When Holly Morris Espy ’93 entered Duke, she came with the intention of becoming an engineer. She earned her degree in environmental and civil engineering from what is now Pratt, but left Durham carrying a passion for television news that had been percolating in the back of her mind for years.
With some mentoring from another Duke alum, longtime Cincinnati TV anchor Carol Williams ’73, whom Espy cold-called for advice, she returned to her native Ohio and took her first job at a small market station – “I took the old-school route” – where she began to learn the broadcast journalism business from the ground up, starting as an assignment editor, then becoming a reporter and anchor.
Her biggest role came when Espy joined major-market station WTTG in Washington, D.C., where for more than 25 years, she navigated morning television. Her cheerful spirit in the early hours made her a trusted face for Beltway viewers as Espy merged her quick-study smarts on hard news stories with upbeat live reports that connected busy Washingtonians to their communities.
But Espy, now 55, had bolder dreams beyond the anchor desk. “I say I didn’t retire, I graduated,” she jokes, happily exiting the news business in 2024 and adding entrepreneur to her resume. In 2025, she co-founded with friends Brooks Kenny and Sondra Hoffman a company called Moorlow (Moorlow.com), one of the first upscale pickleball apparel lines for women. It’s not only a fashion brand but a company that aligns its purpose of supporting active women with the greater cause of brain heath, donating $2 of every purchase to charity partners.
This seeming hard pivot into a different career did not surprise her friend, and one of her company’s first investors, Demetrios Marantis, former acting U.S. trade representative under President Barack Obama. He said Espy has the kind of mind and energy to tackle any project. He met her through his husband, who is her decades-long “like family” friend.
“Holly has this unique skill set that allows her to be able to do anything,” says Marantis. “They did an initial round and a trunk show. We got to see the line and touch it. The quality and craftsmanship is so good. We wanted to invest.”
After watching the brand grow, Marantis and his husband invested even more. He praises Espy’s ability to not only handle her business strategically but to remain connected to friends and loved ones. “Holly hasn’t done this to the exclusion of her personal life. She is such a family person and she goes out of her way to support her friends. … Not only is she killing it professionally, but she also knows what’s important in life.”
At home, Espy is married to Duke classmate Thomas Espy ’94, and the mother of a teen son, Hayden. The couple met when Espy, a year ahead of Thomas, was his freshman advisory counselor, or FAC. The connection was instant but it just took time for life to catch. The couple got back in touch a few years later and have been together ever since, forging a happy and busy life in Chevy Chase, Maryland, where Thomas is an attorney.
The idea for Moorlow (an amalgam of their maiden names), Espy says, came together over a glass of wine in her own backyard. The three friends and now partners drew up what they wanted their brand to look like. They cited the rise of athleisure apparel and the nation’s interest in diseases such as Alzheimer’s as the impetus for their company and its philanthropy, noting that increased physical activity is believed to reduce the risk of dementia.
Espy said the entirety of her background at Duke helped her develop her new business and have confidence in being successful. “I was math- and science-oriented, and I trusted that if I didn’t make it in TV, I could get a real job as an engineer,” she said. “What my engineering degree taught me was to solve problems and come to a solution. I learned that at Duke, where I think there is just such a wholistic education.”