In this episode of Athena's Listening Crew, hosts Lina and Renee welcome Hele Aluste, a psychologist from Estonia who, for the last twenty years, has been doing counseling work a little differently — through animal-assisted therapy and coaching, mostly alongside horses. After fifteen years working within Estonia's governmental rehabilitation system, she built her own private practice at Hobukooli Park: a place she and her husband created together, on land that once held a hundred-year-old village school. Today she works with a herd of seventeen horses — including a much-loved group of Irish tinkers — helping people rebuild self-confidence, process trauma, and reconnect with themselves through the honest, unfiltered presence of these animals.

In this conversation, Hella opens up about motherhood, loss, resilience, and a lifelong curiosity about the invisible parts of being human — and how all of it led her to the work she does now.

Learn more about Hela: 

     Website: https://hobukoolipark.ee/

     FB: facebook.com/Equilibre-NGO 

     YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChyy2cFif78-TFXadjT5FcA 

We’d love to hear from you. You can find us on IG and YouTube at Athena's listening crew, and reach out to us at athenaslisteningcrew@gmail.com if there are any topics you’d like us to explore, or if you’re a woman business owner interested in joining the podcast to share your journey.

In this episode of Athena's Listening Crew, hosts Lina and Renee welcome Andrea Bacchi, founder of Think Dynamic Digital, a Vermont-based digital marketing consultancy. Andrea shares how her entrepreneurial journey began by helping grow her mother's business, Vermont Moonlight Cookies, into a successful brand, laying the foundation for nearly two decades in marketing and seven years as a business owner helping organizations build meaningful digital presences.

Andrea also opens up about a life-changing hearing injury that led to hyperacusis, reshaping both her career and her mission. Today, she combines her expertise in digital marketing with passionate advocacy for hearing health, accessibility, and disability inclusion. Filled with practical insights, resilience, and inspiration, this conversation is a powerful reminder that sometimes our greatest challenges become the catalyst for our greatest purpose.

Learn more about Andrea at www.thinkdynamicdigital.com 

     IG/FB @thinkdynamicdigital

     LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreabacchi

We’d love to hear from you. You can find us on IG and YouTube at Athena's listening crew, and reach out to us at athenaslisteningcrew@gmail.com if there are any topics you’d like us to explore, or if you’re a woman business owner interested in joining the podcast to share your journey.

In this episode of Athena's Listening Crew, Renee and Lina sit down with Melinda Moulton–a developer, filmmaker, author, and force of nature from Vermont.

Melinda shares her extraordinary journey: from losing her mother at 12, to working at Harvard with the scientists who discovered DNA, to building her family's stone house by hand at 22. She spent 40 years as CEO of Main Street Landing, leading the transformation of the Burlington waterfront with a bold social and environmental mission and a wholehearted, people-first approach to business that included waiving rent for over 100 local tenants during COVID without losing a single one.

We talk about building teams with values, standing your ground against powerful interests, reinventing yourself at every age…and why she still cliff dives.

Learn more about Melinda at Melindamoulton.com

Catch her show, Moments with Melinda, on Channel 17 CCTV

Follow her on Instagram: @melindavermont

Melinda Moulton on FB

Melinda Moulton on YouTube

We’d love to hear from you. You can find us on IG and YouTube at Athena's listening crew, and reach out to us at athenaslisteningcrew@gmail.com if there are any topics you’d like us to explore, or if you’re a woman business owner interested in joining the podcast to share your journey.

In this episode of Athena’s Listening Crew, we sit down with Amy Jones, a Certified Functional Nutrition Practitioner, Certified ADHD Life Coach, and founder of Amy Jones Nutrition in Toronto, Canada, for an honest conversation about the winding road of entrepreneurship, neurodivergence, and building a business that still leaves room for real life. 

Amy’s approach is unlike anything traditional nutrition or coaching offers. She integrates functional nutrition, nervous system support, and ADHD-informed systems to help neurodivergent adults, teens, and families reduce overwhelm and build daily rhythms that actually stick. And her path to this work is deeply personal and shaped by her own ADHD diagnosis and her son’s and over 20 years spent in education before finding her way to the work she was truly meant to do. 

In this episode Amy shares her journey from teacher to practitioner, what it really takes to build a business as a neurodivergent entrepreneur, and why she believes the key is not trying harder, it is building structures that fit your brain.

You can find Amy at www.amyjonesnutrition, and on IG/FB @amyjonesnutrition.

