DOING THINGS is an interview series putting the spotlight on young people who are doing cool, impactful stuff to make their corner of the world that little bit better. Read, get, inspired, and go do the things.
“Young women have cool shit in their brains” – this isn’t just an empty sentiment from 23-year-old Athena Savvas. She doesn’t just believe in it but acts on it, which is why Athena already has the titles founder, managing director, assistant director and co-founder on her resume.
Impressive, right? So you might be surprised to know that it all started with a dumpling delivery, some pent-up frustration about the #MeToo movement, and a TED Talk playlist back in 2018.
Savvas had launched a homemade dumpling business in her final year of uni, and was making a delivery run from her home in NSW’s Sutherland Shire to Bondi – positive vibes were a must to get through the two-hour trip in peak-hour traffic. So she put a TEDx playlist on shuffle and before long Courtney Ferrell’s ‘Girl Up’ talk unlocked something within Savvas.
“The talk spoke about self love, relationship love and community love, and in the community love segment she talked about mentorship and said ‘I was really fortunate to have a mentor but the fact that I have a mentor was just out of luck’. And then it hit me – If she knows it’s important, it shouldn’t be down to luck.”
“Maybe we need to make a more active effort to help young women find mentors if thats whats going to help them unlock their potential.”
By the time she returned home, Meet Her was born. The social enterprise supports young women in the early stage of their careers through boutique mentor networking events and up-skilling workshops. The signature Meet Her networking event connects young women with an industry-experienced mentor who has the background and know-how to navigate the tumultuous terrain that is the beginning of one’s professional career – especially as a young woman.
“There’s a misconception that the gender gap both in leadership and pay happens after women have kids, but if you look at the stats there’s quite a significant and visible gap between male and female graduates in their first jobs. So that’s the gap that we want to close because we can’t close the gap further down the road if there’s already one at the beginning.”
Fast forward two years and add a few new businesses (no biggie), and Athena splits her time between four of her “business babies”: volunteer travel organisation My Gap Year, Meet Her and it’s sister scholarship The Spark Fund, and her latest co-founded venture, Hey Collective.
But like many women before her, Savvas’ career path wasn’t exactly what she imagined it to be. As the first few years of her degree came and went so did her life-long ambition of becoming a psychologist. The fear of the unknown set in.
“By the time I got to my final year of uni I just thought to myself, ‘Oh shit. I haven’t gotten any closer to deciding what I want to do after graduation and I finish in six months.’”
So she got back in touch with her high school advisor.
“The only advice she gave me was ‘Opportunities come in different shapes and sizes.’ That’s all she said, and it’s guided all my decisions since then.”
Savvas has found that perhaps mentors, too, come in all different shapes and sizes. As a career chameleon, there’s no one person that perfectly fits her ideal mentor figure so instead she draws on a handful of role models, and the experiences and advice they have given her along the way.
One of these influential figures and a driving force behind Athena’s vision is Rainbow, her mum. Rainbow’s two mentors helped her flourish throughout her career and rise quickly to an executive role.
“Watching that kind of growth and what mentors were helping her achieve really taught me very young that a mentor can be this big key to your career that helps you really crack the code to career success and growth.”
Athena has made it her mission to facilitate similar opportunities for others. Spark Fund is the annual scholarship powered by Meet Her, offering a mix of funding, mentorship, business planning, access to exclusive mentor sessions, marketing services and mindfulness – Athena’s tried and tested concoction for successfully turning that spark into something real. The first Spark Fund scholarship recipient was announced on July 16, providing funds and professional mentorship to another incredible young woman, Chika Ikogwe.
Not even COVID-19 could slow Athena down. Mentor events may have been cancelled, but she’s been busy: expanding her own network by connecting with someone new every week; launching the exclusive Her Community group on Facebook group, with a virtual ‘coffee meet’ open to members every week; created and ran a new virtual networking workshop that you can do from the comfort of your own couch.
And – surprise, surprise – Athena has big post-COVID dreams. She’s got a plan for a business summit in the works and expanding Meet Her events Australia-wide.
“In the next year, I would like to be able to run my events across the east coast – Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sydney, maybe Wollongong and then get down to Melbourne.”
It’s a funny thought that the young women that attend the Meet Her events go forth with a newfound hunger to strive for their goals, walk into their new job with confidence and turn their dreams into a reality… all thanks to one long drive to deliver some homemade dumplings.
As for Athena’s own next steps, the path is a little less clear. But she’s got a destination in mind:
“I think I’ve spent so much time understanding and identifying with my businesses that I’m still trying to work that out for myself on a deeper level – more than just the person that I’ve put out to the world. I want Athena to know Athena.”
Meet Her’s next mentor networking event is on August 23 – find out more here.