Athena Gorder

Breast Cancer Survivors/Licensed Permanent Makeup Artist/Business Owner/Mrs.Billings Montana America 2023

I am so excited to be able to introduce myself as a Breast Cancer Warrior and Mrs. Billings Montana 2023!
My name is Athena Gorder. I’ve been married to my absolutely amazing husband, Don Clayton, for 11 years. I have two amazing adult children, a beautiful daughter, Arielle, and a handsome son, Payne.
I was born and raised in Billings, Montana, attended college at Eastern Montana College and Denver Business College.
I had one of the best careers for 30 years working as a dental assistant. It was so rewarding and I was fortunate enough to say I absolutely looked forward to going to work everyday. Unfortunately, I had to retired from my a career as a dental assistant a few years ago when I was diagnosed with a very aggressive type of breast cancer in 2020.
I went through 4 surgeries, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiation, taking an estrogen blocker and I still have at least 1 more surgery to go. (Whew!😊)
However, if it wasn’t for getting cancer, I may not have found my new passion. I was looking for a way to help other women that have experienced chemotherapy and have lost all their hair when I discovered that becoming a Licensed Permanent Makeup Artist would not only allow me to be passionate about my career but would also allow me to donate my services to other women that have gone or will go through chemotherapy. It has been more rewarding than I would have ever expected! I do thankful that I can still say I love my job!💞
Outside my professional life, I have a passion for public service. I am an advocate for early detection and prevention of breast cancer. I volunteer with many organizations including Rely for Life, The American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, Be My Eyes among others. I am also in the process of becoming a volunteer for CASA, Court Appointed Special Advocate for children in the foster care system. I still enjoy dental assisting and I donate my time and skills to free dental days for our community.
…and in my free time 😊, my family and I love sports! We are avid baseball and football fans and love to travel to professional stadiums to watch games. We enjoy supporting and watching our nephews play baseball, football, basketball and track. Although our time of playing softball and volleyball ourselves has ended, we still love to play golf.
God has truly blessed me!