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11 GEORGIANVIEW 2024 PRINT EDITION ALUMNI STORIES Award-winning alumna graduates later in life If you ask Holly Martin what made her decide to start her own health-care agency in her sixties, she'll tell you it wasn't supposed to turn out this way. "It was a fluke," laughs the Personal Support Worker (PSW) graduate (class of 2014). "I wasn't supposed to have my own business. I just wanted to work part time for somebody else and have some fun doing what I love – helping others." After almost a decade and 13 business awards – including the prestigious 2024 Barrie Chamber of Commerce Women in Business Award for Healthcare Hero – Holly is about to turn 70 and doesn't appear to be slowing down as the owner of Touch a Heart Homecare, a growing home-care agency with a remarkable health-care team. Following a very successful sales career in the telecommunications industry, Holly decided to take the PSW program at the age of 59. Many might think it was a big leap to go from the corporate world to health care, but Holly says she was just following the passion she's always had to help vulnerable people. Complete career change at 59 "I figured if I could just make that one little difference in someone's day, that would really make my day," she says. "I get more of a kick helping them than working. I love going to see them. It's like, who am I going to see today? Who am I going to bring a smile to? Who is going to touch my heart today?" As a student with short-term memory loss due to a car collision earlier in her life, Holly turned to Student Success Advising at Georgian to learn how to study and spent most of her time in the library. Her efforts earned her exceptional marks. In 2015, a year after graduation, she started Touch a Heart Homecare and by 2017, she accepted her first award: PSW Entrepreneur of the Year, given to her by the Ontario PSW Association. She's been on a growth trajectory ever since and continues to love her career choice today. "The awards are nice; it shows I'm doing something right. That we, as a team, are doing something right," she says. "I could not do any of this without support from my family, friends, my amazing team, and thank God Georgian College was there for me." | As Sarah Dahlgren, of A Bradford Christmas watches on, Holly Martin hugs Patrick Harriott-Stewart, of Romaan Events after winning the Healthcare Hero Award at the Barrie Chamber of Commerce 2024 Women In Business Awards. Photo credit: Stephen Elliott, owner of Elliott Impact Media.