ATHENA Global Cafe: Advocate Fiercely
Join Keynote Speaker, Polo REO Tate, for ATHENA International’s Global Café series which highlights and expands on one of the organization’s Eight Principles of Enlightened Leadership. This event has been specially crafted to delve into further discussion on Advocate Fiercely—how leaders champion what they know is right. This program will include discussion of the ATHENA application process and timeline. We will end by honoring past ATHENA award recipients and giving participants a chance to mingle with each other, Polo and past ATHENA award recipients.
About Polo REO Tate — Author, actor, artist, uplifter and assault survivor Polo REO Tate will be the keynote speaker at the ATHENA International Global Café presentation on May 12, 2022 at the KC Chamber Board Room in Union Station.
The great-great-granddaughter of automotive pioneer Ransom E. Olds was eager to accept the academic and endurance challenges that awaited her as she headed to the U.S. Air Force Academy straight out of high school. However, Tate was not prepared for the harassment as well as the physical, emotional and sexual abuse from her peers and superiors that greeted her arrival — a horrific personal journey of survival and resilience Tate unflinchingly chronicles in her first memoir, “Deep Dark Blue.”
Tate’s story serves as a beacon of hope, strength and power for all women. She now uses all the experiences from her past to uplift and empower women leaders as a member of the ATHENA International Board of Directors and guest speaker.
“To me, empowerment is the full embodiment and expression of who we are at our core — the ability to know ourselves so well, love ourselves so deeply that we can take responsibility for our emotions, actions and relationships with mindfulness, heartfulness, compassion and appreciation,” Tate said.
“The unique ATHENA Leadership training has offered me even more tools, processes and practices to pull forward and communicate more effectively all of the innate leadership that I have hidden behind life circumstances or held back for the majority of my life,” she continued.
“The ATHENA Leadership Model is a DIFFERENT KIND OF LEADERSHIP. We don’t reiterate how to lead, we awaken, empower and ACTIVATE the brilliant and AUTHENTIC leader you already are inside of you. It’s time for all of us to take our seats at the table. ATHENA International and its community of empowerment offer the brilliant atmosphere and programming to do exactly that.”
–Polo REO Tate
For more information on ATHENA International, visit athenainternational.org.
About ATHENA International
ATHENA International is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to building a global pipeline of women leaders from the classroom to the boardroom. Our goal is to help these women and allies create a balance in leadership voices worldwide. Founded by Martha Mayhood Mertz in 1982, ATHENA International develops, supports and honors women and girls through programs based on the Eight Principles of Enlightened Leadership comprising the ATHENA Leadership Model. The program has touched the lives of thousands of women across 48 states and 11 countries.
