Founder and CEO of Empowered Women in Trades — on resilience and rebuilding after a near-fatal accident.
Hacia Atherton is the founder and CEO of Empowered Women in Trades, the charity and social enterprise she established in 2020 to change how trade-based industries in Australia attract, support and retain women in skilled trades. She is a CPA who came up through her family's manufacturing business, which makes sterilisation and infection control equipment for hospital, medical and scientific customers, and she holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Deakin University and a Master of Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Melbourne.
Her speaking is shaped by a near-fatal accident in 2017. Training for the World Equestrian Games in dressage, she was thrown from her horse and crushed when the 600kg animal fell on top of her. She underwent years of surgery and was told she might never walk again in any meaningful way. She taught herself to walk again, completed her CPA qualification during her recovery, and built Empowered Women in Trades in the years that followed. Her keynotes are warm, well-paced and direct — measured rather than dramatic.
For event organisers, Hacia is a strong fit for leadership programs, women's events, wellbeing initiatives and in-house audiences where the brief is a credible voice on resilience and recovery from someone with real business depth. She sits on CPA Australia's Global Advisory Panel, launched the annual EWIT Awards in 2021, and won a Telstra Business Award in 2024.
Hacia Atherton is a keynote speaker based in Victoria who speaks on inspiration, leadership and women in business. Book through Executive Speakers Australia.
Through her lived experience, Hacia developed innovative strategies to leverage her daily battle to become an entrepreneur that is disrupting the corporate world for the better.
Key learnings:
* Pain (physical, emotional or mental) is a useful tool to strengthen your resilience muscle and how to integrate courage to overcome adversity and setbacks.
* Have the courage to get comfortable with discomfort as this is where we can push our boundaries and achieve remarkable results.
* Courageous leadership requires the ability to adapt and be flexible with goals and milestones with humbleness that can inspire others along the way.
* Courage learned through hardship facilitates innovation as it requires one to think outside the box to access an alternative route and develop active empathy strategies.
* Leading with vulnerability can enhance your professional career and develop stronger trust with your teams as they feel they can courageously express their ideas.
Hacia Atherton is inspiring women to pick up the tools and thrive in skilled trade careers so they can achieve financial freedom. Through her organisation Empowered Women In Trades, she is revolutionising Australia’s manufacturing, construction and mining industries by increasing the female representation and shifting the culture to one that is psychologically safe for all.
Key learnings:
* The power of a connection with your inner courage so that you can overcome any obstacle can achieve remarkable success.
* How to live with adaptive and positive mindset; how to use it to motivate yourself through adversity and navigate pathways towards success.
* How to find the courage to seek out and embrace opportunities in your darkest moments.
* Overwhelm can be neutralised by implementing a ‘game plan’ of Positive Psychology Interventions.
Hacia Atherton defied doctors and taught herself to walk again by embracing Positive Psychology and redefining her own version of success. Her personal and professional resilience has led to Hacia being recognised as a game changer for Australia’s manufacturing, construction and mining industries as she focuses on using her Positive Psychology knowledge and entrepreneurial spirit to increase the female representation within skilled trades and shift the culture to one everyone can thrive in.
Key learnings:
* Failure is not a fait accompli; it is the first step towards success.
* Success is subjective; define what it means to you and be fearless in your pursuit of it.
* Celebrate progress rather than striving for perfection; each milestone achieved deserves a reward no matter how small.
* Refuse to accept external limitations and always question the status quo.
* How the power of self belief can lead to influential change.
Hacia is a gifted speaker, connecting with people immediately (and via a screen!) at such an authentic, human level, you both laugh and cry! Importantly she left our group today inspired to take action, to be themselves, to redefine what success means for them, to share their vulnerable wonderful selves and become extra awesome! It all starts with you. Thank you Hacia for sharing your story, your learnings and for living your legacy!Finance Transformation Manager, Bluescope
We had hacia as a guest speaker for our 3rd annual Girls with Hammers conference and she was amazing. Her story of courage and resilience had everybody on the edge of their seats, as well as turning on the tears and laughter in the audience. Hacia was well presented, professional and had a first class slide deck to accompany her talk. Hacia was super easy to deal with and extremely reliable. Highly recommended.Co-founder, Girls With Hammers
Hacia has enabled my inner light to shine. I feel of service to my community in a way that is authentic and valuable. Through Hacia's courageous leadership and mentoring, l have never felt more confident about my career development after graduation. Hacia brings out the best in people in a professional context and inspires my ability to dream ambitious goals with confidence in the practical techniques to achieve them as a young professional. Hacia enabled my inner light to shine and see my diverse skills as assets where l once would have felt unsure I fell of service to my community in a way that is authentic and valuable. She has equipped my graduation experience with courage and enthusiasm to achieve my goals with leadership. Through Hacia l have networked with industry professionals to enhance my career potential and learned practical skills for industry success.Ivanhoe NFP Coordinator, Barista, Youth Leader and Writer
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