Rachel Hollis
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Rachel Hollis (;) is an American author, motivational speaker, and
blogger A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...
. She is the author of three
self-help book A self-help book is one that is written with the intention to instruct its readers on solving personal problems. The books take their name from ''Self-Help'', an 1859 best-seller by Samuel Smiles, but are also known and classified under "self-i ...
s, including '' Girl, Wash Your Face'' and '' Girl, Stop Apologizing''.


Early life and education

After graduating from high school, Hollis moved to Los Angeles, California, and got a job at
Miramax Miramax, LLC, formerly known as Miramax Films, is an American independent film and television production and distribution company owned by beIN Media Group and Paramount Global. Based in Los Angeles, California, it was founded on December 19, ...
. While working there, she met her future husband and founded an event-planning company called Chic Events.


Career

Her breakthrough moment on social media came in March 2015, when an
Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...
photo of her celebrating her
stretch marks Stretch marks, also known as striae () or striae distensae, are a form of scarring on the skin with an off-color hue. Over time, they may diminish, but will not disappear completely. Striae are caused by tearing of the dermis during periods of ...
went viral. "I wear a bikini because I'm proud of this body and every mark on it. Those marks prove that I was blessed enough to carry my babies and that flabby tummy means I worked hard to lose what weight I could", she wrote in the post. It garnered more than ten million views. Hollis' book ''Girl, Wash Your Face'' was described by ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' as mixing "memoir, motivational tips,
Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...
quotations and common-sense girl talk." The prevailing message of ''Girl, Wash Your Face'' is one largely of female self-reliance, summed up by Hollis as "You, and only you, are ultimately responsible for how happy you are." Since the success of her book, Hollis and her family have moved outside of
Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...
. She frequently posts
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
videos with motivational messages, and has garnered over 163,000 subscribers. In 2019, Hollis released a follow-up book, '' Girl, Stop Apologizing''. In 2019, Hollis founded the podcast syndicated network "Three Percent Chance."  The network serves as the home for Straight Up with Trent Shelton, The Rachel Hollis Podcast, Start Today Morning Show, Rise Together Podcast, Talking Body with Amy Porterfield, and The New EDU podcast with Hope King and Wade King of Get Your Teach On. Rachel and Dave Hollis co-hosted a
podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...
titled RISE. On July 27, 2020,
HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...
announced their intention to release a new book by Hollis on September 29, 2020. The book, entitled ''Didn't See That Coming'', was about navigating through crisis, loss, and grief.


Plagiarism

On January 31, 2019,
BuzzFeed News ''BuzzFeed News'' was an American news website published by BuzzFeed beginning in 2011. It ceased posting new hard news content in May 2023. It published a number of high-profile scoops, including the Steele dossier, for which it was strong ...
published an article by reporter Stephanie McNeal detailing multiple instances of Hollis
plagiarizing Plagiarism is the representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 '' Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of anothe ...
quotes from other authors on her Instagram and explicitly attributing the quotes to herself, including quotes from
RuPaul RuPaul Andre Charles (born November 17, 1960) is an American drag queen, television host, singer, producer, writer, and actor. He produces, hosts, and judges the reality competition series ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' and has received List of awards ...
,
Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt ( ; October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the longest-serving First Lady of the United States, first lady of the United States, during her husband Franklin D ...
, Tim Hiller, Debra Condren, and
Terry Cole-Whittaker Terry Cole-Whittaker (December 3, 1939 – October 22, 2024) was a New Thought author, United Church of Religious Science Minister, and the founder of Terry Cole-Whittaker Ministries and Adventures in Enlightenment. History Cole-Whittaker ...
. The article additionally pointed out that the title of Hollis's 2019 book, ''Girl, Stop Apologizing'' bore strong resemblance to Canadian professor and author Maja Jovanovic's 2016 book, ''Hey Ladies, Stop Apologizing.'' In April 2020, the quote "Still I rise," plagiarized from
Maya Angelou Maya Angelou ( ; born Marguerite Annie Johnson; April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American memoirist, poet, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and is credi ...
, was posted without attribution to Hollis's Instagram page. Hollis blamed the incident on her team following widespread public outrage and issued an apology.


TikTok controversy

In March 2021, a commenter called Hollis "unrelatable" for speaking about having a twice-weekly housekeeper who "cleans the toilets." In response, Hollis released a
TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...
video in which she said, "What is it about me that made you think I want to be relatable? No, sis. Literally everything I do in my life is to live a life that most people can't relate to." The video's caption read "
Harriet Tubman Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross, – March 10, 1913) was an American abolitionist and social activist. After escaping slavery, Tubman made some 13 missions to rescue approximately 70 enslaved people, including her family and friends, us ...
, RBG,
Marie Curie Maria Salomea Skłodowska-Curie (; ; 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934), known simply as Marie Curie ( ; ), was a Polish and naturalised-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was List of female ...
,
Oprah Winfrey Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954) is an American television presenter, talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and media proprietor. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show' ...
,
Amelia Earhart Amelia Mary Earhart ( ; July 24, 1897 – January 5, 1939) was an American aviation pioneer. On July 2, 1937, she disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the world. During her li ...
,
Frida Kahlo Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón (; 6 July 1907 – 13 July 1954) was a Mexican painter known for her many portraits, self-portraits, and works inspired by the nature and artifacts of Mexico. Inspired by Culture of Mexico, the country' ...
,
Malala Yousafzai Malala Yousafzai (; , pronunciation: ; born 12 July 1997) is a Pakistani female education activist, film and television producer, and the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate at the age of 17. She is the youngest Nobel Prize laureate in history, ...
,
Wu Zetian Wu Zetian (624 – 16 December 705), personal name Wu Zhao, was List of rulers of China#Tang dynasty, Empress of China from 660 to 705, ruling first through others and later in her own right. She ruled as queen consort , empress consort th ...
… all Unrelatable AF. Happy
Women's History Month Women's History Month is an annual observance to highlight the contributions of women to events in history and contemporary society. Celebrated during March in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, corresponding with Internationa ...
." '' Vox'' wrote that "the post appeared clumsy at best and racist at worst. Was Hollis really saying that her struggles to build a brand as a lifestyle guru — a brand built on the sense she has created that she is just like her fans — was the same as Harriet Tubman escaping slavery and then going back to help other enslaved people escape? And was she really trying to tell her followers that she never wanted to be relatable after selling thousands of books telling them all the ways in which she was the same kind of person they were?" On April 4, Hollis released an initial apology for the video, in which she blamed her team for mishandling the situation. Eventually, Hollis deleted the original video and the initial apology and issued a new apology stating "I am so deeply sorry for the things I said in my recent posts and the hurt I have caused in the past few days. By talking about my own success, I diminished the struggles and hard work of many people who work tirelessly every day."


Personal life

Rachel married Dave Hollis in 2004; the couple had four children together. They announced their separation in 2020. Dave Hollis died unexpectedly on February 11, 2023, at the age of 47, from a lethal combination of heart disease, ethanol, cocaine, and fentanyl.


Notes


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hollis, Rachel Living people American motivational speakers American motivational writers American women non-fiction writers Writers of blogs about home and family American women bloggers American bloggers American women motivational speakers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American women writers Women motivational writers American self-help writers People from Kern County, California Year of birth missing (living people)