With emPOWER, Athene Parker is Building the Industry Support Network Advertising Desperately Needs

While Athene Parker’s official job title is new business director at Lemonade Reps, it only covers a part of what she does professionally. Athene is also the founder of The emPOWER Breakfast, which started as a business networking space for women to connect over shared experiences, and has recently evolved alongside the Live interview events into Instagram Lives, and a soon-to-be-launched podcast with their inspiring speakers.

The emPOWER Breakfast was borne out of necessity and Athene had been “toying with the idea for a while,” she says. Three years ago proved a pivotal moment in Athene’s life; she learned that her son’s delayed speech issues were more than that. “My son is autistic and non-verbal and It has been a real journey.” The diagnosis was “a massive shock and it made me feel like I was in this really tough space and I didn’t see a reflection of anyone experiencing anything like this in the industry among my peers.”

Athene says that she feels extremely lucky to work with Corin West, the founder of Lemonade Reps, who’s been supportive of Athene and the challenges her family is facing from the start. “When you have a child who’s autistic and non-verbal, it can come with a lot of sleep issues. For example, I have been up since 3am today and that’s not rare,” she says. “Then there’s the general grind and stress which can be really tricky. There were, amazingly, only two meetings last year that I couldn’t make because I had been up for days on end, and Corin stepped in and took them instead. I’m very privileged to be in a position where I work with somebody who is extremely supportive and has created a space where I can be open about what the situation is. Not everyone is so lucky.” Athene calls Corin “the original emPOWER ally” who has “100% supported the initiative and everything I have been trying to achieve with creating an authentic business networking event while, emPOWERING the women in our community,” she adds while mentioning that this stems, at least in part, from Lemonade Reps’ aligned B Corp-style values.

The experience of caring for her son while working made Athene feel alienated from the industry. “I was looking around and it looked like everyone else’s lives were perfect and sorted. That everybody else was fine. But then I got to thinking that that’s really not true. I know that’s not true because everyone has a challenge. It just depends on what that challenge might be.” While there’s a certain degree of keeping up appearances in the advertising industry, especially for women, covid certainly wore down some of that ‘perfection’ patina by letting everyone, quite literally, peek into each other’s homes and domestic lives. Athene then made the move towards establishing what is now emPOWER. “I wanted it to have some roots in real support because I knew how much I needed to feel like I had that support,” she recalls. Importantly, she wanted it to go beyond the superficial , like a monthly meet up at a bar, for it to bring real value and make a difference in people’s lives. “I felt that we needed to have a space where we could just talk and people could see themselves reflected and gain empathy through the act of listening.”

That’s how the outlines of emPOWER were sketched between March and June of last year. emPOWER receives support from sponsors Framestore and Company 3 with the breakfast events held in one of the company’s rooms thanks to the direct support of Stephanie Bruning, global marketing director of Framestore; and Company 3 executive producer Ellora Soret. “On a business level, emPOWER is a top-level networking opportunity and I have seen the incredible results that it has brought from people being in the same room and connecting with each other. And I’ve also seen the social results on a micro level ” says Athene. emPOWER’s first speaker was Leila Bartlam who went public with her autism diagnosis in 2023 and posted a link to Athene’s theSENmumma support website as a resource in her follow up announcement. That first talk was attended by two managing directors who, after Leila's event, went to their respective HR teams and asked them to create accommodations for any neurodivergent members of staff. “They began a conversation and this is an earth-shattering change for the neurodiverse individuals in those companies,” says Athene.

Change was being made from the very first emPOWER event. “Immediately it was hitting the mark with what I wanted it to do, which is educate everyone about the challenges we all face and have it resonate with people who are experiencing it, or with something they know nothing about but can learn from in order to support those around them,” says Athene. Since then, the emPOWER Breakfast has featured a number of speakers covering a range of difficult, necessary topics. Coming up are talks with Lucy Hudson, MD at McCann Birmingham, who will be speaking about child bereavement; creative consultant Rosie Arnold will be covering what life after advertising can look like; and the next September session will be with ECD Sue Higgs who rose to the top while parenting three children solo. 

The space created at emPOWER by Athene and the attendees is certainly a safe one as speakers delve into their pasts and readily examine lives and journeys that are far from rosy, deconstructing the idea that there is such a thing as a perfect life. What’s more, every speaker has offered themselves up for mentorship to ensure that further support is available to anyone who might want it. Founder and casting director Selma Nicholls of Looks Like Me Casting, who gave a talk in June, says, “Athene goes the extra mile in creating a safe space for women to share their individual journeys of success, with the focus being the journey and not the destination.”

“People like Athene are rare, genuinely kind and extremely generous with their time, connections, and resources. From the moment Athene reached out to me she has been consistent and extremely caring, that has allowed me to open up and share a beautiful exchange of the deeper understanding of the journey of a female founder, explored through untold conversations, leading to real talk, joy, some tears and plenty of laughter. I respect Athene highly, she is a bright light in our industry and world, bringing amazing humans together leading to good experiences and great work,” adds Selma.

Outside of the in person events, which will always be the backbone of emPOWER, Athene also runs a series of Instagram lives where she speaks to inspiring people, engages with experts, and provides resources to help people live better lives. The expansion is an organic evolution following the positive reaction that emPOWER events have garnered. Next, Athene is working on a podcast, sponsored by String and Tins, and the first episode is due to launch in September. “From a selfish perspective, I’ve loved the journey I have been on since starting The emPOWER Breakfast,” she confesses. “I get to speak to so many incredible women who all have amazing stories and experiences that I can identify and empathise with.”

Though that all already sounds like mountains of work, Athene isn’t stopping there. For her, turning personal experiences into systemic industry change is the real goal. She loves that the two MDs walked away from the very first talk inspired to make changes at their companies; now she wants more people to do the same and to make resources available to help them do it. “I want to see emPOWER become more of a training tool for the industry. To go into companies, create team building exercises, and to work with HR departments so they can use the recordings of the breakfasts as a resource for training and staff management.

There’s so much to learn about what people are experiencing,” she says. In December, the emPOWER Breakfast will have a spot at the Focus 2024, The Location Guides’ expo, with Framestore and Company 3 sponsoring the slot, plus emPOWER will be showcasing at the 2025 Future of Advertising event hosted by the APA.

emPOWER may have been “borne out of trauma,” as per Athene’s words, yet she’s used those feelings and her years of professional expertise to look outwards and start helping those in the industry who might be experiencing something similar. “Everybody has their own stuff. So having The emPOWER Breakfast as a mental health support network for the industry is really important,” she notes.

Athene's vision for the future of emPOWER is bold and she wants to open it up to even more industry people. “The speakers for 2024 are amazing and it doesn’t stop there - The 2025 lineup is sensational and, despite starting as a predominantly women's networking event, The emPOWER Breakfast will be hosting five additional events next year talking to men in the advertising industry about challenges faced and overcome, as emPOWER believes that emotional empowerment for men is also greatly needed. If you are interested in being a sponsor to keep the initiative going please contact me: athene@lemonadereps.com”