaving-congressional-journalism-ee97e2bbebf6 Why I'm leaving congressional journalism.]{{Cite web |last=Holzman |first=Jael |date=2024-06-01 |title=Why I'm leaving congressional journalism. |url=https://medium.com/@jaelholzman/why-im-leaving-congressional-journalism-ee97e2bbebf6 |access-date=2025-03-13 |website=Medium |language=en}}

In the article, she writes about coming out as a trans woman in 2021 while working at the Capitol, as well as the subsequent experience of being one of the only openly transgender reporters on the Hill.

Although Holzman states unambiguously that she faced no discrimination while working in Congress, she cites multiple negative incidents involving her colleagues' lack of diligence when reporting on stories relevant to the LGBTQ+ community, which led to her becoming disillusioned with her job.

One example followed when requests by Pennsylvania Senate Democrats Bob Casey Jr. and John Fetterman led to the cutting of $1m of federal funds intended for William Way, the largest LGBTQ+ community center in Philadelphia. This was due to a false accusation, made by the social media entity Libs of TikTok, that William Way had been "hosting sex parties".{{Cite news |last=Zeballos-Roig |first=Joseph |title=Congress strips funding from LGBTQ group over 'sex parties' {{!}} Semafor |url=https://www.semafor.com/article/03/06/2024/william-way-sex-parties-earmark-fetterman |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20241109062013/https://www.semafor.com/article/03/06/2024/william-way-sex-parties-earmark-fetterman |archive-date=2024-11-09 |access-date=2025-03-14 |work=Semafor |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2024-03-06 |title=Congress drops funding for LGBTQ+ community center after 'Libs of TikTok' scorn |url=https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/03/06/congress/why-a-lgbtq-earmark-got-stripped-out-00145365 |access-date=2025-03-14 |website=POLITICO |language=en}} Holzman writes about the emotional distress caused by the way the story was covered by her professional peers on the Hill, and mentions, firstly, the failure of many to "say whether they asked the [William Way] center if the claims were true" and, secondly, the failure of any to adequately scrutinize the source of the accusation, Libs of TikTok. Holzman points out that Libs of TikTok (a social media handle used by far-right influencer Chaya Raichik) has a history of making false claims that demonize trans people.{{Cite news |last1=Lorenz |first1=Taylor |last2=Dwoskin |first2=Elizabeth |last3=Jamison |first3=Peter |date=2022-09-02 |title=Twitter account Libs of TikTok blamed for harassment of children's hospitals |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/09/02/lgbtq-threats-hospitals-libs-of-tiktok/ |access-date=2025-03-14 |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}{{Cite web |date=2022-08-17 |title=Boston Children's Hospital doctors facing violent threats after far-right groups spread 'misinformation' |url=https://www.bostonherald.com/2022/08/17/boston-childrens-hospital-doctors-facing-violent-threats-after-far-right-groups-spread-misinformation/ |access-date=2025-03-14 |website=Boston Herald |language=en-US}} Raichik has openly admitted to falsely accusing an innocent trans woman of carrying out the Uvalde school shooting.{{Cite web |last=Drennen |first=Ari |date=2024-02-26 |title="Is there a law against lying?" Libs of TikTok creator Chaya Raichik refuses to remove post accusing innocent trans woman of school shooting |url=https://www.mediamatters.org/libs-tiktok/there-law-against-lying-libs-tiktok-creator-chaya-raichik-refuses-remove-post-accusing |access-date=2025-03-14 |website=Media Matters for America |language=en}}

Holzman goes on to compare the current media climate around the coverage of transgender rights to the way climate change was previously covered, describing how equal weight had to be given to climate deniers despite the overwhelming scientific consensus against them. She suggests that more news outlets need to assign beat reporters to cover LGBTQ+ issues, preferably hired from within the community itself.

On June 20, 2024, it was reported that Holzman had been hired as a senior reporter for Heatmap News. She is the author of their newsletter The Fight, which covers "local conflicts in the energy transition."

