Jael Holzman

Jael Holzman is an American journalist and musician who reports on climate change, renewable energy, and mining.

She has worked for Congressional Quarterly, S&P Global Market Intelligence, E&E News, and Axios. Since July 2024, she has been a senior reporter for Heatmap News.

In 2021, Jael co-founded the punk rock band Ekko Astral, for which she is the lead vocalist and (since 2024) the bass guitarist. was released through Topshelf Records on April 17, 2024, garnering critical acclaim.

Early life and background Jael Holzman was born in Rockville, Maryland, where she attended Rockville High School.

She has spoken about having been particularly close to her maternal grandfather, Manny, who died in 2023. A Korean War veteran and Bronze Star Medal recipient, Manny spent most of his working life making cars for Chrysler and 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."

Early congressional career In January 2017, during the week of the first inauguration of Donald Trump as US President, Holzman started working as a congressional reporter on Capitol Hill.

She initially worked for Congressional Quarterly's Roll Call as a legislative researcher, before taking on the role of energy and environment reporter in May 2018.

From February 2020 until October 2021, she worked as a metals and mining reporter for S&P Global Market Intelligence. 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.

Departure from congressional journalism On May 22, 2024, it was reported that Holzman would be leaving Axios. On June 1, 2024, Holzman published an article through Medium entitled Why I'm leaving congressional journalism.

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. Although Holzman states unambiguously that she faced no discrimination while working in Congress, she cites multiple negative incidents where she disagreed with her colleagues' reporting on stories relevant to the LGBTQ+ community, which led to her becoming disillusioned with her job.

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. The band self-describes their music as "mascara moshpit".

On October 28, 2022, Ekko Astral released an EP, Quartz. This was followed by a live EP, entitled The Quartz Farewell.

On February 14, 2024, the band announced that they had signed with Topshelf Records.

Ekko Astral's first studio album, Pink Balloons, while NPR praised the single "devorah", and placed the album in their annual Top 50 list. Holzman took on bass guitar duties as a result.

In 2024, Ekko Astral joined Idles for part of their tour of the Southern US.

In May 2024, Holzman stated that the band was working on a concept album about the Beltway. . The second edition of the festival took place from April 24th to the 26th at Black Cat, and featured Laura Jane Grace, hardcore band Pissed Jeans, black metal duo Ragana, and Ezra Furman among many others.

Discography

Ekko Astral – Quartz (2022) Ekko Astral – The Quartz Farewell (2023) Ekko Astral – Pink Balloons (2024)