The Badass Tone Your Ass Lady Slipper Hiking Gang
November 27, 2024
Holly Kostrzewski first experienced the Superior Hiking Trail thanks to a boyfriend who took her hiking on the Trail.
“When I got dumped, a girlfriend asked me what I would miss about him. I said, ‘Hiking.’ And she said, ‘Well, you don’t need him to go hiking!’ That morning over brunch, the friends founded the Badass Tone Your Ass Lady Slipper Hiking Gang.
“The only rules were to wear practical shoes, bring your own water, and a positive attitude,” she said. The group participants are women ranging in age from their 20s to 60s and spend their hikes discussing all the things: life, parenting, working, society, politics, and now menopause and hot flashes.
Holly joined the Superior Hiking Trail Association Board of Directors this fall, and we are so grateful she’s chosen to share her incredible range of experiences with the Trail. “When I saw the opening on the SHTA board, I told my husband ‘I’m going to apply for this.’ My husband said, ‘You should! You love everything about the Trail.’ “
Holly grew up on a potato and grain farm in the heart of the Red River Valley in Stephen, Minnesota, and then moved to Duluth to attend the College of St. Scholastica. “I am one of the fortunate few who found a job after college and was able to stay in Duluth,” she said.
She has been a public servant in injury prevention for more than 20 years with tribal, state and federal governments, and currently works as a Highway Safety Specialist within the Impaired Driving Division with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Holly is a rural and tribal communities expert.
Holly started her career with the Fond du Lac Band as an Injury Prevention Specialist. She was in the Indian Health Service Injury Prevention Program Development Fellowship and helped with injury prevention projects throughout the United States. Holly was the first Northeast and Northwest Minnesota Toward Zero Deaths Regional Director, where she covered 19 counties and was in charge of 40,000 square miles of Northern Minnesota traffic safety.
“I’m interested in injury prevention because I sustained a traumatic brain injury in a motor vehicle crash when I was 18 years old,” Holly said. “I had to re-learn how to read, write, walk, and talk again. Because of that, I wanted to give back and help prevent brain injuries.”
In college, Holly started sharing her story of healing from a brain injury as a speaker with the Think First Program, which paired people with traumatic brain injuries with medical professionals to speak in local schools. “One medical professional told me I have a gift; I should go share my story more,” so at age 21, Holly started her own motivational speaking and education business, Hope Humor and Inspiration. For 25 years, she’s shared her story at brain injury conferences around the country and world as a keynote speaker, reaching more than 800,000 people with her story of healing and hope.
Holly will be the keynote speaker at the Traumatic Brain Injury Conference in Christchurch, New Zealand this coming March. “When they asked the name of my presentation, which is ‘Hiking to the Top of Mount TBI: A 25-year Lookback on Lessons Learned,’ they said Kiwi’s don’t know what hiking is. You have to change it to tramping, ‘Tramping to the Top of Mount TBI.’ I’m so delighted to learn they call it tramping! I had to share that with the SHT community.”
Hiking continues to play a healing role in Holly’s life.
When Holly’s father became a paraplegic 10 years ago, a friend told her, “You need to walk through your grief. So I started hiking, and never stopped hiking. I found the mental aspect of hiking through my thoughts – without a cell phone or TV to distract me – with the trees and their roots to be incredibly healing,” Holly said. “There are a lot of people grieving over a lot of different things, and if you can find that the best therapy for you is in the woods, I think that is great.
“Everybody goes through low and high moments. I want the Trail to be there for many years after I’m long gone for anyone who needs it.”
So far, Holly has completed about half of the Superior Hiking Trail. She loves hiking between Spirit Mountain and Ely’s Peak. She and her husband Rob Olah enjoy hiking the Brewer Park Loop, and hiking down the SHT from Chester Bowl to Burrito Union. “I don’t know if I can choose a favorite section because I feel like every time I’m in the woods, it changes. I’ve only hiked half of it,” Holly said. “My favorite section could still be to come!”
Accessibility – providing opportunities for people of all ability and mobility levels to enjoy the SHT – is an experience and perspective Holly is uniquely gifted to share with our Board and staff. “Not all parts of the SHT are accessible for everyone, but there is a section accessible for everyone,” she said. “With a traumatic brain injury and balance and coordination issues, not all sections are realistic but there is a section or many sections we can do.”
Another aspect of her professional background that will be invaluable to her work on the SHTA board is her experience with interdisciplinary partnerships. “My job has always been to gather all of those people around the table – law enforcement, engineers, education, EMS and trauma hospitals, the judicial system – and look at crash data and ask ‘What can we learn from your professional lens?’ to change behavior and prevent future crashes so a family doesn’t have to lose a family member or get seriously injured,” she said.
Aspects of trail user education also benefit greatly from a deep understanding of human behavior. “For me, social media is great in a lot of ways but also not great. You have a lot of people driving up to get a photo at one spot on the Trail, like the leaf peepers,” Holly said. “But there is so much more to see! I’m not sure people know there is a section for everybody. That’s really important to me.
“We have to share the trail together. The Trail is like a road. You shouldn’t litter outside of your car. You stay in your own lane. The same goes for the Trail. I find it disheartening when I see trash on the Trail. I’ve thought a lot about that,” Holly said. “How do we capture the people who are driving up for a day trip? I’m very happy they’re driving up and getting to experience our stunning corner of the world, but we also need to impress upon them the importance of stewardship.”
Welcome to the SHTA Board of Directors, Holly! We are grateful you’ve chosen to share your talents and passion for the SHT with our entire Trail community.