Julie Huneycutt Named 2023 ATHENA Recipient

The Henderson County Chamber of Commerce hosted its annual Business and Professional Women’s Luncheon, a program of ATHENA International, at the Blue Ridge Community College in May.

awareness of the opioid epidemic and active member of the Hendersonville community, Huneycutt and the Hope Coalition also recently opened The Buzz, a specialty non-alcoholic bar and café providing an alcohol-free environment for socializing and events.

ATHENA committee member Donna Moore presented each nominee and said all nominees are winners. Nominees included:

Adriana Chavela of Hola Carolina and recipient of the 2022 ATHENA award said she had the deepest gratitude for ATHENA and is happy to continue the journey and empower each other. Chavela presented the 2023 Athena award to Julie Huneycutt.

Huneycutt said there is so much wisdom in the room, and she is surprised and grateful for the award and is grateful to be a part of a great, special community.

ATHENA International is a program with a mission to develop, support, and honor women leaders in their communities, building a global pipeline of women leaders to bring balance to leadership voices worldwide.

The Henderson County Chamber of Commerce is a host organization of an ATHENA committee and works to do more than celebrate one recipient. The program has broadened its reach to include two annual women’s leadership breakfasts and monthly Empower Hours for the area’s women professionals.

This year’s ATHENA award recipient was Julie Huneycutt, Director of Hope Coalition of Henderson County. After losing her adult daughter to an opioid overdose, she and her husband founded a fund dedicated to raising awareness of prescription drug misuse. A local and regional advocate for

• Dr. Amy Siegler of LimbTech

• Ashely Sandahl of Excuse Us While We Succeed

• Cheryl Stuller of Stuller Power Solutions

• Crystal Cauley of Black History Collective of Henderson County

• Dorothy Case of Henderson County Public Schools (retired)

• Julie Honeycutt of Hope Coalition of Henderson County

• Lyndsey Simpson of LS Creative

• Margina Baxter of Children and Family Resource Center

• Sherrie Stokes of the Salvation Army of Henderson, Polk, and Transylvania Counties

• Vanessa Gilliam of Nessa’s Young’Uns