The Parenting Panel with Athena Burke
Athena Burke writes and performs earthy synth-pop music to help you feel God's love wash over you. Athena's spiritual, non-churchy songs are powerful and tender in the vein of Annie Lenox, Florence + The Machine, and Lauren Daigle with deeply personal lyrics rooted in her own healing and devotional journey.
As an abused child, Athena reached her tiny toddler hands up to the piano to find harmony. This led to studies at the renowned Berklee College of Music, then street performing and concerts across the country. Inspired to heal her trauma, Athena trained in meditation, breathwork, and personal growth practices. Wanting to help others, Athena has given thousands of spiritual guidance and healing sessions and performances worldwide.
Athena feels that her early life cracked her open to receiving God's love as her guiding light. She sings honestly about the human experience of a devotional person.
You can listen to her song Dear Life for free on her website or on soundcloud.
How many children do you have? And what are their names and ages?
4 children. 2 step-daughters, one alive-35-Toni, one killed by a drunk driver-Angie and 1 son, Chris-23 and my youngest daughter, Sarah-almost 19.
In what ways has parenthood helped your creativity, if any?
I am certain that parenting opened up a vein of creativity that organically poured out of me. It wasn’t that I specifically wrote about parenting, but more that my capacity to feel and push through increased exponentially.
What has parenthood taught you about yourself, your music, or your creative process?
I learned that I can feel extreme emotions and then they shift. I learned that I can handle much more than I imagined. I learned that all people deserve to be who they really are and as a parent, my job was to provide access to as many choices as I could for the kids and then step back and let them find their way. A big step for me was learning that my way of thinking didn’t always resonate with my kids’. That helped me in my career, because it also helped me see that a lot of how I think and create and perform is unique to me and I can share with more grace and joy because of that.
How do you juggle your family and your career? Who’s your support system?
I have a huge support system! Mostly online with different musical/spiritual/women’s communities. Also I have local close women friends. My youngest child started college this past year, so my life is shifting and I am hoping to travel more to perform and tour. After COVID, of course...just as I was about to go for it and tour, COVID hit. Soooo, I am still home with my family and also looking at livestreaming. I have livestreamed local shows and reached my international audience that way. It seems that as my kids went through different stages, I also shifted with how much I needed to be home and how much time I had for my music. I feel like now is the time for me. I am so excited to release the album of my dreams after launching 4 kids into the world!
Has the pandemic taken away or added to your creative flow? Are you taking good care of yourself these days?
I wrote an entire new album! I also published a book. Did a ton of behind the scenes work on my business. I took amazing care of myself. Without the pressure to gig live, I settled into a deep dive into my connection with God and my music career. So, I would say it increased my creative flow.
Do your children inspire / inform your music?
They do! The raw emotion they bring out in me, my deeper capacity to love...all that opened up my voice in a big way
Have you ever written a song for or about your kids? If so please share a description and a link.
I wrote “Going Home (Angie’s song).” She was hit by a drunk driver while she crossed the street in Portland 4 months after moving there when she was 26. This song is both a song of how she came into my life and how she left.
You can listen here: Going Home (Angie's Song)
Any advice for others?
Your children are unique and will not necessarily be what you imagined or wanted or expected. Open to discover the joy of each being who comes into your life. Let go and trust their paths. You are the perfect parent for them for some reason!
Find Athena Burke Via:
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Spotify | Twitter | YouTube | Soundcloud | Apple Music | Pandora