Leading Without Illusions

Athena's honoring Black History Month In this captivating podcast with La Keisha Landrum Pierre, Co-founder and General Partner of Emmeline Ventures. Join us as we unpack La Keisha's journey, from Harvard Business School to launching Sahara Media Company across Africa, to founding a venture capital fund. Tune in for an enriching conversation with a trailblazer who is shaping the future of...

As Athena pursues its global expansion efforts to help more STEM women rise up and realize their ambitions, RippleNami serves as a prominent channel partner by empowering women in Africa. In Athena's new Lifting While Climbing Podcast, we'll learn from Jaye Connolly-LaBelle, Chairman & CEO @ RippleNami as she showcases her 10-year journey of creating economic opportunities throughout A...

Athena is GOING GLOBAL in 2024, launching new products, programs, and member benefits! We're excited to share this sneak peek at the all new Lifting While Climbing (LWC) podcast. The new format amplifies the voices and experiences of women and allies in STEM, delivering actionable strategies, tactics, and techniques to the Athena community.  Hosted by Holly Smithson, Athena CEO, the LWC podcas...

Access Tammy Hawkins, VP at  Intuit  on her remarkable career voyage, spanning IT firms, Mastercard, a journey across the Atlantic to Ireland, and a deep dive into the dynamic world of gaming. Her journey eventually led her to her dream role as VP of Cyber Security & Fraud Prevention for Small Business and Self-Employed at Intuit. In addition to critical insights into AI, Tammy shares the powe...

Athena founder Barbara Bry joins us in the B4S studio for this very special edition of B4S.  As the STEM community prepares to gather for  Athena's 25th Anniversary Gala and LWC Summit  on October 26, we invite you to listen as Barbara shares the origins and genesis of Athena. This B4S will reignite your determination and grit as we shift the question of diversity from  WHY?  to  WHY NOT!?  to...

Athena is honored to welcome Soo Nadarajah, Head of Global Data Sales and GTM @ AWS, to the Blueprint for Success studio. Soo is an authentic and engaging visionary who shares riveting anecdotes from a stellar career that includes "learning, adapting, and innovating" at some of the most pivotal times for BlackBerry and AWS. Click to watch or listen, and be ready to take notes! Beyond her...

Dr. Andrea Cubitt's path to success began with a childhood fascination with chemistry, which ultimately paved the way for remarkable academic and professional achievements. Armed with a Ph. D. in biochemistry from the prestigious University of Sheffield and a first-class honors degree (B.Sc) in medical biochemistry from the University of Birmingham, she further honed her expertise through post...

Summer is here, and it's sizzling in the Blueprint for Success studio as we welcome Cari Gallman, Chief Compliance & Ethics Officer @Bristol-Myers Squibb. How does a Princeton political theory grad and Harvard-trained attorney achieve executive-level leadership at a STEM company? Learn and level up as you listen to Cari's Blueprint for Success, which includes dead goldfish that altered...

As we launch Phase II of  #Athena25,  this year-long digital media celebration  is showcasing the undeniable impacts of Athena's Corporate Partner Employee Resource Groups (ERGs). What we learn from these insightful stories can inform your strategies to amplify the voice of women across these companies and sustain your strategic business goals.  Our Blueprint for Success podcast shines a ligh...

Meet Chanda Owens, VP of Quality @ Cue Health for Athena's Blueprint for Success podcast. As a black woman and engineering student at UC Berkeley, it was clear her career path would be neither easy or comfortable. Intuitively, Chanda knew it was essential to find a support system early in her academic career and push through the struggle of feeling all alone and the shame of the struggle itsel...

For Women's History Month grand finale, we welcome Amy Johnson, COO of RippleNami to Athena's Blueprint for Success studio. Amy's dynamic career journey spans both the life sciences and tech sectors, starting with a degree in health and behavioral science in Australia, to bringing Africa into the digital economy. Her career path takes fascinating twists and turns - both professionally...

In kicking off Women's History Month , we're excited to present Dr. Kate Broderick, Chief Innovation Officer @ Maravai LifeSciences in our monthly Blueprint for Success podcast. The by-product of parents with careers in physics and psychology, Kate developed a deep passion for exploring new medicines that directly impact patients. After completing her PhD in molecular genetics @ University of Glas...

