Hollie Mckay

Hollie S. McKay is an Australian-born foreign policy expert and war crimes investigator. She was an investigative and international affairs/war journalist for Fox News Digital for over fourteen years where she focused on warfare, terrorism, and crimes against humanity.

Hollie has worked on the frontlines of several major war zones and covered humanitarian and diplomatic crises in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, Iran, Turkey, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Burma, Russia, Africa, Latin America, and other areas including Ukraine. Her globally-spanned coverage, in the form of thousands of print articles and essays, has included exclusive and detailed interviews with numerous captured terrorists, as well as high-ranking government, military, and intelligence officials and leaders from all sides.

She has spent considerable time embedded with US and foreign troops and conducted extensive interviews with survivors and internally-displaced people. She communicates the complexities of such catastrophes and war crimes on populations. Hollie’s work has additionally been featured in the Wall Street Journal and her writings are referenced in innumerable mainstream publications and academic journals. Additionally, she has won numerous foreign press and humanitarian awards. Hollie McKay is acclaimed by her peers as one of the most diligent reports in her field.

Speaking Topics:

IMPORTANCE OF HUMAN CONNECTION | WHAT WAR TEACHES US

While conflict brings out the worst of humanity, it also brings out the very best. Survivors of such manmade atrocities teach us what it is to be brave, when there is little choice for the ordinary to become extraordinary.  I have often been struck by how ordinary people are forced to become extraordinary at the drop of a hat – or a bomb. I am both perplexed and inspired by the resilience of these people to withstand pain (physical and psychological), to find hope in the bundling of misery, and to push through the darkness. The key? Faith, hope, and the power of love and holding each other up. 

THE ART OF STORYTELLING IN HOSTILE ENVIRONMENTS

Getting to the truth, and shining a light in some of the darkest corners of the globe, is far from a straight-forward task, especially when faced with hostile governments, insurgents and powerful players who will stop at nothing from squashing the truth. But it can and must be done, both now and in the future.

ON INVESTIGATING WAR CRIMES AND ACCOUNTABILITY

Over and over again, we hear and often even see unfathomable crimes being committed by governments, gangsters, warlords and terrorists against those simply caught in the crossfire of conflict. Who is holding the perpetrators accountable? Why are so many mass murderers and rapists getting away with their crimes in the context of wartime? More must be done.

HOW TERRORISTS THINK AND OPERATE: INTERVIEWING ISIS

Having spent years interviewing terrorists from various factions, all over the world and with different ranks and responsibilities, Hollie can offer an unprecedented insight into what makes them tick, what they really want, and why they do what they do.

WOMEN IN WAR: VIGNETTES FROM ALL SIDES

Women are playing an increasingly prominent role in today’s wars, and on all sides of the spectrum. We are seeing more female jihadists, more female fighters, more foreign terrorist wives and more females fighting for what’s right and playing visible roles in conflict resolution. Women, like never before, are crucial to preventing future conflict.

RESOLUTION AND THE FUTURE OF CONFLICT

With more than sixty million people displaced from their homes and a world in disarray akin to that of World War II times, it is hard not to fling our arms in the air and back away from the world. But isolation is not the only answer, there are solutions and we need to work together with a greater focus on prevention rather than containment, to bring the world’s many wars back to balance.