| Chicago ATHENA International Affiliate
Supporting, Honoring and Developing Women Leaders
Our Mission
Supporting, developing and honoring women leaders
Inspiring women to achieve their full potential
Creating balance in leadership worldwide
ATHENA Leadership Circle
The Chicago ATHENA International Affiliate was founded to meet the needs of the Chicago ATHENA Leadership Circle and is focused on connecting leaders who support, honor and develop women leaders. Your membership provides you with numerous benefits and allows you to expand your personal network of women leaders across professional sectors. Becoming a founding member helps ATHENA expand membership opportunities and benefits to a wider circle of women leaders.
Our Programs
ATHENA International provides many programs to the communities that we serve. Our programs are founded on based upon the concept of the ATHENA leadership Model. The ATHENA Leadership Model is unique in that it focuses on personal traits of strong, successful leaders. It captures the spirit and collaborative leadership style often exemplified in women leaders, while also recognizing the importance of traits such as courageous acts and fierce advocacy in the pursuit of excellence.
The ATHENA Leadership Model tenets include Authentic Self, Celebration and Joy, Collaboration, Courageous Acts, Fierce Advocacy, Giving Back, Learning and Relationships, and provide a model for 21st Century leadership. We have many programs focused on supporting, developing and honoring women leaders, each further discussed below.
ATHENA International Leadership Summit®
The annual ATHENA International Leadership Summit, held each spring in Chicago, provides an intimate forum for established and emerging leaders to enhance their personal and professional leadership development. The summit offers outstanding speakers, informative breakout sessions and terrific networking opportunities for leaders across professional sectors. The emphasis on a holistic approach to leadership, as contained in the ATHENA Leadership Model, makes the summit unique among leadership seminars of its kind.
Chicago ATHENA Leadership Award®
The ATHENA Leadership Award® was inspired by the goddess of Greek mythology known for her strength, courage, wisdom and enlightenment—qualities embodied in the ATHENA Leadership Model®. The Award is unique in both scope---local, national and international---and the ATHENA mission upon which it is based. The ATHENA Leadership Award® is presented to a woman ---or man--- who is honored for professional excellence, community service and for actively assisting women in their attainment of professional excellence and leadership skills.
Since the program’s inception in 1982, nearly 6,000 exemplary leaders in over 500 communities have received the prestigious ATHENA Award in the United States, Bermuda, Canada, China, Greece, India, Russia, Unite Arab Emirates and United Kingdom.
A natural extension of the ATHENA Award, the ATHENA Young Professional Leadership Award® honors emerging women leaders and the ATHENA Organizational Leadership Award® honors businesses and organizations that support the advancement of women’s leadership. The Global ATHENA Award is presented annually at the ATHENA International Leadership Summit to high-profile women leaders and businesses. Recipients of the Global ATHENA Awards meet the same criteria as the original ATHENA Award, and one additional criterion: the recipients’ body of work has positive national or international impact for women and girls.
ATHENA Leadership Forum®
The ATHENA Leadership Forum is rooted in the ATHENA Leadership Model and focuses on having experienced women leaders meet and mentor emerging women leaders. Created by established women leaders wishing to mentor and develop the next generation of women leaders, ATHENA Women’s Leadership Day celebrates women helping women and provides a forum for women leaders to make meaningful connections with one another.
ATHENA International Women’s Leadership Day Luncheon
ATHENA International Women’s Leadership Day, created by established women leaders to extend a hand to the next generation of women leaders. On September 18, 2012 communities across ATHENA International’s global footprint will celebrate ATHENA International Women’s Leadership Day by hosting a new ATHENA event.
ATHENAPowerLink® Program
The Chicago ATHENAPowerLink® program is a business mentoring program designed to increase the growth and profitability of women owned businesses. Although the number of women owned businesses has been growing fast and furiously for some time, the growth rate for women business owners is slower than that of their male counterparts. ATHENAPowerLink®strives to help women business owners navigate hurdles and barriers to growth such as achieving access to new networks, mentors, capital best business practices, staff/employee management issues, etc. previously unavailable to them.
The premise is simple—a panel of expert volunteers advises a woman business owner on important issues specific to her business with the goal of increasing the development and success of her business. The program “links” a woman business owner with an Advisory Panel, recruited from the local community, to work with her at no cost for one year.
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