A place where women who’ve served find belonging, support, and peace.
About Athena Grace Foundation
Creating Space for Women Warriors to Heal and Thrive.
Athena Grace Foundation was created for women who have spent their lives serving others.
Whether in the military, law enforcement, fire service, emergency medical services, or other demanding professions, women often carry the weight of service differently. They lead with courage, adapt through adversity, and continue showing up long after the mission is complete. Yet too often, there are few spaces designed specifically for their experiences.
Athena Grace exists to change that.
We are more than a nonprofit. We are a community rooted in connection, healing, and belonging. A place where women can gather without explanation, build lifelong friendships, discover new paths to wellness, and find the support they deserve.
Our belief is simple.
When women heal together, they thrive together.
Building Community Through Shared Experiences
Athena Grace believes healing happens through experience, not simply conversation.
Our members connect through retreats, wellness workshops, adventure travel, music, sports, mindfulness, peer support, educational programs, community gatherings, and opportunities to simply enjoy life with others.
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OUR MISSION
Creating Space for Women Warriors to Heal and Thrive
Athena Grace exists to create a supportive and empowering community where women who have served can reconnect with themselves and with one another.
We honor both strength and vulnerability, recognizing that courage is found not only in service, but also in asking for support, embracing rest, and allowing space for healing.
Through meaningful relationships, wellness experiences, retreats, education, and shared adventures, we help women rediscover joy, purpose, and connection beyond their years of service.
Our mission is built around one simple promise.
Serve. Heal. Thrive. Together.
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OUR PHILOSOPHY
Strength and Softness Belong Together
For many women in service, resilience has become second nature. They've learned to lead, protect, solve problems, and keep moving forward, often placing the needs of others before their own.
Athena Grace offers something different.
We believe strength and softness are not opposites. They are partners.
Healing isn't about forgetting the past or removing the armor that service required. It's about understanding how women carry that armor and creating opportunities to set it down, even for a little while.
We reject the idea that resilience requires silence. Instead, we believe resilience grows through community, shared experiences, reflection, laughter, adventure, wellness, and authentic human connection.
Within Athena Grace, nothing needs to be proven. You are welcomed exactly as you are.
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WHO WE SERVE
Created for Women in Action
Athena Grace proudly welcomes women from every stage of service and every chapter that follows.
Our community includes:
Women Veterans
Active-Duty, National Guard, and Reserve Service Members
First Responders, including Law Enforcement, Firefighters, Nurses, and EMS Professionals
Military Spouses and Caregivers
Women transitioning from military or first responder service
Whether you're newly retired, still serving, or simply looking for a community that understands your experiences, you'll find a place here.
"Carry your strength. Give yourself grace."
Our foundation hopes to honor courageous women and help them find ways to heal from service and live well. Here's why we called it Athena Grace.
Among the Greek gods, Athena holds a place of great reverence as the goddess of wisdom and warfare. Known for her strategic brilliance and calm demeanor in times of conflict, Athena embodied the ideal balance between intellect and strength. She was considered both a warrior and a protector, guiding heroes to victory with her wisdom and defending cities with her unmatched skills in combat. In Greek mythology, Athena was not only a goddess of war but also the patroness of learning, the arts, and civilization. We love that for her and for ourselves.
The significance of Grace in our name is twofold. First, we drew inspiration from Grace O'Malley, known in Irish folklore as the Pirate Queen of Ireland. Grace, also known as Grainne (pronounced gran-ya) is revered for her bravery, her keen wit and her ingenuity, among other things. Grace is also something we believe we could each give more of to ourselves and others. We hope Athena Grace will help accomplish that.
The Meaning Behind Athena Grace
Inspired by women of wisdom, courage, and resilience, our name honors the strength to serve and the grace to heal.
Nominate a Warrior
Every woman who serves deserves to be seen. Learn more on how we honor these Women in Our Athena in Wild initiative.
MEET THE FOUNDER
Karen
From Warrior to Founder
Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Karen Hennigan comes from a long line of veterans and community servants. After graduating from law school, she joined the Air Force in 2001, just one week before the September 11th attacks. Over the next 23 years, she served as an Air Force officer and Judge Advocate General in both active duty and reserve capacities, while also building a distinguished civilian legal career.
The idea for Athena Grace took shape in Missoula, Montana, during a music festival, when someone asked what had brought Karen and fellow Air Force veteran Kristin McGeorge all the way from Brooklyn and Pittsburgh. Without thinking, Karen replied, "I guess you could say we're working on healing through music."
Following the loss of her parents, Karen spent two years using her vacation time to seek peace through yoga, meditation, adventure travel, and plenty of live music, much of it featuring her favorite artist, Hozier. She often invited a veteran friend, or someone navigating grief, illness, or life's challenges, covering travel costs whenever she could. Those shared adventures became moments of laughter, friendship, healing, and joy, and ultimately inspired the vision for Athena Grace.
Throughout her military career, Karen held leadership positions across the United States, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and the Republic of Korea. She specialized in complex criminal litigation, served as one of the Air Force's expert prosecutors, and participated in the first all-female combat mission aboard a C-17 Globemaster III aircraft.
Outside the military, Karen served as a federal prosecutor in Brooklyn, where she was named Federal Prosecutor of the Year three times. She has dedicated much of her career to improving the lives of veterans, helping establish Veteran Treatment Courts across New York and the nation, founding the country's first Military Legal Practice Clinic at Brooklyn Law School, serving on the board of Swords to Ploughshares, and advising Wellness Empowered, a technology company focused on veteran and first responder suicide prevention.
Karen lives at the beach with her delightful pup, Frankie Sinatra. Through Athena Grace, she hopes to create a community where women who have served can find healing, friendship, and the lasting support they deserve.
More Than a Community
Discover experiences that inspire connection, promote wellness, and create space for healing, growth, and joy after service.