Coworking Space Seeks To Empower Women With Community, Knowledge

LIVERMORE, CA — With plush pink velvet couches, yellow armchairs draped in faux fur blankets, and gold-trimmed furniture, Athena Rising probably doesn't look like any office you've ever worked in.

Athena Rising seeks to create a workplace that feels like a "home away from home" and caters to a woman's feminine side, said Anna Vickroy, who co-founded the coworking space with Claire Marcel. During the evening, the venue features workshops and classes on yoga, self-love, sound baths, parenting, and business skills such as social media and marketing, Vickroy said.

"I saw a need for creating a ... safe space for the women who have these wisdoms and this knowledge," she said.

Athena Rising first opened its doors in July, but it started with Vickroy's own journey to find self-love and self-acceptance, she said. Her son, slender and petite, came home from school one day upset, saying he felt like he wasn't enough.

Vickroy said she told him that everyone brings unique things to the world, and we have to love and accept ourselves.

"(The words) just rang so hollow in my heart, that I didn't even love and accept myself," she said.

Vickroy said she had a successful engineering career, high-paying job, great family and custom-built home, but she burnt out. She had it all, she said, but she was still unhappy.

"All that other stuff doesn't matter," she said. "To think that I could've gone my whole life without realizing that is the saddest thing."

She decided she wanted to be a role model for her son. Vickroy, a photographer, created the Confidence Campaign through her photography company ultra-spective. She sought to empower other women through photography and learned to love herself along the way, too.

Vickroy and Marcel met at a Confidence Campaign event, she said. They wanted to empower other women to find a supportive community and self-love. They saw other coworking models designed to cater to women and wanted to bring the concept to Livermore, she said.

Men are welcome to attend events and work at Athena Rising, Vickroy said.

Through Athena Rising, Vickroy hopes to give women a place to work or just hang out with friends. She hopes to help women connect to themselves and do the inner work needed to be happy and love themselves — not make them feel as if they need to spend their days hustling and struggling, but still unhappy, Vickroy said.

"If we just connect to ourselves ... we can fulfill ourselves," she said. "And then all that other external stuff is just icing on the cake."

Visit Athena Rising at 4047 First St., Ste. 101 or check out its website for more information.