Women's Coworking Space Opens Monday
I've enjoyed tracking the evolution of the coworking movement in Hawaii over the years, from the first time Honolulu popped up on the Coworking Wiki in 2008 (I even set up a blog at Lumihana.com, meaning "work room," now long gone) to a pivotal meeting of the minds at Unconferenz in 2011. Attendees went on to launch HiCapacity, The Box Jelly, The Green House, and R&D, and things have only gotten more interesting from there.
Just two weeks ago I blogged about a new coworking space for high school students. And now, a pop-up coworking space for women is launching on Monday.
"Haus of Maven" will in fact be a coworking space inside a coworking space, setting up shop in a 200-square-foot room at The Box Jelly. It's the brainchild of Melissa Kim, who founded BASH Events and now serves as the Box Jelly's marketing director.
"Last year, I signed on as BoxJelly's marketing director with the specific intention of convincing its founders to open a women's coworking space," Kim writes in a preview email. "I saw an absolute need for a well-designed and thoughtfully styled space within our predominantly female-run industry and it was impossible to ignore."
She describes the Haus of Maven as "a gathering place for talented women entrepreneurs, creatives, professionals, mavens like yourselves, who are making waves in their respective industries." And while it's a month-long experiment right now, Kim says she hopes it's the start of something bigger.
"I have such high hopes for us beyond this pop-up venture, including membership and space expansion, along with programming that will challenge and equip us to voice and address issues that affect us most... the gender wage gap, rising costs of child-care, and lack of diversity in the C-suite are realities we must face and overcome on a local and national level," she says.
Kim is onto something. There are coworking spaces for women in other cities, from Posh Coworking in Austin to The Hive in Philadelphia to In Good Company in New York City. There's even a network of 'spa-inspired' spaces called Hera Hub.
On Tuesday, the Haus of Maven announced its pre-sale membership rates: $8 for a half day pass (either 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. or 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday) or $16 for the full day. Meeting space is also available for $20 an hour. All reservations are made through the website, and at least for now, drop-ins can't be accommodated.
If you want to check out the space, there will be an all-day grand opening event from 9 a.m. through 5 p.m. on Monday, February 2. For more information, visit HausofMaven.com or connect with the project on Facebook, on Instagram, or on Pinterest.