Leisa Holland-Nelson checks in at SheSpace and sits down with Stephanie and Katie Tsuru, the co-founders of this happening women-focused work-space. The conversation centers on SheSpace “community” and then evolves into plans way beyond Houston. Learn more about SheSpace here https://shespacehtx.com
Read the transcript
Stephanie: Hi Leisa, thank you for having me.
Leisa: I have to disclaim and say that you are one of my favorite people in the whole wide world that I absolutely love this place and may know almost as much about it as our guests today, but I’m so excited to have you share it with our audience. Tell us about SheSpace.
Stephanie: This is really fun because this is kind of one of those come full circle moments for you and me because I came to you very first with the idea and tried to explain it and you listened very patiently. And I think I can explain what SheSpace is today a little bit better than I could the very first day, but you definitely helped me figure out the vision and the purpose. So, I think I can say with confidence today that SheSpace really echoes and mirrors the way women live their lives. So we do a lot of different things, have a lot of things on our plate and SheSpace is designed the same way. So, SheSpace basically is a workspace. So you can have an office or a desk, you can have meetings here, you can have events here. We also are very involved in educational programming, advancing women in their careers or their lives, professional and personal. We do a lot of things here just like women do in their daily lives.
Leisa: I know you have exercise programs.
Stephanie: Well, I’m just getting started. Don’t give it all the way in the very first minute.
Leisa: My passion. I absolutely love that. I remember when we were talking about it early on, there was something that we were talking about because we both have daughters and daughters in law and granddaughter’s, but millennials, sort of, and an interesting trend for millennials these days is running their own businesses or working semi-independently. Many of them are very successful, but they don’t want to be alone. So that was a big part, you are really creating community. That’s what I remember. Like that’s what stuck in my heart so much because a workspace for women was spectacular but creating the community within it was like the magic, the secret sauce I thought.
Stephanie: Yes. So a large percentage of the women that work here are entrepreneurs or even solopreneurs, which is a very lonely and isolated place to be. So they definitely needed a community. So creating the network for them, creating resources for them, that was a large part of it. There are also a lot of women here that worked in male dominated industries before and didn’t like the feeling of always having to censor what they were going to say, how they sit, how they walked, they feel much freer here and just free to be themselves, which allows them to develop their ideas quicker. Women here are very content.
Leisa: That’s exciting.
Stephanie: Yes. They’re very content. They say that all the time, they say we get more done here than any place else we’ve ever been before. They are just free to do what they want to do, how they want to do it when they want to do it. And what I did learn though, and this is all really kind of emphasized even more during a pandemic, was that being alone with your idea is not a great place to be. And you’re not going to grow your idea quickly by yourself. When you’re around a lot of people and these are all kindred spirits, all the women here think very much alike and most of them do more than one thing. Almost everyone here does multiple things and they’ll come out in conversation, I do this, I did this, oh, and by the way, I do this. So they already have an implicit understanding of the way each other works. And so, they’re already on the same page without having to explain it to anyone.
Leisa: So, we talked about the idea and the community and the programming, but honestly the environment here is pretty spectacular. And I know that the audience is going to see photographs of it and they can see where we’re sitting and see the wall behind us books. And so, talk a little bit about the inspiration for the décor.
Stephanie: Women work differently than men. So, we did a lot of research and analyzed colors. So, color psychology, analyzed the type of environments that women want to work in, they like to work in beautiful and actually men do too come to find out. So the colors we’ve all been working in like neutrals and blues and grays are not great for creativity or productivity. So even the chairs here are fit for women they’re women’s sized. The temperature is comfortable for women. But it is not just about the space. Even though we did spend a lot of time getting the space. Why? Because women work really hard and we thought they deserved to work in a beautiful space, but really is more about the feeling you get when you walk in, rather than just the way it looks.
Leisa: Well, it is super, super special.
Stephanie: I did want to say that we had a team of 33 women that built out SheSpace. And that in itself is very unique. Started with the crucial realtor who you recommended me to and all the way to our exterior sign companies owned by women. So, it was a hundred percent built out, designed, managed finance by women.
Leisa: I know I’m very proud to be the creator of your website, but we do laugh a lot because when we were doing the search engine optimization set up, our lead SEO is Michael, but we called him McKayla because we didn’t want anyone less to set up the process. Then of course we had Cindy managing everything, but we kind of had to sneak McKayla into the process. But other than that, I don’t think there were a lot of men involved.
Stephanie: Well, always the women were the lead.
Leisa: And speaking of women, you’re not in this alone.
Stephanie: Thank goodness.
Leisa: I think we have an exciting person to also introduce to everyone. Come on in.
Stephanie: So, this woman is a lot of things to me, she’s very special. So this is Katie Tsuru, who it is my first of all, my daughter-in-law. She is my partner. She is the co-founder and she is the brains of the organization right here.
Katie: It depends on how you define brains.
Leisa: Well, how do you define the brains?
