Her Story
About Haley
Haley Hollins serves as a member experience specialist for Trupanion, a pet insurance company, while dedicating her primary focus to therapeutic arts and authorship. She has produced and sold art for about 12 years and entered the wellness field approximately six years ago, with a particular interest in holistic approaches. Hollins earned an Associate of Arts in Psychology from Hagerstown Community College in Hagerstown, Maryland, and is currently completing her Bachelor's degree in Psychology with a clinical focus at the University of Maryland. As an author, she has published two watercolor hand-painted art books, I Came Back For You and We're Going Home, which explore inner child healing. She is an active member of the Washington County Arts Council and the Valley Art Association, where her efforts center on breaking down barriers to art access and increasing visibility for art within the community. Hollins attributes her success to a persistent drive she describes as having a 'want to', viewing failures as stepping stones, and she values accessibility in both her professional and personal life, emphasizing the importance of opportunities for all individuals to pursue healing and creative expression.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Haley
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to what my grandmother would call having a 'want to'. It is easy to go through life and take what happens to you and see it as a personal failure. But I never saw it that way. I knew that no matter what happened, that I was going to persevere. Even if it wasn't in the exact way I thought that it would happen, or even if it didn't happen on the timeline that I hoped for, I knew that failures were just stepping stones to eventual successes.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice that I've ever received... one day, somebody looked at me and said, you know, if you're not happy... if you're unhappy, you don't have to make yourself at home there, and you can make your own path to happiness.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Any young lady that is entering into the industry of arts and wellness, I would say to them to not ever be intimidated by the amount of people that are in the arts and wellness community, because no matter how many people are in it, you still have something in your individual experience that is important and that people do want to hear and see.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Challenges include people devaluing art and seeing no social value in it, especially in the age of AI. Opportunities stem from the AI age by reminding people that art is inherently human and that humanity is necessary, as AI cannot provide therapeutic services or help process traumas.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I deeply value accessibility. There could be a child out there who knows how to cure cancer but doesn't have access to school, or the next greatest artist who doesn't have access to art materials or a space. In America it is difficult to create enough access to therapeutic services, and that is key to people living their best life.
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