Athena Ladies Celebrate 5th Birthday

Businesswomen at the West Berkshire Athena Network helped celebrate the fifth anniversary of the region’s first group this week.
Debbie Miles, regional director of the Athena Network, set up the Newbury north group in May 2009. Since then, the group has seen 60 meetings, more than 1,000 ‘monthly minutes’, thousands of referrals and recommendations and created thousands of pounds’ worth of business.
Vikki Champion of Vie Photography, one of the members who has been in the group since its inception, said: “I went to the very first Athena Newbury meeting and Debbie welcomed us so warmly – it felt so right so I joined there and then and haven’t looked back since.
“The best thing about Athena is the support and friendship of other business women, and sharing knowledge and experience. Expanding my own connections and finding new opportunities in my own business has been the wonderful spin-off from that.
“I love the format of informal networking over a wonderful lunch, once a month without pressure or targets, and the “giver’s gain” attitude really works. I can’t recommend Athena highly enough to aspiring businesswomen.”
Debbie said: “Thanks to everyone who has come along to any of our networking meetings over the past five years. It’s been wonderful to witness so many interesting individuals collaborating and finding support, advice, referrals and friendship with other businesswomen. We’re now looking forward to the next five years and as ever, welcome any local businesswoman who’d like to see for themselves.”
For more information, contact Debbie Miles at debbie.miles@theathenanetwork.com

A good read on Networking and Business:
Business Networking – The Survival Guide: How to make networking less about stress and more about success