Renaissance Woman Ditches the Rulebook and Tackles an Abandoned Acreage

Telling Athena Valanofeld what she can’t do is a losing bet. 

The Albuquerque Fire Rescue lieutenant and mother-to-be acknowledges she never followed a traditional path and that charting her own course has enabled her to tackle projects she never imagined doing. 

“I can’t say I’ve ever identified as a groundbreaker, but I know I’ve been described as one,” says Athena, who is also a trained blacksmith and silversmith. “It’s either a groundbreaker or Renaissance woman — I firmly believe you can do multiple things and not be limited.” 

Regarding pushing boundaries, Athena is currently renovating a property that’s been abandoned for 20 years into her future family’s forever home. The acreage and house outside Albuquerque require so much work, family and friends have called her crazy to take it on.  

But “crazy” has never deterred her in the past.