Member Article

Local business owner invites Paralympic Gold Medalist to give support to small businesses coming out of lockdown

A local business owner was inspired to make a difference on International womens day by organizing a webinar for her clients in an attempt to help them through the final stages of lockdown.

Denise Jennings from Athena HR invited Dr Karen Darke MBE, to host a webinar on resilience and motivation, inspired by her own personal experiences. Karen broke her back in a climbing accident at the age of 21, leaving her paralyzed from the waist down. But she didn’t let this stop her from skiing, climbing, cycling across continents and going on to win Paralympic Gold in the sport of hand-cycling in the Rio 2016.

The webinar took place to mark International Womens Day, on 8th March 2021 and was attended by 30 small business owners from York and the surrounding areas.

Denise Jennings, Managing Director of Athena HR said “These past 12 months have been particularly tough for small businesses, many of whom have been forced to close for significant periods of time. I wanted to support my clients and give them a boost, in the hope that it will help them to refocus and move forward in what are likely to be tough times ahead as we come out of lockdown 3.0.

In Karen’s talk, she suggested that “Ability is a state of mind not a state of body. We can all learn to transform unwanted emotions or experiences into gold, be creators of our reality and in doing so change our performance, our wellbeing, our world”.

Attendee Heather Johnson of Heather Johnson Home Interiors said, “Karen’s story is truly inspirational, she showed us how ‘mind over matter’ is such a powerful tool to get through tough times and continue to achieve your goals.”

The team at Athena HR have worked tirelessly over the past 12 months to support their clients and help them through the Covid-19 pandemic. With everything from advice on furloughing staff to health & safety in the workplace, and navigating the many changes in guidance coming out from the government regularly.

Denise said “Small business owners have had such a tough time; I hope that today’s session has helped in some small way”.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Athena HR .