Voices of Athena: Recent Episodes
Athena Alliance
Sit down with the highly accomplished members of Athena Alliance, an executive learning community for women leaders, to hear the personal tales behind their professional success. We learn the real story behind their inspiring executive careers — their fears, their failures, and what song they’re singing at karaoke. You don’t get to the top without creating some memorable stories along the way.
Marilyn Lin, VP of Global Customer Support at Delphix, breaks the stigma around mental health, shares her journey as an outsider, and reclaims her cultural identity to show us why she is a champion of the underdog.
Meet Erin Essenmacher, Athena Alliance’s new Chief Experience Officer. She joins us with a rich professional background as a board member, strategist, C-suite leader, and changemaker. She joins us with a rich personal history of joy and loss. It is in her experiences that she has learned to look for the helpers in times of crisis and the lessons in the face of hardship. It is in her experience that she has learned to build community, and we are so excited to have her leading the way in ours.
Embark on a transformative journey of self-discovery with me. Embrace an opportunity to pause, reflect, and tap into your inner wisdom as you explore the depths of what truly matters to you. Through this process, you'll gain clarity on your purpose and uncover powerful tools to help you align with your highest calling.
What lights up your heart? How do you overcome fear and have the courage to pursue what makes you happy? In this episode, Board Director, ESG and tech expert, Britt Ide shares her journey from grief to fulfillment and the valuable tools and strategies that have helped her along the way.
The majority of people in the world want the same things, however, our existing power structures often emphasize our differences, leading us to be trapped in negative cycles of competition and scarcity. Christine Heckart is envisioning a new way of thinking, a new way of belonging and she's devoting her life's work to creating a world where everyone is filthy enriched.™
Feminine Leadership. What is it? How do we access and embrace it and utilize the power it has to change the face of leadership as we know it?
Deep joy- how would you describe it, cultivate it, attain it? Strategy and technology visionary Parul Saini, Global Head of Business and Enterprise Apps for Uber, starts with intention, literally, at the beginning of each day. She has an active appreciation for learning and has found purpose in her ability to make the best of things by building a strong personal foundation and an understanding that everyone is connected.
We are spotlighting, Third Act, a podcast celebrating "pretirement" and hosted by our last guest, Liz Tinkham. Liz interviews Rhonda Mims, who after 20 years of success in the corporate world, revisits her passion—film—where she’s using what she learned as a lawyer and chief diversity officer to drive change through documentaries. Her first production, Ferguson Rises, just won the audience award at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival.
Happiness is not someplace you go or something you do, it’s you learning how to come to peace with your story- making the best of a situation when it’s good, bad, and somewhere in between. Liz has battled cancer, two broken legs, and a marriage on the rocks and come out the other side with gratitude and… happiness.
I’ve spent the last year interviewing some of the most successful women in business. I’ve asked them to tell me about their fears, their greatest challenges and what keeps them hopeful. In this episode, I share with you what I’ve learned from our conversations.
It’s my turn in the hot seat. My friend and colleague, Justin Reeves, steps in to host our last interview of the season. We're talking love at first sight, finding God in the unlikeliest of places, and pondering what happens when we die.
Do you believe that everything happens for a reason? In this encore of our very first episode with our first guest, Dr. Yasmin Davidds, tells us how it became one of her core beliefs in this triumphant story of resilience.
The edges and the space between are just as important as the actual pieces of the puzzle. It is the space between that allows for connection. Our guest, Carol Coughlin, is exceptional at seeing how the pieces become whole.
Tamara Sniffen, Vice President of Commercial Excellence and growth expert knows that a key ingredient for growth is space- whether that means pausing during conversation to deeply listen and to thoughtfully respond or stepping into a new role that seems beyond your depth.
How far are you from your passion and purpose? What one thing would bring you closer to living the life of your dreams? Our guest is devoted to helping you find out.
What do you want to be when you grow up? When you are a child, the sky is the limit. However, as you grow your response is expected to be more practical. Very few people have the luxury of enjoying their work. Aishetu is one of those people, but that wasn't always the case.
When you are 13 and your mom dies suddenly, learning how to advocate for yourself becomes an act of survival. Taking that survival skill and using it to thrive becomes a commitment to courage.
Facing mortality while climbing rocky terrain is our guest's method of choice for switching off work mode. How are you designing your life to incorporate being in the flow?
When you know you stand on the shoulders of those that came before you, when you feel the presence of your ancestors in times of great challenge, you accept that great pressure is part of building a great legacy.
What does it take to show up fully present to the needs around you and recognize your place within the solution? Linnie recalls the teachings of her father among the tapestry of people who have inspired her along the way and how she learned to manage fear with a little toe-tapping...
Edie Rodriguez is like a live wire, ready to go where the spark takes her. If she wasn't busy in her current profession, as a Member of the Board of Directors for the Saudi Tourism Authority, she just might have been a real-life "Jane Bond" or a Formula One driver. Maybe there's still time?
Andrea Bonime-Blanc, CEO, Founder, Board Member, Author and
Risk Advisor has built her life and career determining what is controllable amidst the chaos. Her advice, "Be as informed and diligent as you can and then take the leap."
How would your life look if you followed your dreams? In this episode, artist, author, board member, and global marketing executive Kim Alexis Newton shares what it took to stop living her life based on the expectations of what she should be doing to explore what she could do—and what her life looks like now.
How does a shy, reserved woman step into the limelight and become a professional public speaker? Hear firsthand from business strategist and best-selling author, Marcia Daszko.
Pay equity champion and CEO, Maria Colacucio, is leading the fight for workplace equity. Hear how these values start in her home, around the dinner table, with her 7 children exploring the necessity and meaning of empathy.
Digital Transformation Executive, Nadia Hansen, has a long history of rebellion and an even longer family legacy of resilience. Are there times when rebellion is necessary to stay true to who you are. We'll let you decide.
Athena Founder & CEO Coco Brown is compelled to change not just the way business operates, but the way the world operates as well. Tune in to hear how she's been dismantling outdated structures since her youth.
Educator, author, and health advocate, Barbara Wanta, finds herself most at home in foreign lands. Knowing from a young age she wants to travel, Barbara leans into an extraordinary life that reads like a good novel.
Growing up in a family of teachers has our guest, CFO, CPA, and Board Member, Ebonie Jackson, always striving for the A+. Not just in her professional achievements, but personal as well. Hear why we are giving her all the gold stars in this episode.
For our guest, Global Procurement Officer, Board Member, and Diversity & Inclusion Leader, Purvee Kondal, tolerance and inclusion are a matter of life and death. She’s picked up the torch of her ancestors and is fighting for the generations that are yet to come.
Was it bravery that led Independent Director and One-star General, Linda Medler to join the Marines at 18 years old on the heels of the Vietnam war? She’d argue it was naivety. In this episode, we’re making a case for both.
We’re not saying it won’t be difficult, but we’re promising it will be worth it! Join CEO and Board Director, Yvonne Wassenaar, as she takes us on a journey through birth, death, and all the things that happen in between.
Do you believe that everything happens for a reason? Our first guest, Dr. Yasmin Davidds, CEO of Dr. Yasmin Davidds Leadership Institute & Multicultural Women Executive Leadership Foundation, tells us how it became one of her core beliefs in this triumphant story of resilience.
Sit down with the highly accomplished members of Athena Alliance, an executive learning community for women leaders, to hear the personal tales behind their professional success. We learn the real story behind their inspiring executive careers — their fears, their failures, and what song they’re singing at karaoke. You don’t get to the top without creating some memorable stories along the way.