Athena is celebrating Black History Month by showcasing the inspiring and illustrious career impact of Tashonda Taylor, Vice President, Gas Operations @ SDGE. The leadership traits she exhibits and the path she created is a model worth emulating. Listen to Tashonda's Blueprint for Success podcast as she takes us on a deep dive into her career journey and the critical support that helped her naviga...

Athena's Blueprint for Success showcases the distinguished career journey of the award-winning, Dr. Christina Towers, Assistant Professor @ Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Her goal is to develop new targeted cancer therapies that block the cancer-cell recycling pathways that allow these cells to survive. Towers’ critical research aims to decrease cancer recurrence and improve cancer patient...

The October edition of Athena's Blueprint for Success showcases the unconventional career journey of Lauren Miskelly, Managing Director, Chrome Browser Enterprise GtM Lead @ Google. A thriving Tech executive and Google veteran of 13 years, Lauren shares some surprising insights about her own confidence, and credits building strong networks both inside and outside of Google with her longevity and s...

The September edition of Athena's Blueprint for Success showcases the leadership journey of Molly He.  Following her company's successful close of $276 million Series C funding last summer, Molly has an intriguing story to tell. Click below to listen or watch as she describes a long and winding journey while she shares the most important advice she ever received, and what qualities to look fo...

Athena's Blueprint for Success featured guest is Tracy Ting, Chief Human Resources Officer at Encore Capital Group. Tracy's illustrious career includes notable achievements in multiple male-dominated industries - from finance to medical devices to pharmaceuticals.    Watch or listen below to learn from Tracy's exhilarating career journey and come away feeling inspired to "try new things....

Female Founder and international tech entrepreneur Jaye Connolly-LaBelle shares her Blueprint for Success with the Athena community this month. Listen below as she gives insight into the unique experience of being a woman forging new paths in business around the globe.

With a career spanning 20 years across a variety of industries, Ambreen Farook brings a wealth of knowledge, experience and inspiration to this edition of Athena's Blueprint for Success. Listen as Ambreen details the blueprint that propelled her intentional pivot to a more transformational and purpose-driven career, granting access to invaluable tools for accelerating your own professional journey...

In this month's Blueprint for Success, we're featuring a very special guest, Dr. Madhushree Ghosh, VP Strategic Alliances at NeoGenomics. She is well-regarded across the STEM community and wears many hats including esteemed scientist, precision medicine executive, diversity champion and now a published author. Madhushree shares her intimate story of coming to this country, building an accomplished...

Welcome to Athena's Blueprint for Success with special guest, Allison Kemner, VP, Clinical Science & Operations @ Tyra Biosciences. Allison's leadership discoveries focus on the invaluable lessons learned instead of the inevitable career failures and setbacks. She shares the value of "giving yourself a break and playing the long game on personal development that extends to greater leadership d...

Athena's Blueprint for Success podcast catapults into 2022 aTyre Pharmaceuticals Vice President, Research, Dr. Leslie Nangle. Longevity can be elusive in the life sciences industry, making Leslie is bit of a "unicorn" as she has been with the aTyr for 15 years. She shares how she resisted the "competitive, critical, micro-managing" mindset, and helped to develop and preserve the company's empoweri...

We are excited to feature Christy England, VP Marketing @ Heron Therapeutics in our Blueprint for Success Series. Christy describes the critical "weigh-stations" along her journey, and details how she capitalized on these career opportunities when presented. Christy also shares her vision on the opportunities for women that are contemplating a STEM career in the wake of the She-cession pouring int...

Dr. Gina Wallar, President, Pharma Services @ NeoGenomics shares her Blueprint for Success which began with early career advice that ran counter to her values and passion.“Oh honey, just marry rich...” was the direction she often heard when sharing her passion to pursue science as a young girl. Instead, this merely fueled the flame for Gina's STEM career aspirations. Early in her career, it was th...

This special edition of our Blueprint for Success showcases the recipients of Athena’s Annual Pinnacle Awards. These five distinguished diversity champions sit down with Athena's CEO to share their foundational values around "lifting others while climbing” and how those practices have defined much of their career success and leadership principles | Powered by SDGE