To the women who help me rise, every day

As Women’s History Month draws to a close, I reflect on the countless women in history I respect and admire; the women who have paved the way for so many of us now, championing important societal and business issues. However, I’m equally drawn to the women in my life today who are creating history with me, alongside me. 

These are the women who were there for me, with me, helping me dream up what Athena could be when we were in its earliest days; these are the women who transformed Athena into a digital platform; these are the women who are working so tirelessly to create a bigger sense of community and partnership among our members. We’re not yet in history – but we’re making history, every day, through this important work.

These incredible women include…

Samantha Lorenzo: Samantha, I’ve had the pleasure of witnessing you blossom into a world-class executive board recruiter. Your dedication to helping CEOs and boards diversify, and to seeing our members land exciting board seats, never fails to amaze me. 

Priscilla Brenenstuhl: Priscilla, you’ve evolved with Athena, taking us through a massive transformation from in-person events to a completely virtual format (years before the pandemic made this the norm for everyone). You’ve been the visionary behind our myriad events driving our intimate yet virtual sense of community in learning. I’m so grateful for your leadership. 

Beau Parker and Cata Cachon: The two of you – coming from the wisdom and experience of the member success team – became our architects for how live events turn into on-demand and group learning, inventing our signature learning circles and newly launching “Pathways”, starting with Path to the Boardroom complete with four well-tested steps and 11 seasons comprised of 80 amazing videos. WOW!

Annie Dabrowski: You stepped up so quickly to fill Alana Lenore’s (hard to fill) shoes as our head of Member Success. We’ve embedded human interaction in all the most essential ways behind our members. We are not just a digital platform, we are an ecosystem, with humans in the loop strategically throughout. Designing this interplay of technology and humans for customer success is an art as well as a science, and you and your team do it so well!

Iris Vonberg: Iris, in so many ways, you’re the backbone of Athena. From data integrity and Salesforce operations to finance and reporting. You’re the Athena “swiss army knife” who keeps our operations running smoothly.

Lexie Banks: Lexie, you’ve stepped up to lead marketing. Many may not know that Athena’s marketing has been almost exclusively centered around organic word-of-mouth systems. We are so well-known across industries, geographies, etc. with zero advertising and zero investment in PR. That’s pretty hard to pull off. You’re such a strategic team player who spins gold out of wheat!

Carol Winfrey: I’m thrilled to have you as our newest teammate (Chief Growth Officer) in the center of what is next for Athena – building go-to-market and our demand gen and sales engines. I look forward to leveraging your expertise in growth, sales, marketing, and business strategy. Thanks for believing in our mission and for coming on board.

Kate Batten: It’s not easy building a rocketship from an airplane, from a kite, while flying them all at the same time. We are a learning community – agile and fast to adapt and evolve – in all ways. You are firmly in the center of this as our Chief Product Officer, guiding us through to the next exciting launch on a continual basis with bars rising at every point!

Rhonda Mims: Rhonda, you’ve been an instrumental influence since you’ve joined Athena’s board. You broaden my perspective and act as a constant coach and mentor – thank you! 

Liz Tinkham: Liz, you’ve been with us since the early days – first as a mentor and now as a board director, the first voice of Athena Radio as host of the Third Act Podcast, and investor. Thank you for your relentless support! 

Michele Bettencourt: Michele, you’re a true visionary with a knack for sales and SaaS. You’ve given, given, and given some more to Athena and now I’m thrilled to see you serve on our board. Thank you! 

There are so many more women in and around Athena I should recognize and highlight, the list could go on for pages! Yvonne Wassenaar, Merline Saintil, Debra Vernon, Mercedes De Luca, Jessica Denecour, Alison Davis, Suja Chandrasekaran, Randi Feigin, Tammy Schuring, Julie Cullivan, Katrinka McCallum – your work shaping Athena’s earliest days, guiding from the boardroom, or financially backing Athena Alliance, Inc. has been powerful for me personally and for all women of Athena.

At Athena, every month is Women’s History Month, and every woman has a story and contribution worth celebrating.

This is history in the making.