Joanne joined Athena in 2007 to promote her work as a trained coach, and therapist and teacher in yoga, meditation, Reiki and flower essences. She stayed because she found so much more than she bargained for.
Within just two meetings of her local Ealing group she began to see the value in the inspiration ~ connection ~ success formula that the Athena Network employs. Each meeting, Joanne found herself inspired to be a better business woman, uplifted by the company of other women seeking to improve their lot in life, delighting in the success stories, commiserating and helping with the difficulties.
Over the three and a half years that followed, Joanne has built lasting relationships, been amazed at the amount of business passed within and between Athena groups, and contributed to the growth of the network by being a ‘raving fan’! She is delighted therefore to take over as Regional Director of the West London region, covering Ealing, Acton, Chiswick, Hammersmith, Shepherds Bush, Barnes and Mortlake.
At The Joanne Sumner Studio (www.joannesumner.com) Joanne specialises in helping busy women rediscover their purpose, passion and peace. Her classes, workshops, and trainings are rooted in a practical philosophy that celebrates the strength of the human spirit, seeks simple solutions to life’s demands, and encourages and inspires those whom she teaches to go for their true heart’s desire. Joanne is most often described as serene, combining intellectual clarity with a sense of joy and fun that ensures that laughter is never far away. Indeed, in her meditation classes, if people aren’t laughing she thinks there’s something wrong!
One of Joanne’s talents is helping people realise and live up to their full potential, and as Athena RD she brings her total commitment to helping the business community to grow in West London through the natural networking strengths that most women have. Her favourite ‘networking success’ story is finding a NASA scientist who played a musical instrument to be part of a worldwide music charity event. By asking her network, and in just one connection, she had found a handsome guitar-playing young scientist who was up for helping out a charity that offers some of the poorest children in the developing world the opportunity to learn musical skills (www.musequality.com).
Joanne’s career started in medical ethics at the Centre of Medical Law and Ethics, King’s College London, and over a period of 9 years progressed to Senior Policy Adviser at The Wellcome Trust, specialising in ethics of advances in genetics, neuroscience and research in developing countries. Leaving the Trust she went back to her humanities roots and artistic interests and joined The Art Academy as Team Development Director, using large-scale sculptures, paintings and collage to help teams define and share their values and vision. And thus her love of coaching was born.
Over the following years Joanne retrained in yoga, meditation (which she originally learnt at school), reiki, flower essence therapy, and coaching; and in 2010 she launched the Joanne Sumner Studio to provide a haven for people to reconnect with themselves and restore their love of life. She launched two local networking events: Coffee with Jo, a monthly informal event for women in business, and Nutritious Networking, which puts the health of body and mind first in the search for business success and fulfilment.
Joanne supports the excellent Women of Action charity (http://www.womenofaction.co.uk/) dedicated to uniting and empowering women to overcome poverty and oppression.
Joanne Sumner
Regional Director, West London
020 8579 7659
07786 273 826
