Athena Sternklar in

Athena Sternklar

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Founder & CEO at Really?
📍 Washington DC-Baltimore Area, United States

Athena Sternklar is an entrepreneurial founder and operations leader with a focus on tech for social good. As the Founder & CEO of the AI safeguarding startup "Really? ", she leverages her expertise in business development, go-to-market strategy, and project management. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Columbia University and is a Y Combinator Startup School alumna.

Outside of her primary ventures, Athena has experience running her own e-commerce business on Etsy, where she managed the full lifecycle from product design to customer engagement. She is a proponent of continuous learning, having completed certifications in Generative AI and Corporate Social Responsibility.

She secured a contingent pre-seed funding offer of $500K for her startup, which addresses the $5. 13B market for deepfake detection.

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Experience
3 Years
Current Role
Founder & CEO
Job Level
Leadership
Location
Washington DC-Baltimore Area, United States
Personality Overview

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Communication Style
Decision Approach
Work Preference

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Priorities

Topics Athena cares about

AI Safeguarding
Her current startup, "Really? ", is focused on building technology for AI-generated content and deepfake detection, addressing a significant and growing market need for consumer protection.
Tech for Good
Her professional headline explicitly lists "Tech for Social Good" as a core interest, reflected in her work to combat the negative impacts of AI.
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Career

Work history

8-2025
Founder & CEO
Really?
2-2025 - 5-2025
Business Development Operations Associate (SMB lending)
NerdWallet
4-2024 - 2-2025
Small Business Owner (E-commerce)
Etsy Shop
3-2023 - 4-2024
Development Administrator
Middle East Institute
5-2021 - 5-2022
Operations Assistant and Senior Website Assistant
Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
In the press

Media appearances

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Education
Bachelor of Arts - BA
Columbia University
6-2025 - 8-2025
Startup School
Y Combinator
Social presence
in
Behavioral profile

DISC profile (public)

DISC behavioral profile

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