Holli Grissom is overcoming life’s obstacles and achieving her career goals
By: Curtis Venetta
Holli Grissom grew up in an underprivileged environment, where most of her immediate family did not finish high school. As she entered college and began to grow a family of her own, she was worried that the cycle of poverty would continue with her. Despite the obstacles that have come her way, Grissom has managed to assert herself on the path to success.
Grissom says she always knew she didn’t want to continue living the life of poverty she was born into. “I had lofty dreams to become a rocket scientist, thinking that it would bring me the money, respect and prestige my family was never able to get,” Grissom says.
Her journey to becoming the student she is now started in 2010 when she graduated as salutatorian from high school. She then entered The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) as an aerospace engineer.
After sitting in a computer-aided design (CAD) lab at UAH for two semesters, she realized she was burning out. “Engineering was not in the cards for me, so I left the CAD lab to drop my class and change majors,” Grissom says. “I had experienced my first failure, and it was devastating.”
One semester after changing her major to finance, she found out she was pregnant with her first daughter.
At the time, Grissom was 19 years old and faced many overwhelming decisions. She thought, how could one person balance the pressure of being a new student and parent all at once? Grissom soon proved her ability to do just that.
She paused her academic pursuit and continued working as a veterinary assistant while her future husband finished his chemical engineering degree.
As time progressed, Grissom felt a new kind of pressure to find the “right time” to finish her degree in finance. Her husband then graduated in 2015, and even more major life decisions came their way — among them were choosing jobs, buying a house and deciding to have their second daughter.
In 2020, Grissom decided to become a gestational surrogate. “I wanted to use something that had caused me such adversity to bless someone else.”
When their youngest daughter entered kindergarten, Grissom returned to UAH to finish her Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in finance. Although she initially felt shame for not finishing her degree “when she was supposed to,” she wears her past with a badge of honor, knowing she worked hard and learned valuable life lessons.
Grissom has found a great support system at UAH, noting that Mona Foroughi, the College of Business (COB) career and internship advisor, has helped provide career tips and opportunities.
“The teachers are great and always supportive,” Grissom says. “They care about their students’ learning of the material. I felt like I have been able to bond with them, especially as I get further into degree-specific classes.”
Grissom will start her first job in finance this summer as a financial planning intern with Twickenham Advisors, a financial consultant located in downtown Huntsville.
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