We’d love to hear from you. You can find us on IG and YouTube at Athena's listening crew, and reach out to us at athenaslisteningcrew@gmail.com if there are any topics you’d like us to explore, or if you’re a woman business owner interested in joining the podcast to share your journey.

In this episode of Athena’s Listening Crew, we sit down with Lisa C. Thompson, a licensed attorney, published author, educator, and entrepreneur, for a conversation about building a law practice on her own terms for over 30 years.

 Lisa is the founder of Thompson Business Law Group in Tucson, Arizona, where she focuses on business law and consumer bankruptcy reorganizations. She is licensed in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Washington D.C., and has spent decades not just practicing law but making it accessible through free public seminars, university lectures, and three published legal reference books for Thomson Reuters. 

Lisa shares her journey from law school graduate to firm owner, educator on two continents, and published author and what it has truly meant to sustain her own practice for three decades.

Connect with Lisa at thompsonlawgroup.com

We’d love to hear from you. You can find us on IG and YouTube at Athena's listening crew, and reach out to us at athenaslisteningcrew@gmail.com if there are any topics you’d like us to explore, or if you’re a woman business owner interested in joining the podcast to share your journey.

Lina and Renee pour up their chasers and dive into a conversation that's equal parts celebratory and eye-opening. There's a real movement happening — women winemakers, bar owners, and distillers who are intentionally tearing down the gatekeeping and building spaces where everyone belongs.

This week they spotlight Arizona women leading the charge in wine — from former teachers who traded classrooms for corks, to a trio of sisters and a best friend making wine accessible in the desert, to a wine bar where every bottle on the shelf supports women survivors of domestic violence. Plus, a nod to women-led whiskey brands making waves across the country.

If you've ever walked into a wine bar and felt like you didn't belong — this episode is for you.

We’d love to hear from you. You can find us on IG and YouTube at Athena's listening crew, and reach out to us at athenaslisteningcrew@gmail.com if there are any topics you’d like us to explore, or if you’re a woman business owner interested in joining the podcast to share your journey.

Welcome back everyone to another episode of Athena’s Listening Crew where we hold space for women entrepreneurs, both personally and professionally. 

Today, Renee and I will be sitting down with Eryn Branham, who is the founder of Transcend and a sound healer, Reiki practitioner, and embodiment guide focused on nervous system regulation, emotional integration, and deep rest. Drawing from her own transformative experience with sound healing, she blends crystal singing bowls, energy work, and embodied practices to help individuals and groups slow down, reset, and reconnect.

A U.S. Navy veteran, Eryn brings resilience and grounded presence to her work, creating intentional spaces that support lasting balance and meaningful self-connection.

Find Eryn at https://transcendsoundhealing.com/. We hope you enjoy the episode as much as we enjoyed talking with her. 

And we would love to hear from you. Reach out to us at athenaslisteningcrew@gmail.com or message us via IG if there are any topics you’d like us to explore, or if you’re a woman business owner interested in joining the podcast to share your journey.

In this week’s episode, Lina & Renee sit down with their tasty chasers and discuss some goddesses in the podcast world. After doing some chit chat, we dive into the data behind women in podcasting, explore why audiences connect so strongly with female voices, and discuss how women are changing the landscape of media, leadership, and storytelling. Plus, we highlight some of the pioneers who paved the way and why the future of podcasting is increasingly female. 

We’d love to hear from you. You can find us on IG and YouTube at Athena's listening crew, and reach out to us at athenaslisteningcrew@gmail.com if there are any topics you’d like us to explore, or if you’re a woman business owner interested in joining the podcast to share your journey.

On today’s episode of Athena’s Listening Crew, we have an amazing chat with another amazing woman entrepreneur.  So what do you get when you cross a former chubby kid and a former collegiate athlete with a lesbian, a fresh gen-y entrepreneur and an ass-kicking trainer? You get the Founder of The Queer Gym, Coach Lorena, of course!

Since 2010, Lorena has shaped and evolved The Queer Gym --formerly The Perfect Sidekick-- into what it is today based on her own experiences as a lesbian who is into fitness, but totally over all the extra bullshit she sees people (especially LGBTQIA+ people) experience in a gym. An athlete all of her life and the 8th out of a family of ten, she knows a thing or two about building community and furthermore, empowering that community to take over the world one happy, healthy homo at a time!

You can find Coach Lorena at www.thequeergym.com and on IG @thequeergym.

We’d love to hear from you. Reach out to us at athenaslisteningcrew@gmail.com or message us via IG if there are any topics you’d like us to explore, or if you’re a woman business owner interested in joining the podcast to share your journey.