File:Ekko Astral at Sanctuary Detroit 08-17-2024 01.jpg

{{Main|Ekko Astral}}

While attending the University of Vermont, Jael Holzman started playing music together with fellow student Liam Hughes. Despite going separate ways following graduation, Holzman reached out to Hughes after finding out he would be moving to Washington, D.C. in 2021. Together they formed the band Ekko Astral, with Holzman as vocalist and Hughes as guitarist. They would eventually be joined by Miri Tyler (on drums), Guinevere Tully (on bass), and Sam Elmore (on rhythm guitar).{{Cite web |last=Farrell |first=Margaret |date=2024-03-27 |title=Band To Watch: Ekko Astral |url=https://www.stereogum.com/2256868/ekko-astral-pink-balloons-interview/interviews/band-to-watch/ |access-date=2025-03-14 |website=Stereogum |language=en}}

Initially, Ekko Astral was a way for Holzman and Hughes to make music during the COVID-19 pandemic, and for Holzman to, in her words, "vent about what it’s like to be me right now" in regards to her experience transitioning during this time period. The band plays a style of rock music that draws influence from punk music, post-punk, noise rock, and queercore.{{Cite news |last=Kelly |first=Chris |title=Meet Ekko Astral, D.C.'s 'mascara mosh pit' rockers with a message |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/01/24/ekko-astral-concert-dc/ |newspaper=The Washington Post}} The band self-describes their music as "mascara moshpit".{{Cite web |last=Ruckle |first=Taylor |date=2024-04-17 |title=With Their Debut Album Out, Ekko Astral Are Building an Apolitical Punk Constituency |url=https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/690646/with-their-debut-album-out-ekko-astral-are-building-an-apolitical-punk-constituency/ |access-date=2025-03-14 |website=Washington City Paper |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Karon |first=Giliann |date=2024-04-18 |title=Inside the Mascara Mosh Pit: A Conversation with Ekko Astral {{!}} Feature Interview |url=https://post-trash.com/news/2024/4/17/ekko-astral-feature-interview |access-date=2025-03-14 |website=POST-TRASH |language=en-US}}

On October 28, 2022, Ekko Astral released an EP, Quartz.{{Cite web |last=Rodrigues |first=Mela J. |date=2022-11-04 |title=Get to Know Yourself With the Unstoppable Ekko Astral |url=https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/577629/get-to-know-yourself-with-the-unstoppable-ekko-astral/ |access-date=2025-03-14 |website=Washington City Paper |language=en-US}} This was followed by a live EP, entitled The Quartz Farewell.{{Cite web |title=THE QUARTZ FAREWELL, by Ekko Astral |url=https://ekkoastral.bandcamp.com/album/the-quartz-farewell |access-date=2025-03-14 |website=Bandcamp |language=en}}

On February 14, 2024, the band announced that they had signed with Topshelf Records.{{Cite web |last=DEVILLE |first=CHRIS |date=2024-02-14 |title=Ekko Astral Sign To Topshelf Records: Hear "baethoven" |url=https://www.stereogum.com/2251814/ekko-astral-baethoven/music/ |access-date=2025-03-14 |website=Stereogum |language=en}}

Ekko Astral's first studio album, Pink Balloons, was released on April 17, 2024, to critical acclaim. Pitchfork named it their best rock album of 2024,{{Cite web |last=Bloom |first=Madison |date=2024-12-04 |title=The 30 Best Rock Albums of 2024 |url=https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/best-rock-albums-2024/ |access-date=2025-03-14 |website=Pitchfork |language=en-US}} while NPR praised the single "devorah", and placed the album in their annual Top 50 list.{{Cite news |last=Gotrich |first=Lars |date=2024-04-02 |title=8 Tracks: Samba shoegaze, cherry blossom jazz and an 8-bit K-pop crush |url=https://www.npr.org/2024/04/02/1242277565/8-tracks-fuubutsushi-illit-pedro-the-lion |access-date=2025-03-14 |work=NPR |language=en}}

Tully left the group in July 2024, and Elmore left in September 2024.{{Cite web |last=Chelosky |first=Danielle |date=2024-09-04 |title=Ekko Astral Part With Two Members |url=https://www.stereogum.com/2278842/ekko-astral-part-with-two-members/news/ |access-date=2025-03-14 |website=Stereogum |language=en}} Holzman took on bass guitar duties as a result.

In 2024, Ekko Astral joined Idles for part of their tour of the Southern US.{{Cite web |last=Parnell |first=Annie |title=Ekko Astral: The Best of What's Next |url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/ekko-astral/ekko-astral-the-best-of-whats-next |access-date=2025-03-14 |website=Paste Magazine |language=en-US}}

In May 2024, Holzman stated that the band was working on a concept album about the Beltway.

• Ekko Astral – Quartz (2022){{Cite web |title=QUARTZ, by Ekko Astral |url=https://ekkoastral.bandcamp.com/album/quartz |access-date=2025-03-14 |website=Bandcamp |language=en}}
• Ekko Astral – The Quartz Farewell (2023)
• Ekko Astral – Pink Balloons (2024)

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Category:Journalists from Washington, D.C.

Category:21st-century American women journalists

Category:American newspaper reporters and correspondents

Category:University of Vermont alumni

Category:21st-century American journalists

Category:American transgender women

Category:Living people