DENVER — A Denver company is helping both women and girls achieve their goals by providing a workspace that builds community.
The company is called RISE Collaborative Workspace. Co-founder Stacy Taubman said it's a dream come true, and that she wanted to give women a space to build a community network.
"We’re providing a beautiful workspace, so women can come have that work-life balance," Taubman said. "When they come here, they can focus on work and when they get home, they can focus on their home life."
It hasn't been easy. The relatively new business had been coming up on its one-year anniversary when COVID-19 changed the world.
“There were days when I wanted to throw in the towel," Taubman said. "What kept me going was our members”.
One of those members is Catherine Hammond. She owns Hammond Law Group, which does estate planning.
Many of her clients are older than 60, and she said trying to get them on board with virtual sessions and electronic signatures has been a challenge. This has made having a space like RISE for office visits a big help.
“This space allows us to be one on one with people in a safe environment,” Hammond said. “There are a lot of really high achieving, very successful women around me that are extremely supportive”.
RISE doesn't just provide a space for women to conduct business. It also offers peace of mind for those who struggle to cope with the changes brought on by the pandemic.
Dana Kirchmar said being forced to work from home took a toll on her mental health, so she got an office at RISE.
“I realized that I was miserable, I was feeling depressed, and it took me a year to realize that I had to pull myself out of it,” Kirchmar said.
For her, getting back to an office was like hitting restart.
“I've been back for three weeks and I feel like a different person," Kirchmar said. "I feel energized and I’m feeling like myself."
"It's like a social peer pressure when you're having the moments of 'I just can't,' and you walk out and see women doing incredible things, you are like 'okay, let's get going," Taubman said.
RISE is currently running a contest that would give a workspace to a woman and her business for free for six months.
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