If you never thought about office space in feminist terms, get ready to see things in a new light. Answering the call from women entrepreneurs and professionals looking for more from their work environment than mediocre coffee and mansplaining colleagues, women’s-only co-working spaces and professional clubs are popping up around the country.
Most of these spaces are founded on the principal that their members can uniquely benefit from a women’s-only space, where it’s understood and assumed that women want to achieve great things professionally, regardless of their ambitions for their personal lives. Rather than being mired in traditional, typically gender-imbalanced politics of corporate offices, members of these communities are free to thrive on their own terms, crowdsourcing ideas for their businesses in a collaborative manner and assisting other women with their own careers.
Learn more about some of the coolest women’s professional collectives around the country (and gawk at their gorgeous spaces) in the following slides. If you start to feel blue while you’re clicking through because there isn’t a women’s co-working space in your area yet, why not start your own?!
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The Wing
The Wing in New York City is one of the better-known women’s workspaces in the country, boasting a membership that includes a wide range of women in their 20s through their 70s, and currently has a more than 1,000-person waiting list.
Apparently, co-founders Audrey Gelman and Lauren Kassan tapped into a something that a lot of women were yearning for — a space set apart from the traditional “boy’s club” of the corporate boardroom where women can thrive while networking with other like-minded professionals and creatives.
The space is gorgeous too. It boasts a variety of working spaces, a “freakout room” that doubles as a breastfeeding/pumping room, a kitchen and super-Instagrammable decor.
Paper Dolls
This co-working space in Los Angeles is focused on creating networking experiences for female entrepreneurs. Founded by Jen Mojo, an entrepreneur herself with 20-plus years in marketing, Paper Dolls offers traditional co-working spaces and private offices as well as a studio working environment and conference rooms, plus events for their members.
Paper Dolls hopes to expand to other major cities in the near future, giving women around the country a unique networking and co-working experience.
Rise
Located in St. Louis, Missouri, Rise proves that there’s a widespread demand for women’s workspaces outside of just New York and Los Angeles.
Founded by entrepreneur, female empowerment thought leader and former math teacher Stacy Taubman in 2015, Rise emphasizes the collaborative aspect of their space, which encourages its female membership base to connect with one another and raise each other up in the business world and beyond. The space hosts speakers, a book club, lunch-and-learns, mentoring and other events to help enrich the personal and professional lives of their members.
One Roof
Founded by lawyer and social entrepreneur Sheree Rubenstein and strategist Gianna Wurzl in 2015, One Roof is a co-working space and women’s club with locations in Los Angeles and Melbourne, Australia, that’s goal is to inspire more women to start their own businesses.
Female entrepreneurs are encouraged to seek feedback and advice from other members, and One Roof also offers fun and enriching events, like guided meditation, educational workshops, yoga and coaching sessions.
New Women Space
This “project cultivation and community event space” in Brooklyn, New York, co-founded by Melissa Wong and Sandra Hong, is a place for women to grow their businesses, take wellness classes and host events. New Women Space also offers a collaborative work program where women can seek work advice and feedback from other members, which is especially helpful for entrepreneurs who may not have a traditional company structure to rely on for feedback.
Hera Hub
With locations around the country, Hera Hub, founded by author and entrepreneur Felena Hanson, offers women a professional work and meeting space that’s inspired by spa decor.
The atmosphere is calming, but serious work is done here — they offer support aiming to help women with the ideation, launch and growth of their businesses. Hera Hub locations also host events, ranging from networking and mentoring sessions to business education seminars, cultivating a group of connected female entrepreneurs that can inspire and support one another in their goals.
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