The Empowered Woman: Callette Hollingsworth

When you meet Callette Hollingsworth, you’re immediately struck by her warmth, sincerity, and the quiet strength of someone who has lived her life with intention. She is a wife of nearly twenty‑two years, a mother of four, a creative, and a deeply rooted community advocate. But the heart behind her work is shaped by a calling she felt at just fifteen years

old.

“I became a follower of Christ when I was 15,” she shared. “Shortly after that, I knew the Lord had called me to be a missionary.” She and her high‑school sweetheart, Bryan married young with a shared vision to serve God together. They even spent time living in the Bahamas and preparing for mission work in Mexico before feeling God call them back home.

Within a year, they adopted their oldest son from a family member, an unexpected blessing that reshaped their understanding of ministry. For nearly seventeen years, they served in church leadership, with Callette stepping into roles as a community pastor and director. “God really began to change our hearts about what ministry looks like,” she said. “He gifted us to be in our community and love people well with the love of Christ.” They felt their mission field wasn’t a building or another country, it was Rome itself.

Today, Callette pours into her community in countless ways: as Board President of Harbor House, as a board member of the Downtown Development Authority, as part of the Walk to End Alzheimer’s planning committee, and as a volunteer with Three Circle Ministries. She also runs a small marketing business that began as a COVID hobby and now supports local organizations she believes in.

Callette’s deepest passion, child advocacy, comes from a place far more personal. When asked why Harbor House matters so deeply to her, Callette didn’t hesitate to share her story.

As a child, she endured sexual abuse at the hands of multiple family members. Her earliest memories of it began when she was four years old. The abuse continued on and off until she was nine, accompanied by manipulation, threats, and shame that kept her silent. “They told me if I ever said anything, I’d get in trouble,” she said. “They even threatened to show photos to my mom.” For years, she carried that fear alone. It wasn’t until middle school, during a presentation about abuse that she heard the words that changed everything: This is not your fault. That day, overwhelmed and grieving the recent loss of her birth father, she finally told her mother. “It just exploded out of me,” she said. “It stunned her. She was silent, then angry, not at me, but at what had been done.”

“I’m super grateful that I have Jesus,” she said. “He really started to heal me and restore my heart.” As an adult, she sought trauma counseling, work she describes as painful, necessary, and freeing. “It helped me dig up the roots of what had been buried inside me.”

That healing ignited her passion for advocacy. “I think we all have a story to tell,” she said. “In telling that story, we find healing ourselves. I want to use what happened to me to help prevent it for others or to bring healing to someone who needs to know it’s okay to talk about it.”

Harbor House provides what she never had: A safe place. A trained advocate. A trauma‑informed response. A path toward healing and hope.

When asked how she hopes her story encourages other women, Callette shared, “I could look at myself and see someone broken,” she said. “But how Christ has shaped me is that in Him, I’m whole.”

Her message is simple and powerful:

“You can still be a whole person. You can still walk in healing. You can still have hope and joy. You are loved. You are seen. You have purpose. What happened to you does not define the fullness of who you were created to be.”

For anyone feeling led to get involved, Callette encourages you to reach out, whether to her directly, through Harbor House’s Facebook page, or through their website. “Someone from the team will help you plug in,” she said.

She also invites the community to attend the upcoming Harbor House Spelling Bee, a fun and meaningful event that raises critical funds for their work.

“We’ve all been gifted with something,” she said. “It’s easy to live in our little bubbles, but the people around you need you. There are so many amazing organizations in this town. There’s a place for you and we’re happy to help you find it.”

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