Athena's assistants are based outside the US. Its FAQ says Athena EAs "are located overseas but work on a schedule determined by your needs," and its own careers site lists executive assistant openings at hubs in the Philippines (Quezon City and Cavite), Guatemala City and Nairobi. Below is each piece of evidence with a link and a date, followed by what those locations mean for the hours your assistant works. We're Ryz Labs, which places assistants on US business hours, so we compete with Athena; we've stuck to Athena's own words wherever possible. Checked November 14, 2026.
The FAQ is the primary source. Three statements are relevant:
Athena's membership page uses the phrase "in your time zone" for the same idea. Nowhere on the main marketing site did we find a country named.
Athena recruits through jobs.athena.com, which is Athena's own site. When we checked, its location filters listed the Philippines, Guatemala, Kenya, Colombia and the US, with cities including Quezon City, Cavite, Cebu City, Guatemala City, Medellín, Nairobi and Palo Alto. The executive assistant role itself was open in four places:
The US listings on the same site were for sales, security and operations roles, not assistants. Time offsets are our own calculation for standard time in November.
One Athena posting, for an assistant role in Cavite, spells it out. Athena says it operates "through a system of regional Hubs," that candidates must live within 80 km of the hub, and that they should be able to report onsite within about two hours when needed. It describes the job as 40 hours a week, "often aligned to U.S. time zones," with no side jobs. Interviews happen onsite at the hub, according to the careers page.
We also looked for public statements by well-known Athena clients about where their assistants are. We didn't find one we could verify with a working link, so we've left that out.
An overseas assistant can absolutely work your business day. The question is what that day looks like on their clock, because that is what has to hold up for a year.
A 9 AM to 5 PM New York day is 10 PM to 6 AM in Manila in November, a full night shift. In summer, when the US moves its clocks and the Philippines doesn't, it's 9 PM to 5 AM. From Nairobi, the same day is 5 PM to 1 AM. From Guatemala City it's 8 AM to 4 PM, close to a normal day.
Chicago or Dallas 9 to 5 in November is 11 PM to 7 AM in Manila, 6 PM to 2 AM in Nairobi, and the same clock hours in Guatemala City.
A Los Angeles 9 to 5 is 1 AM to 9 AM the next day in Manila, and 8 PM to 4 AM in Nairobi.
Athena does describe a temporary EA for top-priority tasks during leave, which is a sensible answer to the third question.
Not by itself. Athena says it screens candidates with personality, cognitive and English tests and runs in-person training at its hubs. Where location does matter is logistics: live phone cover during your day, same-day turnaround on late requests, and how sustainable a night schedule is over many months. Decide which of those matter for your work, then ask any provider, including us, to answer in writing.
Our model starts from the schedule. Ryz places executive assistants and virtual assistants on your team who work US business hours, New York hours included, with fluent English, after screening by our recruiters. We don't describe our assistants by a single country; the plan you receive after one conversation names the specific people, and you can ask us where each of them is based. A dedicated executive assistant is $3,000 a month and a dedicated virtual assistant is $2,000 a month, both month to month. Once you say go, people can typically start in under two weeks; some roles take three to six weeks.
Ryz also places developers and product and project managers on the same team. We were founded in 2021, are based in Calabasas, California, have 200+ people, and are trusted by Fortune 500 engineering teams. Compare us head to head in Ryz Labs vs Athena, see how Athena's terms add up in Athena pricing, or book a call.
Many appear to be. Athena's FAQ says only "overseas," but its careers site lists executive assistant roles at hubs in Quezon City and Cavite in the Philippines, as well as Guatemala City and Nairobi.
Athena's FAQ says its EAs are located overseas. The US listings we saw on its careers site were for non-assistant roles.
They can. The FAQ says EAs work a schedule set by your needs and most members choose their own time zone; a Cavite posting describes the role as often aligned to US time zones. For a Philippine hub, that means overnight local time.
Athena's site doesn't say on the pages we read. BELAY's comparison page states Manila. Athena's careers site lists US roles in Palo Alto and the US.
It matters for live coverage during your day and same-day turnaround, less for asynchronous work. Ask which hours in your time zone are guaranteed.
BELAY, Boldly and Time etc describe US-based assistants; Ryz Labs places assistants on US business hours. See Athena alternatives.
All pages checked on November 14, 2026. Job listings change often, so the hub list may differ when you look.
Questions we didn't answer? Email info@ryzlabs.com.
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