[3] Atwell worked for 20 years as an administrator at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, Ontario, eventually rising to the position of Head of Patient Services.
[3] Between 1999-2004, Atwell worked as Policy Advisor and Diversity Officer at the Maritime Centre of Excellence for Women's Health, Dalhousie University.
[3] Atwell has also been Executive Director of Community Justice Society, Executive Director of the Black United Front, President of the African Canadian Caucus of Nova Scotia, Chair of the Indigenous Blacks & Mi’kmaq Initiative at the Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University, a member of the Metropolitan Board of Trade's small business committee, a member of the George Washington Carver Credit Union executive board, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants.
[11] In 2004, Atwell was inducted to the Rev Dr William Pearly Oliver Wall of Honour by the Black Cultural Society of Nova Scotia.
[12] On February 22, 2022, a portrait of Atwell was unveiled at Province House in Halifax to honour her and commemorate her historic role as the first Black woman to be elected in Nova Scotia.