Ashlee Hollis P ’29: New VEC Member Wants to “Invest in the Prep”

One conversation with Ashlee Hollis and you can’t help but be impressed by her energy, her intellect, and her passion. Professionally, she and her husband Elijah created Helm Creative Studio, a woman-owned, award-winning, impact-driven, and story-focused creative agency and production house that, much like its name, encourages people to lead their stories – to be at the very helm of them – and to make them their own. Personally, they are extremely active in the lives of their children Zion ’29 and Aunee, including supporting their schools, both with their time and their treasure. 

Even before becoming a Prep mom, she was super impressed with the school and wanted to be involved.

“I have been super impressed from the very first time I went to the Mothers’ Club Fashion Show even before Zion was at the Prep,” says Hollis. “I knew about the Prep because we have clients who are Prep grads or were Prep parents. They were such good people, we wanted Zion to have that too.”

The Hollises joined the Villiger Executive Committee during their first year as parents because they wanted to make a difference in the school and play a part in their son’s new community as they had at St. Laurentius in Fishtown where they started a photography club to teach students the skill and hosted fundraisers for the school.

“While it is a busy time for our company, we want to invest in the Prep, we want to meet other parents to build a community of our own,” she says. “We were super excited to be invited to be a part of the VEC, It was such an honor. We look forward to having opportunities to learn how we can get involved even more.”

Hollis also jumped in to serve as a co-chair of the Mothers’ Club Fashion Show, hoping to put her mark on the event that introduced her to the Prep for the first time. This seems like a lot, to run a successful business and be so active as a volunteer but that is the goal that Ashlee and Elijah had when they started Helm. 

“Our company is growing a lot and we are so grateful for that but we don’t want the company to be so big that we can’t be a part of our children’s lives,” she says. “We structured our team so we can be active in our children’s lives but also to stress that to those who work with us. We value family above all else and we want that for them as well.”

It is a mantra of hers and also of her company: “We are going to put our time, our talent, our treasure into helping to change the future.”

To learn more about how you can join one of the Prep’s Leadership Councils, contact Tara McFadden P’20, ’22 at tmcfadden@sjprep.org.