In this episode of Athena’s Listening Crew, Lina and Renee chat with Nichoel Adams, founder and owner of Sagebrush / Saguaro. Nichoel discussed how her love of selling her crafts in outdoor markets in New York led to opening up an Urban Plant Shoppe and Gift Emporium Arizona. She talks about her journey of following her heart to San Diego and how she thrived in the outdoor market scene there, to feeling at home in Tucson but struggled with the market scene. Thus leading her to open a brick and mortar store in the heart of the historic downtown. And let’s not forget Mr. Bubbles, the sweet and loveable shop dog. 

You can find Nichoel and Mr. Bubbles on IG at @sagebrush.saguaro and in Tucson on the historic 4th Avenue. You can also find Nichoel at @studionichoel.

We’d love to hear from you. You can find us on IG and YouTube at Athena's listening crew, and reach out to us at athenaslisteningcrew@gmail.com if there are any topics you’d like us to explore, or if you’re a woman business owner interested in joining the podcast to share your journey. 

The ladies are back this week discussing Lucky 13 on Athena’s Listening Crew while celebrating not only the number 13, but life as well. This episode explores how superstition shapes the way we think, decide, and move through uncertainty—offering a sense of control that can calm anxiety and boost confidence, while also opening the door to irrational choices and ritualistic habits. From the Western avoidance of 13 to cultural beliefs around numbers like 4 and 8, the crew unpacks how meaning is assigned, challenged, and sometimes completely redefined.

They also dive into how superstition shows up in business and success, from lucky charms and routines to the stories of well-known figures who leaned into their rituals—from athletes with game-day habits to entrepreneurs who built brands around “lucky” numbers. With examples like Friday the 13th defying expectations in the stock market and trailblazers who turned superstition into strategy, this episode invites listeners to rethink what’s luck, what’s mindset, and how belief itself can shape outcomes.

We’d love to hear from you. You can find us on IG and YouTube at Athena's listening crew, and reach out to us at athenaslisteningcrew@gmail.com if there are any topics you’d like us to explore, or if you’re a woman business owner interested in joining the podcast to share your journey. 

Welcome back to Athena’s Listening Crew, where we highlight inspiring women entrepreneurs making an impact. In this episode, we feature Chef Alejandre “Chef Alex” Richards, the creator of The Tie Kitchen in Tucson, Arizona. A private chef, cookbook author, and founder of the Community Garden, Chef Alex brings people together through intimate dining experiences and pop-up events rooted in connection and sustainability. Tune in as we explore her unique approach to food, community, and building a purpose-driven business. 

We’d love to hear from you. Reach out to us at athenaslisteningcrew@gmail.com or message us via IG if there are any topics you’d like us to explore, or if you’re a woman business owner interested in joining the podcast to share your journey.

In this episode of Athena’s Listening Crew, Lina and Renee break down why mantras aren’t soft affirmations—they’re sharp, truth-based operating principles that change how you think, act, and lead. Designed for women in business, these “badass mantras” cut through fear, imposter syndrome, and burnout, helping you move with clarity and authority when things get hard.

You’ll learn how to create and use mantras through intention, spoken practice, and full embodiment—so they don’t just sound good, they transform how you show up. Whether you’re just starting out, scaling your business, or pushing through challenges, this episode delivers powerful, actionable mantras to anchor your mindset, sharpen your decisions, and step fully into your role as the leader of your life and business.

We’d love to hear from you. You can find us on IG and YouTube at Athena's listening crew, and reach out to us at athenaslisteningcrew@gmail.com if there are any topics you’d like us to explore, or if you’re a woman business owner interested in joining the podcast to share your journey. 

And finally: Do No Harm, Take No Shit! 💙🦉

Today on Athena’s Listening Crew, we sat down with Lisa Swanson, founder of Body & Soul Coaching. A single mom turned successful entrepreneur, Lisa brings over 40 years of experience helping women navigate fitness and weight loss.

After noticing a major gap in support for women over 50—especially post-menopause—Lisa shifted her focus to empowering this often-overlooked group. Through her three-pillar approach of aligned nutrition, progressive overload, and empowered thoughts, she helps women embrace where they are now and build vibrant, healthy lives.You can find Lisa at www.bodyandsoulcoaching, IG/FB @lisaswansonfit  

We’d love to hear from you. Reach out to us at athenaslisteningcrew@gmail.com or message us via IG if there are any topics you’d like us to explore, or if you’re a woman business owner interested in joining the podcast to share your journey.

