Athena's Listening Crew Podcast

Welcome to another episode of Athena's Listening Crew, the podcast where we hold space for women entrepreneurs both emotionally and physically. In the final episode in Season 1, Renee and Lina sit down and recap the incredible season Athena's has had and all the amazing women that came on to tell their story, their journey to and thru entrepreneurship.

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 [email protected] 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 will be interviewing Lina. Lina retired from the military after 20+ years during which she raised three children and completed a Masters in Cognitive Health and Wellness degree. She will be sharing her life experiences that has been and still is leading her to entrepreneurship; and what it has been like for her as she is just in the beginning stages of her journey to starting the The Listening Bench as a Certified Therapeutic Coach.

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 [email protected] 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 sits down with Renee, an Integrative Empowerment Coach and founder of Body and Mind Strong for an honest conversation about her own journey through entrepreneurship and her passion for the body and mind connection.

Renee is a Licensed Professional Counselor with over 18 years of experience, holding a Master's in Counseling, an MBA in finance, and certifications as an ISSA Personal Trainer, Nutritionist, and Healthcare Life Coach.

Her path began as a Behavioral Health Consultant, where working with adults and children on issues spanning stress, anxiety, depression, and chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease sparked her fascination with the body-mind connection. That interest deepened through her work supporting military service members and their families, and eventually led her toward a new calling: becoming an empowerment coach who could help people reclaim their strength on their own terms. 

Through Body and Mind Strong, Renee works with active, busy women 35+ who are succeeding by every external measure but running on empty internally. Rather than treating fitness, nutrition, and mental health as separate boxes to check, she blends them into one realistic, sustainable approach that helps women move out of survival mode and back into their own lives. Her mission is simple but pointed: every professional woman deserves to live her life rather than manage it, and Renee's coaching gives them a way to build strength, health, and self back on their own terms.

Learn more about Renee:

www.bodyandmindstrong.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bodyandmindstrong 

IG/FB: @bodyandmindstrong

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 [email protected] 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 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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.