What is The Hearth’s Women’s Co-Working Space Like?
The Hearth is a holistic women’s space where women come to live, work and feel better everyday. While we look after the whole you, we’re also a professional co-working space during office hours. From Monday to Friday, 9:00 am to 6:00 pm, The Hearth becomes an all-women co-working space divided into two sections to suit your working needs. Downstairs, The Lounge is more open and social, generally buzzier and you can take calls at your desk. Upstairs you find The Library, a quiet space where library rules apply. We also have two lovely and spacious phone booths upstairs for private calls and zoom meetings, and a meeting room for in-person meetings, where members and non-members (including men) can book out the space to meet in real life.
The first thing, overwhelmingly, our visitors tell us, is the sense of calm-ness; that when they walk in through the door, they take a deep breath and a huge sigh of relief. It’s a quiet, calm space that's beautifully decorated, uncluttered and professional without losing its warmth. This sense of calm-ness is what really helps women tune in and focus on themselves.
Our working women community is very diverse in terms of what women do. We have a number of corporate women from all different industries and levels of seniority. There are also a number of female founders and growth entrepreneurs (we call them ‘boss ladies’ affectionately!) who are passionate and pushing ahead with their businesses. The Hearth is their primary office location, so they bring their teams in. The rest of the women are even more diverse in what they do - we have creative women (playwrights, actors), a number of academics (professors, graduate students) across all fields, wellness practitioners, and also many women who run their own businesses and really protect their work-life balance.
Co-working spaces often struggle with creating an organic and authentic sense of community. There’s only so much that free beer or coffee can do! Because The Hearth is situated in a local community, our women bond over not just work and what they do, but all other aspects of life. Some women work in similar industries (we have a lot of interior designers currently it seems…), but others have children at the same school, or they visit the same local yoga centres, or just happen to bump into each other in Queen’s Park or the awesome Sunday Farmers Market that the area is known for.
One of the most important things for us is that the sense of community is really strong, and conversations can lead to many new opportunities. Some entrepreneurs have found new clients from other members - from CFO work to social media, branding and marketing. Others have shared and learnt industry findings from events such as Lunch and Learn - where topics have been as varied as Africa’s Role in Climate Change, to Linkedin Profiles, to Boundary Setting. And many more connections simply revolve around being friends, wanting to connect, help and support each other. As always, be sociable if you’d like to, or do your own thing if you’re so inclined.
While the coworking atmosphere is protected during office hours, we also have some simple pleasures such as Cake and Chat (every Tuesday and Friday at 2:00 pm), where members, non-members and guests can connect over a cup of tea. You never know where the conversation might go during C&C.
Our vibe is relaxed and incredibly accepting - you’re here to do your thing. We’re never prescriptive or didactic about your work. You don’t have to overachieve, you don’t have to project, you don’t have to ‘earn your seat at the table’ because you’re already at your own table. You don’t have to aspire to be someone, you already are. Some women come to dominate the world, others are at a time of introspection and change, and others are just here to be.
A special shout out for all the women that are in transition - with jobs, new positions, but also life positions, identity, motherhood, partnerhood. The Hearth is a nurturing and safe space for you to explore what is important to you. Yes, we’re a professionally run co-working space during office hours, with fantastic wi-fi, comfortable seats and choice of work areas, complete with an awesome coffee bar and matcha lattes! However, ultimately, we’re a space for you to really focus on yourself, what needs to be done, and what’s important to you.
We’d love to welcome you into our space to try it out. Most importantly, you owe this to yourself, you deserve a calm and quiet physical, mental and emotional space, a nurturing community to support you.. And just the feeling that you do you. This is really about valuing yourself, your time and your energy.
Look forward to meeting you.
PS: Hey, one huge bonus of being in an all women’s space? Honestly, the toilets are really clean, the hand lotion smells nice and the seats are put down. Simple pleasures right?
Book a Trial Day at The Hearth.