Athena Hagerty, CEO & President of Boca Grande Speech Therapy Inc.® Athena is originally from Monroe NY, a suburban community located in Orange County, NY. Athena began her career as a musician, actress and performance artist in the Tri-State Area. She completed a degree in Educational Theatre from New York University in 1997.

After many years of auditioning and having difficulty finding a permanent home to plant roots in an arts community in NY, in 2001 she moved to Arizona to attend graduate school with a focus on secondary education. She became a licensed high school theatre teacher where she taught and directed thousands of students and experienced many different artistic journeys in Arizona. During one of these journeys of students’ monologue performances, she had the opportunity to work with several moderate to severely disabled students. During this experience, she was inspired to become a speech-language pathologist to help improve a person’s overall ability to communicate. She then pursued graduate work in speech-language pathology where she completed a Master’s of Science degree in Speech-Language Pathology at Northern Arizona University in 2011.

She moved to the central coast of California in spring of 2012 and has been practicing on the peninsula ever since. Her current passions include treating pediatric populations and continues to teach and mentor. She also continues to find various organizations and opportunities to share her passion and talents for the arts.