Holding Space and Changing Perspectives: 2 Years of The emPOWER Breakfast

On Friday 20th March 2026, via @empowerbreakfast Instagram Live, The emPOWER Breakfast will speak to emPOWERs first speaker Leila Bartlam to catch up on how far she has come since first sharing that she had recently received her Autism diagnosis.

There’s something magic about a beginning that has had the kind of impact that has come from The emPOWER Breakfast’s very first session with Leila on March 20th 2024. This was the beginning of a movement that has redefined how personal challenge is framed within the workplace. Raising awareness around topics such as Neurodivergence, Mental and Physical Wellbeing, Menopause, Dementia and caring, Bereavement and other impactful conversations.

emPOWERs success has been defined by a ‘knowing’. Everyone who steps into the room understands that they have just experienced something that they didn’t know they needed! Two years ago, The emPOWER Breakfast began as exactly that: a space that didn’t exist, but deeply needed to. A space for honesty in an industry that often asks people to hold it all together with no room or empathy to support what might be going on behind the scenes. A space for connection in a world that is feeling increasingly disconnected, especially now in the racing dawn of the age of AI. A space where vulnerability isn’t a risk but a strength.

And fittingly, as we celebrate our second birthday this week, we return to where it all began with our very first speaker, Leila Bartlam and during ND awareness week no less.

Leila shared something deeply personal with us back then, a time only a couple of years ago where ND awareness was a fraction of what it is now, not even knowing that when she announced her newly acquired autism diagnosis whether that might trigger the demise of her career. Her story of receiving an autism diagnosis at 47 didn’t just inform us though, it shifted perspective and created change on a micro level, being the catalyst for policy at two organisations. It invited reflection. It gave language, permission, and recognition to so many of us who had never seen themselves represented in that way before and I hazard a guess was a catalyst for many a newly applied diagnosis.

And now, as we mark Neurodiversity Awareness Week, her story feels just as vital if not more so.

Because what Leila embodies, and what emPOWER has always stood for, is thatpeople are not problems to be fixed, they just have stories to be understood.

Over the past two years, emPOWER has grown into more than an event. It’s become a movement towards something more human in the workplace.Through our breakfasts, conversations, and now our virtual community via the emPOWER app, we’ve created a space where people can land as they are. Not just on the good days. But on the complicated crunchy ones too.

Inside the app, you’ll find:

• voices from across the industry sharing their lived experiences

• tools for nervous system regulation and wellbeing

• honest conversations that don’t get wrapped up in a neat bow

• and bite-sized moments of nervous system support when they’re needed most

Because change happens in the everyday moments where someone feels seen and connections can take place directly.

What we’re actively building is a shift in how we talk about people and how teams are supported. Creating an intentional shift in how companies begin to understand what it really means to care about their people and to really acknowledge what the benefits of that actually are to a business - Ultimately when your teams are supported and fulfilled there is an increase in productivity, a happier more vibrant workplace and better engagement with clients and audience in general. This also spills over into society at large. Imagine a world full of acknowledged happy people? That was an insight brought by emPOWERs most recent speaker Liz Jackson MBE when she talked about the true impact that can be brought about by Leaders who take the time to really know their teams.

At emPOWER we don’t believe that wellbeing is just a tick box … We know that inclusion isn’t a policy. It’s a culture.

It’s empathy in action. It’s leaders who listen. It’s an environment where people don’t have to mask who they are just to belong. Spaces like emPOWER are helping to shape that future by showing what’s possible when vulnerability is welcomed within a safe container and resilience is strengthened.

For the audience, there is the power of being seen.

Founder and Host Athene Parker relates this to the inspiration for emPOWER, “my experience of parenting a non speaker with an Autism diagnosis was a shock and the emotional impact of the new landscape I was navigating was pretty devastating - it wasn’t until I was introduced to another Mum in a similar situation to me that I realised the power of the mirrored experience - For the first time I knew I would cope”.

That is when the idea for The emPOWER Breakfast began to take shape. A business networking event based on all the things that are important to someone when you are in a deep crisis and challenge. Empathy for your experience, Nervous system regulation to help you navigate your challenges as smoothly as you can, and a network of kindness and support when you need it most. Most importantly the tools to be able to hold space for the difficult conversations. And there.. emPOWER was born.

Two years in, and it still feels like we’re just getting started because this isn’t about a single event or a moment in time… It’s about long-term, meaningful change.

It’s about continuing to build spaces both in person and digitally where people can show up fully. Where conversations go deeper. Where empathy leads. And where the industry, slowly but surely, begins to reshape itself around shared humanity to actually increase positive productivity.

As we celebrate this milestone, we do so with deep gratitude.

To every speaker who has shared bravely. To every sponsor whose belief in doing things differently has powered this space. To every person who has walked into the room or logged into the app and allowed themselves to be part of something .

And to Leila... for kicking it off!

You can tune in to the Instagram live at 11am on Friday 20th @empowerbreakfast

To view our speakers past and present and our incredible Sponsors, visit here.  

To download the app go to Apple or Googleplay.