Lucretia Holden and the Fight to Make Alzheimer’s Nothing But a Memory
Lucretia Holden never set out to run a nonprofit. Her sights were on Hollywood—film, television, fashion, photography. She was chasing light (the freedom to be creative, make a positive impact, and use her skills to entertain and connect with others) and the potential to shape culture, educate, and inspire, literally and figuratively. But like many driven people with many gifts, her path took unexpected turns. Each job, each pivot, each “no” became a tool she’d sharpen for what was coming next.
Today, she’s Executive Director of the Fisher Center for Alzheimer’s Research Foundation. A role she didn’t seek—but one she’s earned every bit of.
She took the long way in—starting in a recreational facility designed for entertainment, food industry, government, fashion, the national cultural center, international nonprofit charity, moving through film school, working two jobs to survive, hustling as a photographer and model while paying off student loans. And then the 2008 crash hit. “Art didn’t make ends meet or pay the bills,” she says flatly. So she pivoted again. Nonprofit work called. She answered. And she showed up hard.
She didn’t lead with her resume—though it’s stacked. She led with grit, consistency, and high standards. When the Fisher Center Foundation’s President passed away, the trustees searched for a replacement but shortly realized they didn’t need to. Lucretia was quietly and respectfully running the show, hitting goals, elevating her team, and making it all look easy. She wasn’t trying to be the face. She was doing the work.
And when they tapped her to lead? She brought the whole team with her.
Lucretia has a unique leadership philosophy: push people, ask questions, and treat creatives like the thinkers they are. When she challenged a longtime graphic designer to justify his choices—colors, images, layout—he’d never been asked to explain his process before. Turns out, he was brilliant. He just needed someone to notice.
That’s the Lucretia effect: she sees people. Then she elevates them.
The Fisher Center Foundation, under her leadership, is lean (a team of fewer than 12), winning awards and hitting ambitious fundraising goals year after year. But this isn’t about numbers. It’s about what those numbers fund: some of the most advanced Alzheimer’s research in the world.
The Foundation doesn’t run direct services. It fuels discovery. They fund labs at The Rockefeller University and NYU Langone, where researchers are using AI to map how brain cells die. Others are testing new meds and uncovering links between Alzheimer’s and menopause, hypertension, and even diabetes. Lucretia is clear: “There will not be one cure. There will be treatments—targeted ones, like we have for cancer. And we’re getting closer.”
Donors want results. She gets it. “People don’t want their money going to admin. They want it to go to research. That’s what we do.” The Foundation has earned Charity Navigator’s 4-star rating for 11 straight years—and they’re not slowing down.
For Lucretia, this isn’t just a job. It’s personal. She donates to the Foundation herself. “I do not ask people to give if I’m not giving too.” She believes in the mission deeply: to make Alzheimer’s “nothing but a memory.”
It’s a powerful line. And she means every word.
Lucretia Holden didn’t plan to be here. But everything in her story—every film shoot, fashion project, nonprofit gig, every painful lesson and every moment of vision—brought her to this fight. And she’s in it to win.