Athena Review: What You Need to Know Before Hiring

Athena offers full-time executive assistants with deep training and long-term support. While praised for quality and consistency, it lacks flexibility and role diversity. This guide breaks down Athena’s reviews, pros and cons and compares it to top alternatives like Pearl Talent.

If you’ve searched for a virtual assistant company that promises elite support, fast onboarding, and global talent, you’ve likely come across Athena. Known for its rigorous training and founder-focused model, Athena has become a popular choice for executives seeking remote help. But is it the right fit for your business?

In this guide, we’ll break down everything you need to know before hiring Athena — including reviews, how it compares to Belay, and what real clients are saying. Whether you’re scaling a startup or streamlining operations, understanding Athena’s strengths and limitations can help you make a smarter hiring decision.

What Is Athena?

Athena is a virtual assistant company that provides highly trained remote executive assistants to busy founders, entrepreneurs, and executives. Unlike traditional VA platforms that offer generalist support, Athena focuses on long-term, strategic delegation — pairing each client with a dedicated assistant who becomes an extension of their workflow.

Founded in 2019, Athena has grown rapidly by offering a premium, white-glove experience. Their assistants are sourced primarily from the Philippines, known for its strong English proficiency, cultural alignment with U.S. companies, and high-quality talent pool.

Services Offered by Athena

Athena’s core offering is dedicated executive assistant support, but their assistants are trained to handle a wide range of tasks. These include:

• Inbox and calendar management
• Travel booking and logistics
• Research and reporting
• Personal errands and life admin
• Project coordination
• CRM and database upkeep
• Hiring support and onboarding tasks

Athena positions its assistants as “force multipliers” — not just task-takers, but proactive partners who help founders reclaim time and focus on high-leverage work.

How Athena Trains and Deploys Talent

One of Athena’s biggest differentiators is its intensive training program. Every assistant goes through a multi-week onboarding process that includes:

• Time management and prioritization frameworks
• Communication and writing skills
• Tool training (Slack, Notion, Google Workspace, etc.)
• Scenario-based delegation exercises
• Ongoing coaching and performance reviews

This investment in training allows Athena to promise consistency, reliability, and strategic thinking — qualities that are often missing from lower-cost VA platforms.

Who Typically Hires Athena VAs?

Athena markets itself to high-performing founders, CEOs, and operators who need more than just admin help. Their typical client is:

• A startup founder or executive scaling fast
• A remote-first team needing timezone-aligned support
• A busy professional looking to delegate both work and life tasks
• Someone who values long-term continuity over short-term task outsourcing

Athena’s assistants are full-time, dedicated hires — not freelancers or part-time contractors. This makes them ideal for leaders who want to build a deep, trusting relationship with their assistant.

Athena Reviews

When you're hiring a virtual assistant, you're not just choosing a service — you're choosing someone who will be inside your inbox, your calendar, and your daily decision-making. So it’s no surprise that one of the most searched queries is: “Is Athena a good virtual assistant company?”

To answer that, we looked at feedback from clients, assistants, and independent reviewers. Here's what we found.

What Clients Say About Athena

Founders who’ve worked with Athena highlight the quality of the assistants and the training. However, not all feedback is glowing. Some clients mention that onboarding is slow, and that communication with Athena’s internal team isn’t as responsive as expected. A few noted that while the assistants were strong, the company’s backend operations felt “quite rigid.”

What Assistants Say (Reddit + Indeed)

On the assistant side, reviews are more nuanced. On Reddit, several threads from Filipino VAs mention that Athena’s training is solid, but job placement can be inconsistent. One user wrote:

“Marami daw ang naka-floating lang and yet they still keep on onboarding.” (Translation: Many are left waiting for placement while new hires keep coming in.)

On Indeed, Athena scores 4.5 out of 5 stars, with assistants talking about work-life balance. But some reviews mention a lack of transparency in how assistants are supported once placed:

“At times, it feels like we’re treated more as tasks to manage than as people to invest in.”

This tension — between high expectations and uneven support — shows up across multiple platforms.

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Third-Party Reviews and Comparisons

Independent review sites like WorkStaff360 offer side-by-side comparisons of Athena and other VA platforms. Athena is often praised for its premium positioning, but flagged for being more expensive than competitors.

That said, Athena’s assistants are full-time, dedicated hires — not freelancers or hourly contractors. For founders who want continuity and strategic support, that tradeoff may be worth it.

Is Athena a Good Virtual Assistant Company?

