[1] Holmgren, the eldest of three children, was born in Colombia and migrated to the United States with her family when her father, an aircraft mechanic, got a new job with Avianca, a Colombian airline.

Upon her family's move to the United States, Holmgren attended a high school in Los Angeles and developed interests in chemistry and STEM.

Compared to traditional petroleum methods, LanzaTech’s waste gas-to-ethanol process (biomass gasification) reduces life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions by 67-98%.

[8] Under Holmgren’s guidance, LanzaTech ceased making jet fuel and formed, LanzaJet, a profit-driven production plant located in Soperton, Georgia, which will begin operating in 2023.

[citation needed] Since her time at LanzaTech, Holmgren, along with her crew has received the United States Environmental Protection Agency Presidential Green Chemistry Award in 2015.

[10] In 2022, Holmgren received an honorary doctorate degree from Delft University of Technology and was classified as a Top 40 Power Player by the Independent Commodity Intelligence Service.