She has spoken about having been particularly close to her maternal grandfather, Manny, who passed away in 2023. A Korean War veteran and Bronze Star Medal recipient, Manny spent most of his working life making cars for Chrysler. Politically conscious, he was the head of his local union chapter. In 1967, he was living in Detroit when the city was the scene of one of the worst riots in US history. Jael describes how, afterward, he took Holzman's mother and aunt out to look at the ruins and "actually have a conversation with them about why the riots were happening."[3]
From October 2021 until November 2022, Holzman worked as a mining reporter for E&E News (owned by Politico).[1][4]
In November 2022, she started working for Axios as an energy and climate reporter, where she was the author of a new energy and climate policy newsletter.[4][15] On January 17, 2023, she appeared on C-SPAN, where she discussed the energy and climate policy goals in the House Republicans' "Commitment to America" plan.[16]
Departure from congressional journalism
On May 22, 2024, it was reported that Holzman would be leaving Axios.[17]
In the article, she writes about coming out as a trans woman in 2021 while working at the Capitol, as well as the subsequent experience of being one of the only openly transgender reporters on the Hill.[18]
Although Holzman states unambiguously that she faced no discrimination while working in Congress, she cites multiple negative incidents involving her colleagues' lack of diligence when reporting on stories relevant to the LGBTQ+ community, which led to her becoming disillusioned with her job.[18]
One example followed when requests by PennsylvaniaSenateDemocratsBob Casey Jr. and John Fetterman led to the cutting of $1m of federal funds intended for William Way, the largest LGBTQ+ community center in Philadelphia. This was due to a false accusation, made by the social media entity Libs of TikTok, that William Way had been "hosting sex parties".[19][20] Holzman writes about the emotional distress caused by the way the story was covered by her professional peers on the Hill, and mentions, firstly, the failure of many to "say whether they asked the [William Way] center if the claims were true" and, secondly, the failure of any to adequately scrutinize the source of the accusation, Libs of TikTok.[18] Holzman points out that Libs of TikTok (a social media handle used by far-right influencer Chaya Raichik) has a history of making false claims that demonize trans people.[18][21][22] Raichik has openly admitted to falsely accusing an innocent trans woman of carrying out the Uvalde school shooting.[23]
Holzman goes on to compare the current media climate around the coverage of transgender rights to the way climate change was previously covered, describing how equal weight had to be given to climate deniers despite the overwhelming scientific consensus against them. She suggests that more news outlets need to assign beat reporters to cover LGBTQ+ issues, preferably hired from within the community itself.[18]
Heatmap News
On June 20, 2024, it was reported that Holzman had been hired as a senior reporter for Heatmap News.[12][2] She is the author of their newsletter The Fight, which covers "local conflicts in the energy transition."[4]
While attending the University of Vermont, Jael Holzman started playing music together with fellow student Liam Hughes.[11] Despite going separate ways following graduation, Holzman reached out to Hughes after finding out he would be moving to Washington, D.C. in 2021. Together they formed the band Ekko Astral, with Holzman as vocalist and Hughes as guitarist.[11] They would eventually be joined by Miri Tyler (on drums), Guinevere Tully (on bass), and Sam Elmore (on rhythm guitar).[3][24]
Ekko Astral members Hughes, Holzman, Tully, and Tyler in 2023.
Initially, Ekko Astral was a way for Holzman and Hughes to make music during the COVID-19 pandemic, and for Holzman to, in her words, "vent about what it’s like to be me right now" in regards to her experience transitioning during this time period.[24] The band plays a style of rock music that draws influence from punk music, post-punk, noise rock, and queercore.[25] The band self-describes their music as "mascara moshpit".[26][27]
On October 28, 2022, Ekko Astral released an EP, Quartz.[28] This was followed by a live EP, entitled The Quartz Farewell.[29]
On February 14, 2024, the band announced that they had signed with Topshelf Records.[30]
Ekko Astral's first studio album, Pink Balloons[6], was released on April 17, 2024, to critical acclaim.[8][9]Pitchfork named it their best rock album of 2024[31], while NPR praised the single "devorah", and placed the album in their annual Top 50 list.[32][10]
Tully left the group in July 2024, and Elmore left in September 2024.[33] Holzman took on bass guitar duties as a result.
In 2024, Ekko Astral joined Idles for part of their tour of the Southern US.[34]
In May 2024, Holzman stated that the band was working on a concept album about the Beltway.[34]
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