Athena has earned a solid reputation among startup founders and remote-first teams — especially those looking for consistent, long-term support. Their assistants are well-trained, proactive, and often become integral to how a founder operates day to day.

But like any service, Athena isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. Its model is built around simplicity and depth, not flexibility. That works well for some teams, and less so for others.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• High-quality assistants: Athena hires strong communicators with excellent written English and a proactive mindset. Many clients say their assistant quickly became indispensable.
• Deep training before placement: Every assistant goes through multi-week onboarding, including tool fluency, delegation frameworks, and scenario-based exercises.
• Long-term, dedicated support: You’re matched with one assistant who stays with you — no rotating staff or task-based handoffs.

Cons:

• No part-time or flexible plans: Athena doesn’t offer hourly or fractional options, which can be limiting for teams with variable workloads.
• Limited role coverage: The focus is almost exclusively on executive assistants. If you need help with design, marketing, or technical roles, you’ll need to look elsewhere.
• Slow onboarding and replacement: While assistants are well-trained, matching and rematching can take time — especially if you need specific skills or timezone alignment.

Who Should Consider Athena

Athena is a good fit if you’re:

• A founder or executive who needs full-time support
• Looking for a long-term assistant, not short-term help
• Comfortable with a fixed monthly cost
• Focused on delegation and strategic leverage

It’s less ideal if you:

• Need help across multiple roles (e.g., design, marketing, operations)
• Want part-time or project-based support
• Are hiring on a tight budget or need to scale flexibly

Athena vs Pearl Talent – Which Is Better for Remote Hiring?

If you’re exploring virtual assistant platforms, you’ve probably come across both Athena and Pearl Talent. While they share some surface similarities — remote talent, executive support, and founder-friendly positioning — they’re built for different kinds of teams.

Here’s how they compare across the areas that matter most.

Flexibility

• Athena’s model is straightforward: one full‑time executive assistant, one way of working. That simplicity can be appealing, but it leaves little room to adapt. If your workload shifts, or if you need support across different functions, you’re locked into the same setup.
• Pearl Talent is built for flexibility. You can scale support up or down, bring in part‑time or project‑based help, and expand beyond executive assistance into roles like design, marketing, recruiting, or operations. Instead of forcing your business into a rigid structure, Pearl adapts to the way your team actually works.

For founders, that flexibility is the difference between hiring an assistant and building a talent strategy. Pearl grows with you, whether you’re delegating inbox management today or building out a full remote team tomorrow.

Talent Quality and Role Coverage

• Athena focuses on executive assistants — trained generalists who support founders with admin, scheduling, and logistics.
• Pearl Talent sources from the top 1% of global talent across Latin America, South Africa, and the Philippines. Their network includes:
  
  • Executive assistants
  • Designers and developers
  • Marketers and content strategists
  • Healthcare coordinators
  • Recruiters, finance specialists, and more

Pearl’s vetting process includes multi-stage interviews, skill assessments, and background checks — not just resume reviews.

Speed and Placement

• Athena typically takes 2–3 weeks to place an assistant, depending on availability.
• Pearl Talent places most roles in 2 weeks, with faster turnaround for common roles like EA, SDR, and designer.

Pearl also offers a 90-day replacement guarantee, so if a hire doesn’t work out, they’ll find a better fit — fast.

Support and Onboarding

• Athena handles onboarding internally, with a structured training program for assistants. However, clients have limited visibility into the process.
• Pearl Talent offers white-glove onboarding, including:
  
  • Contract setup and compliance
  • Payroll and benefits (for managed hires)
  • Performance monitoring and feedback loops
  • Founder onboarding guides and delegation templates

Pearl’s onboarding is designed to support both the assistant and the founder — making the transition smoother for everyone.

Final Thoughts: Is Athena Right for You — or Is There a Better Fit?

Athena offers a polished experience for founders who want a full-time executive assistant and are ready to invest in long-term support. Their assistants are well-trained, proactive, and capable of handling complex workflows. But the model isn’t built for flexibility — and it’s not designed for teams hiring across multiple roles.

If you’re scaling a business, managing variable workloads, or hiring beyond just admin support, Pearl Talent is definitely the best fit. Pearl gives you access to the top 1% of global talent

across executive assistance, design, marketing, operations, and more — with faster placement, and deeper support.

Whether you’re hiring your first assistant or building a remote team from scratch, Pearl helps you do it with clarity, speed, and confidence.

👉 Learn more at pearltalent.com — or book a call to get matched with top-tier remote talent today.