Influential Woman · Media and Marketing
Emily C. Abernathy
Content Marketing Designer / Creative Lead, Aliem Media
Fort Worth, TX 76131
Her Story
About Emily C.
Emily C. Abernathy is a media and marketing professional and certified parkour and freerunning coach based in Fort Worth, Texas, who has built a career at the intersection of design, strategy, and movement. She began developing her creative skills as a teenager, later gaining experience in retail, brand ambassadorship, and corporate marketing before launching her own independent studio, Aliem Media, in 2018. The name "Aliem" is a deliberate play on her own name, chosen to reflect her lifelong sense of being an outlander in conventional professional spaces. As a solopreneur, she oversees every facet of her business — from lead generation and client relationships to campaign strategy and creative production — and has partnered with a range of small businesses and corporate clients to build content systems and brand foundations that hold up over time. Her academic background includes homeschooling, an Associate of Arts from Collin College, and a Bachelor of Arts in Emerging Media and Communications from the University of Texas at Dallas, complemented by certifications in marketing and graphic design and a real estate license.
Beyond her marketing work, Abernathy has spent over a decade immersed in the parkour and freerunning community, first as a practitioner and later as a certified coach and creative movement specialist. She is currently writing a book that began as a personal philosophy project and has since grown into a broader manifesto exploring movement, trauma, accessibility, and the human experience. Her long-term mission is to make parkour safer and more welcoming, particularly for women and non-binary individuals, while showing people of varying ages and physical abilities that movement can be approached at a beginner-friendly, sustainable level. She has volunteered as a parkour coach and continues to advocate for entry points into the sport that stand apart from the extreme, male-dominated culture often associated with it.
Abernathy attributes her professional success to self-determination, perseverance, and a willingness to take action rather than wait for opportunities to appear, paired with a disciplined commitment to working smart in order to avoid burnout. She maintains a nomadic lifestyle, having recently traveled to Mexico with plans to explore Southeast Asia, all while running her business remotely. Her guiding values — authenticity, independence, creativity, and a balance of traditionally feminine and masculine approaches to leadership — inform both her entrepreneurial work and her advocacy within the movement community. In recognition of her impact, she was selected for feature by Influential Women, representing Austin, Texas, in a 2026 national profile and magazine inclusion.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Emily C.
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to not waiting for things to happen and instead taking prompt, decisive action. Alongside that drive, I credit my self-determination, perseverance, and independence, as well as the support of my family. I also believe deeply in working smart rather than simply working hard, and in developing enough self-knowledge to distinguish between choices made from fear and those guided by genuine intuition or love.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best advice I've received is to stop waiting for opportunities to come to me and instead create them myself. Alongside that, I've learned to listen closely to my internal voice and to develop the discernment needed to tell the difference between intuition and fear, so I can act when something truly feels aligned with my goals.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would tell young women not to wait for someone else to hand them an opportunity — go out and make it happen. It's important to balance traditionally feminine and masculine qualities as you grow professionally: take initiative and act promptly, but also stay attuned to your inner voice. Above all, take the time to truly know yourself, so you can recognize whether you're being driven by fear or guided by love, and practice self-love along with appropriate self-accountability.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
One of the biggest challenges I see is burnout, which is especially common among entrepreneurs and creative professionals when success gets measured purely by how hard someone works. In the parkour and movement space specifically, the culture is still fairly male-dominated and often overlooks the perspectives and needs of women, with many programs built around extremes rather than safe, accessible entry points. That said, I see real opportunity in networking and lead-generation platforms for business growth, and an even bigger opportunity in building beginner-friendly, safer parkour education that welcomes women, non-binary individuals, and others who've traditionally been left out of physical education or extreme sports spaces.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The values that guide me most are self-determination, authenticity, perseverance, and self-awareness. I place a high value on independence and creativity, balanced with working smart rather than just working hard. Listening to my internal voice, practicing self-love, and holding myself appropriately accountable matter deeply to me — as does accessibility and inclusion, both in how I run my business and in the movement work I do.
Join Influential Women and start making an impact. Register now.