Athena co-founded LACFF/CIE, bringing her expertise in international audience reception and sino-U.S. relations. She spent years helping the big 6 film studios and top gaming studios in China U.S. enter new markets and conduct go-to-market research. In her early career, she staffed and directed multiple international educational conferences of 700+ people across China. These experiences and her research on audience reception during her time at Harvard studying East Asian Studies and Social Anthropology informs her work today as the head of Research and Development for a short form digital media start-up in downtown LA.