My name is Athena Dobson. But for seven years of my life, I wasn’t Athena. I was 6953.
That was my consultant number at the travel company where I worked. Customers didn’t ask for me by name. They asked for 6953. And at the time? I thought I was living the dream. I was travelling the world, flying first class to Mozambique to review five-star hotels, and getting paid to do it. Life felt glossy, exciting and full.
Then March 2020 arrived and dismantled my entire life overnight. The C word, and one email. “You are furloughed until further notice.” The world shut down. Just like that, the career I had built for seven years was gone. No safety net. No plan B. Just silence where all the noise used to be.
So I did what most of us do when the rug gets pulled from under us. I ate ice cream straight from the tub, stayed in bed longer than I should, and felt genuinely lost. Then one afternoon, doom-scrolling through Facebook, I spotted an advert.
A two-day online property course for £99. I clicked buy. Not because I had a plan. Because I needed to feel hopeful again. Well, that tiny decision changed everything.
After only attending this two-day course, I now believed I was a full-on property investor. Funny, I know. I took my travel savings, the ones everyone told me to keep for a rainy day, and bought a one-bedroom flat in Bournemouth.
I picked up the keys two days before my 30th birthday, and something in me shifted. I had no experience, no mentor, and no real idea what I was doing. Just an unwavering, slightly delusional belief that I could figure it out. Did it go perfectly? No. Do I still own that flat to this day? Yes.
I then ran out of money. So rather than buying assets, I got educated and learnt to control them. I discovered rent-to-rent, a strategy where you rent a property from a landlord and let it room by room, generating income without needing to buy.
No huge deposit. No mortgage. Just hustle, strategy and showing up. I worked two jobs simultaneously, corporate by day, property by night. I sent out hundreds of letters to landlords. I got rejected constantly. I nearly quit more than once. But eleven months and some days later, I walked out of my corporate job and into full-time entrepreneurship. And I have never looked back.
Now really, that should have been the end of the chapter. Girl loses job, girl backs herself, girl builds new life. But something happened next that changed the entire direction of my story. In the summer of 2022, I walked into my very first property networking event. There were 45 people in that room. Guess how many were women?
Three. Just three, including me.
I nearly turned around and walked straight back out. Instead I stayed, stood at the bar, and felt invisible. Jokes were made, conversations happened around me, and I left that night with one burning question: where are all the women?
So I went searching. A community, a podcast, a Facebook group, anything built for women in property in the UK. I searched and searched.
There was nothing.
Not one single space where women could ask questions without feeling silly. No events where we weren’t the token few. No place to see women who looked and sounded like us, building what we wanted to build.
So I did what I always do when I can’t find the door.
I went and built one.
In January 2023, the Girls in Property podcast launched, recorded in a borrowed meeting room with a microphone, a laptop, and an enormous vision. Today we have released over 160 episodes, more than 70,000 downloads, and a community of over 100 women across the UK, from busy mums and corporate professionals to developers and first-time investors, all building their futures together. Every April I host our annual event, bringing 80 women in property together under one roof. It has sold out every single year.
Girls in Property was never about the deals or the money. It was about making sure no woman ever has to be the only one in the room again. It is a real, honest, jargon-free space where women feel genuinely seen, heard, and supported at every single stage of their journey.
Because here’s what I know to be true: the right support changes everything. I would not be here without the women who showed up alongside me. And now, it is my life’s work to be that for others and to shine a spotlight on the incredible women already building within this industry.
If you are reading this feeling like the door doesn’t exist for you, in property, in business, in life, I want you to know something.
You don’t have to wait for it.
Come and help us build it.
Because the door is open. And we built it for you.
Name: Athena Dobson
Professional Title: Founder, Girls in Property | Podcast Host | Property Investor & Educator
Bio: Athena Dobson is the founder of Girls in Property, the UK’s leading women’s property community. After Covid ended her corporate career in 2020, she built a property portfolio and left her job in under a year. Today she leads a 100+ strong community helping women back themselves in property and in life.
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