Jacqueline J. "Joy" Hollingsworth (born March 15, 1984) is an American politician, businessperson, and former basketball player. She is a member of the

Seattle City Council The Seattle City Council is the legislative body of the city of Seattle, Washington. The Council consists of nine members serving four-year terms, seven of which are elected by electoral districts and two of which are elected in citywide at-larg ...

from the 3rd district, having been elected in 2023. She played basketball at the college level for the

University of San Francisco The University of San Francisco (USF) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in San Francisco, California, United States. Founded in 1855, it has nearly 9,000 students pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees ...

and later the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

. She served as an assistant coach at

Seattle University Seattle University (Seattle U or SU) is a private Jesuit university in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the largest independent university in the Northwestern United States, with over 7,500 students enrolled in undergraduate and grad ...

. Hollingsworth is now part of her family's local

marijuana Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...

business, The Hollingsworth Cannabis Company (THC Co.), which is based in

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

Early life and basketball career

Joy Hollingsworth was born in Seattle on March 15, 1984. Hollingsworth's paternal grandmother, Dorothy Hollingsworth, was a prominent educator and civil rights activist in Seattle. Her uncle is former Sonics player, Bruce Seals. Hollingsworth's mother, Rhonda, moved from

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

to be closer to her brother, Bruce. Hollingsworth played for Seattle Prep and led the basketball team to their first girl's state title in 2002. She started playing

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

at the

and then later transferred to the

after two years. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in 2007 from the University of Arizona and in 2009, earned a master's degree in Education in Intercollegiate Athletics Leadership from the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

. Before the 2009–2010 basketball season, she was hired as the assistant women's basketball coach at

. Hollingsworth also played basketball in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, and has written for ''

ESPN The Magazine ''ESPN The Magazine'' was an American monthly sports magazine published by the ESPN sports network in Bristol, Connecticut. The first issue, with the cover line "NEXT.," was published on March 11, 1998 (cover date March 23, 1998), and featured K ...

''.

San Francisco and Arizona statistics

Source

Post-basketball

Hollingsworth left coaching in 2012. In 2013, Hollingsworth's brother, Raft, convinced the family to begin and invest in a

business, growing plants for their own business. They opened the Hollingsworth Cannabis Company (THC Co.), located in

Shelton Shelton may refer to: Places United Kingdom *Shelton, North Bedfordshire, in the parish of Dean and Shelton, Bedfordshire * Lower Shelton, in the parish of Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire * Upper Shelton, in the parish of Marston Moretaine, Bedf ...

, with Hollingsworth overseeing processing. Their marijuana farm has around 9,000 plants and appeared on an episode of '' Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown''. Hollingsworth and her family were crucial in ensuring a law supporting more people of color entering the cannabis industry in Washington state passed.

Seattle City Council

2023 election

In January 2023, Hollingsworth announced that she would be running to represent District 3 on the

. In her announcement, Hollingsworth state she would "develop and promote progressive and practical strategies to address root causes..." Later that week, incumbent

Kshama Sawant Kshama Sawant ( ; born October 17, 1973) is an Indian-American politician and economist who served on the Seattle City Council from 2014 to 2024. She was a member of Socialist Alternative as the first and only member of the party to date to be ...

, the council's only socialist member, announced that she would not run for reelection. In the primary, Mayor

Bruce Harrell Bruce Allen Harrell (born October 10, 1958) is an American politician and attorney serving as the 57th and current Mayor of Seattle, mayor of Seattle, Washington (state), Washington. He was a member of the Seattle City Council from 2008 to 2020. ...

endorsed Hollingsworth of the eight challengers for the open seat. She earned the most votes in the August election, with 36.87% of the vote, and advancing to the general election alongside transportation advocate Alex Hudson, who earned 36.53%. Hollingsworth and Hudson agreed that homelessness, housing affordability, and public safety, but differed on approach, with Hollingsworth supporting moderate solutions and Hudson more progressive ones. Hollingsworth advocated for increasing police staffing and supported the city council's bill to prosecute low-level drug offenses, while Hudson advocated for greater community investments and police alternatives. In the November general election Hollingsworth defeated Hudson, 52.94% to 46.71%.

Tenure

Hollingsworth took office on January 2, 2024. She was sworn in with five other new council members who all ran on a moderate platform, representing the largest turnover in the city council since 1911. In July 2024, Hollingsworth proposed legislation that would continue exempting businesses with less than 500 employees from matching the minimum wage for companies with 500+ employees and increasing the minimum wage based on inflation. The plan was meant to advert small businesses from wages increasing by $3 per hour. After public backlash from citizens, workers, and labor organizers, Hollingsworth pulled the bill, though she vowed to continue the advance the bill in the future. Hollingsworth also voted in favor of the controversial exclusionary zones known as the Stay Out of Drug Areas (SODA) and Stay Out of Areas of Prostitution (SOAP). She added amendments that would create a SODA zone in the Capital Hill neighborhood to disrupt drug trafficking in the area.

References

External links

City website

Campaign site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hollingsworth, Joy 1984 births Living people American women's basketball players Basketball players from Seattle Businesspeople in the cannabis industry Seattle University faculty Businesspeople from Seattle University of Arizona alumni University of San Francisco alumni American women academics 21st-century African-American sportswomen 21st-century American sportswomen 20th-century African-American sportswomen 20th-century American sportswomen Seattle City Council members Women city councillors in Washington (state) 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century Washington (state) politicians 21st-century African-American women politicians 21st-century African-American politicians