TAMPA, Fla. — It’s Hispanic Heritage Month and Tampa Bay 28 is amplifying the voices impacting the local community.
Tampa Bay 28 Anchor Lauren St. Germain recently met with the 2025 Tampa Hispanic Heritage Inc., Hispanic Woman of the Year. Julianne Holt grew up in Tampa and went on to serve as public defender for Hillsborough County for 32 years. St. Germain sat down with Holt to learn how her younger years and family impacted the person she is today.
Julianne Holt says family values shaped her life.
“What were some of the lessons your mom and grandma taught you?” St. Germain asked.
“Well, my mom in particular, that was work ethic. She worked six days a week. And so everything from the standpoint of work ethic was from my mom. With my grandmother, she just had a wonderful, wonderful heart, a wonderful soul. Friends mattered a lot. Loyalty mattered a lot. Family mattered a lot. It was every Sunday. The family was at our house and she was the one cooking,” said Holt.
Holt grew up in the west Tampa Bay area.
“I grew up in the area where desegregation was happening. And so instead of going to school in my community, I was bussed over to the Leto area. It’s probably one of the first times that I realized that bias and prejudice existed. You know there were a lot of Hispanics that were being brought into a non-Hispanic community at the time,” said Holt.
Fast forward a few years and those family values influenced Holt’s career choice as well.
“One of the things that I decided was I always knew that there were going to be underprivileged individuals, people that weren’t as fortunate as I had become, and I wanted to make sure that they were always going to have a voice in the courtroom, a voice in the system, an opportunity, access to the courts, things that a lot of people take for granted,” said Holt.
She continued “And for me, the Hispanic community was one that was underserved. And a lot of times when you have a language barrier that really causes problems especially in the criminal justice system."
Holt went from University of South Florida to law school to private practice and learned she could really make an impact in the community in the public defender’s office, so she ran for office and won. She served Hillsborough County for decades.
“And throughout those 32 years, you worked on some pretty notable cases. Which ones really stick in your memory?” asked St. Germain.
“You know the very first one was a high-profile cause that happened New Year’s Day here in 1993. It was referred to as the tourist burning case, where three individuals had, were charged with kidnapping and then setting someone on fire. And then I was also one of the lawyers that represented Nicole Nachtman, who was accused of killing her mother and stepfather. And that was a very tragic, tragic case. Then I ended with handling the case involving the Seminole Heights deaths. So I think those three probably stand out the most,” said Holt.
Holt says her biggest message after decades in office is relationships are imperative.
“Your community matters, consider public service and there’s a lot of ways to do it. Stay involved. Stay engaged. Help people who are not as fortunate as you are and pay everything forward in some fashion,” said Holt.
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