In this episode of Athena’s Listening Crew, Lina and Renee celebrate trailblazing women across history—beginning with the legendary Madame Clicquot Ponsardin, the visionary widow who transformed the champagne industry during the Napoleonic era. We then trace the powerful evolution of women entrepreneurs through history—from Madam C.J. Walker’s groundbreaking 1917 convention to today’s global conferences, networking events, and investment summits designed to elevate women in business. This conversation is a reminder that women have always been builders, innovators, and forces of change—and the future is still being written.

We’d love to hear from you. You can find us on IG and YouTube at Athenas listening crew, and reach out to us at athenaslisteningcrew@gmail.com if there are any topics you’d like us to explore, or if you’re a woman business owner interested in joining the podcast to share your journey. 

On today’s episode, we interview Isabel Georgelos as the Deputy Director of the YWCA of Southern Arizona, where she leads programs advancing economic justice, health and well-being, and community advocacy for women. She joined the organization in 2021 as Director of the Women’s Business Center, one of the largest in the country, supporting over 1,500 entrepreneurs each year with training, counseling, and technical assistance.

A first-generation college graduate, Isabel brings more than 25 years of corporate leadership experience with major national retailers. She is deeply committed to helping women achieve financial stability and long-term economic growth through career readiness and entrepreneurship—believing that when women thrive, families and communities thrive.

She also serves on the Child & Family Resources state board and lives in Tucson, Arizona, with her husband of 35 years.

You can find more about Isabel and the YWCA Women’s Business Center at https://www.wbcofsouthernarizona.com/

We’d love to hear from you. Reach out to us at athenaslisteningcrew@gmail.com if there are any topics you’d like us to explore, or if you’re a woman business owner interested in joining the podcast to share your journey.

In this episode, Renee and Lina get real about burnout—how it shows up, why it happens, and what you can do to prevent it. They walk through the signs to watch for, simple ways to take care of yourself, and how to keep growing your business without sacrificing your well-being.

We’d love to hear from you. Reach out to us at athenaslisteningcrew@gmail.com if there are any topics you’d like us to explore, or if you’re a woman business owner interested in joining the podcast to share your journey.

On today’s episode, we welcome Rebecca Cutehands, a spiritual and intuitive guide who has devoted more than thirty years to walking a sacred path of learning, ceremony, and healing. Rebecca shares Indigenous teachings from many different cultures and traditions, carrying forward the wisdom generously entrusted to her by the many teachers and Elders she has sat with over the years. She hosts ceremonies throughout the year and offers both individual and group healings and teachings. She embraces life as a devoted student of Creation, meeting each day — and each person — with humility, reverence, and gratitude.

You can find Rebecca on https://mountainspiritco-op.com/members/, https://mshec3.com/ or contact her at (mobile) 928-499-4128.

We’d love to hear from you. Reach out to us at athenaslisteningcrew@gmail.com if there are any topics you’d like us to explore, or if you’re a woman business owner interested in joining the podcast to share your journey.

In this episode of Athena’s Listening Crew, Renee and Lina kick things off by spotlighting Lydia Estes Pinkham, a trailblazing entrepreneur whose bold approach to business and marketing helped shape the path for women in business today.

From there, they dive into the practical side of entrepreneurship—breaking down what it actually takes to register your business. They share helpful resources, simplify the process, and explore which states make it easier (or more challenging) to get started.

We’d love to hear from you. Reach out to us at athenaslisteningcrew@gmail.com if there are any topics you’d like us to explore, or if you’re a woman business owner interested in joining the podcast to share your journey.

On today’s episode, we interview Amanda Schneider who is living proof that our greatest challenges can become powerful catalysts for change. A domestic violence and cancer survivor, she transformed her healing journey into a mission of empowerment—helping others discover their strength, beauty and resilience.

Today, Amanda is an internationally awarded esthetician and proud owner of Loving My Skin Spa and SkinNerd Training. Known affectionately as “The SkinNerd,” she combines ingredient science with a holistic approach to skincare—believing true radiance comes from nurturing the whole person. Through her spa, her training programs, her leadership in esthetics education, and her women’s empowerment retreats, Amanda’s message is simple but powerful: You are stronger than you know and you deserve to love the skin you’re in—literally and figuratively.

You can find Amanda on FB @lovingmyskinspa, IG @lovingmyskinspa and email Info@lovingmyskinspa.com

We’d love to hear from you. Reach out to us at athenaslisteningcrew@gmail.com if there are any topics you’d like us to explore, or if you’re a woman business owner interested in joining the podcast to share your journey.