Board of Advisors

Athena Uslander: CEO, President, Silverland Desserts

A native of Tehran, Iran, Athena Uslander came to the U.S. in 1973 to study engineering at Southern Illinois University knowing just enough English to get by in math and science. After completing her Master's degree, she worked for a firm in Chicago as a structural engineer designing bridges for four years and received her PE license. She quit in 1982 to join a friend who was trying to parlay a family recipe into a brownie business. A year later she bought out her partner, who was moving to another city, and became the sole proprietor of Silverland Brownies, now Athena's Silverland Desserts. To this day she marvels at the amazing freedoms in America, including the freedom to start your own business without anyone or any legal restriction to stop you.

Athena's Silverland Desserts now sells an expanded brownie, cookie, and dessert line to small local shops and large retail outfits such as Trader Joe's, Nordstrom's, and has won numerous industry awards and been featured by Weight Watchers and recognized in local and national media, including The Food Network, The Travel Channel, USA Today, and Good Housekeeping. Athena remains chief Silverland salesperson, presenting at such venues as Home Shopping Network, and continues as chief product developer, especially in the area of nutritional bars, fat free and sugar free desserts, where she is aided by her training in chemistry. She is proud that her business provides jobs to a couple of dozen wonderful and hard-working employees, many of whom are themselves immigrants who came to America seeking a better life.

In 2005 she was chosen as a model and spokesperson for Unilever's Dove Pro-Age campaign "Beauty Has No Age Limit," introducing a new line of skin care products targeted to women over the age of 50. As Dove spokesmodel she has appeared on Oprah and Martha Stewart Living and been featured on The Today Show and the CBS Morning Show. She has also made major media and talk show appearances in Canada and Spain, where she opened that country's Dove Pro-Age campaign. Her image has appeared widely in American print media and in both print and widely used television commercials in Europe and South America.

Married and the mother of three children, she is a serious tennis player and physical fitness buff. Thanks in part to the work as Dove spokesperson, she has been drawn increasingly to participate in the dialogue supporting women's self esteem, camaraderie, and mutual support.