Hi, you. 

I’m Holly Whitaker, I’m a she and a her, the author of the New York Time’s Bestseller, Quit Like a Woman, and the founder of Tempest, Inc. (acquired by Monument, 2022).

I’m a person in long term recovery who thinks that the key to everything we’re looking for, both individually and societally, comes from the work we do on ourselves. Hurt people hurt people, and a core part of my work is to extend compassion, charitable assumption, and grace to all.

If I had to choose professional labels for myself, I’d choose writer, researcher, teacher, student. I prefer laptops to pens, cats to dogs. I enjoy gardening, piles of books, creating stuff, talking on the phone, doing absolutely nothing with people that fit like old sweaters, and napping. I love coffee and Topo Chico and trail running. I find life to be excruciating but I also am thrilled by the mystery of it, the way it never stays the same. I swing left; equity, equality, and social justice are core to me and core to the alleviation of addiction. I believe all humans are inherently and basically good, even the worst of them. Love ethic and non-violence are my north stars.

The older I get the less answers I have, and the more I learn the more I’m convinced I know nothing at all. My work is personal and subjective and how I make sense of the world and my place in it.

I’m currently working on my second book (Random House) and trying to write here and there regularly, mostly in my newsletter, because writing is what I like to do the most. 

I coach a few individuals at a time, primarily those in transition or in extended periods of tumult/confusion/liminality.

I don’t know you but I care about you. You deserve a soft place to land. It is my sincerest hope that my work is of benefit to you.