Katie: We just have very opposite brains; I think when it comes to business. So, Stephanie brought a lot of the vision and the creativity behind this project which is something that I lack and I can just picture and said, how are we going to do this financially? And how are we going to make money? So that was kind of that.
Leisa: I think that is very creative, also the whole concept of how we are staying in business, takes some creativity.
Katie: That’s very true because honestly…
Stephanie: To create a process, we have both learned a lot. How are we going to do? We knew we were going to, but Katie’s like how? So, we have figured it out thanks to Katie.
Leisa: Part of what I want to ask you about, both of you, but since you sort of are the next generation, what is the future here? What are you going to do building this out? Are you going to other cities? How are you, what is the plan?
Katie: Our larger vision, we would love to go up to other cities. So we’re going to focus on this space right now and growing it to its max. And then we’re gonna really look into expanding. So I think this will always be the headquarters. But we both feel so strongly about this vision for so many reasons that we would love to bring this type of community to other places, especially in Texas.
Leisa: Well, I agree.
Stephanie: We both moved here, so we’re both transplanted to here, but we love what the city has been to us and done for us. And we do want to give back to the women of the city first.
Leisa: Tell me some of the things you’re doing around that, giving back. I know that, you know, I’m chair of a certain board and you’re involved with us for women who are victims of domestic violence.
Stephanie: So, we’re very involved in the nonprofits in the area, specifically, those that are focusing on girls and women. So, we have partnered with three nonprofits, like actively partnering with three nonprofits for girls, like fifth grade through high school. And we want to be role models for the girls and we want to start them young. I think if you wait until they’re older, it’s kind of two late. We actually start with fifth grade girls and just bring them in and they’re kind of seeing like, this is what you can do, this is what you can be. And it’s not the words it’s letting them see it, letting them see the women and women that look just them.>
Leisa: So, if you could have anything right now for SheSpace, any wish in anything, what would you guys want to have today? Is there anything you don’t have?
Stephanie: I love being with these women here so much. I just want more hours in the day to spend with them.
Katie: That is true.
Stephanie: Because we really have developed relationships, and they really have developed relationships with each other. And so it’s really working. It’s really fun to watch the connection starting. I need this. What do you think of this? So what’s supposed to happen is happening. And I just wish I had more hours in the day to watch it happen.
Katie: Yeah. And the role we kind of played to is since we meet everyone before they join, and we learn their story and kind of why they’re looking for this woman’s network and why they want to work with women. So, our role as well is to start connecting them. We’ve had several different people come in in their businesses and they you know, want to start their own company or they’re somewhere in their company and they’re looking to take it to the next level. And there’s been so many times that we, because we know everyone we’ve been like, we know the exact person to go to she’s right down the hallway. And we’ve seen some really cool relationships form.
Stephanie: It’s been really fun to actually see it. The idea actually working, like we can see it like right in front of us, like getting funding and get, I mean, everything is just, it’s like a business accelerator. That’s all coming together. But it’s fun to watch.
Leisa: Thank you both so much. I’m your host, Leisa Holland-Nelson and you’ve been watching Women Mean Business with my special guests, Stephanie and Katie Tsuru here in Houston at SheSpace. See you again soon.
EXTRAS
Leisa: Makes a lot of sense here, but what about larger organizations or groups with employees? Are you ready to handle that?
Stephanie: In the beginning it was definitely tailored to either entrepreneurs, freelancers, women in sales that traveled about the city and just needed a place for an hour or two during the day between appointments. But the pandemic has changed everything. And not just temporarily. I think when we hit the one-year mark, all the big companies are re-evaluating the way they work. They’re not renewing leases. And it’s not just temporary, it’s permanent going forward. And so now we see these people coming in, my company isn’t going back, I’m still working for them, I’m still employed, but I can’t work at home full-time anymore. It’s like, it was great and now it just isn’t, but they’re just not productive.
And so, the demographic that is coming inside SheSpace is changing. It’s just expanding. It’s expanding. So, we didn’t see that coming because it wasn’t a pandemic. But that’s also fun to watch because then now they are now intermingling with women that are kind of doing their own thing. And you’re seeing some women thinking and reevaluating where they are. Katie actually has a corporate background, so she could easily roll into that.
Kaite: Absolutely, I would have loved, I came from a corporate background. I worked with primarily men. And I went through having kids, being a young female in a predominantly male environment. And it definitely would have been really nice having something like this where I could have you know, kept that job, but still had a little bit more of a female group around me to help me through different transitions that we go through as women.
Leisa: I’m going to just ask one more thing, because if you end up getting larger groups, is there expansion here? Would you build out next door or something?
Stephanie: Yes. We did design this to build out into the space next door. So, we’ll see. No promises but high expectations and we’re very excited because you did bring this up in the beginning, like the fitness. So, something else that we do here at SheSpace is really pay attention to the way women live their daily lives. And so, we did move our space out of like this stereotypic coworking space areas, which would be other office areas where you’re actually in a retail shopping center. Which is different. Because we looked at the way women live their lives. And we don’t, you know, there’s a lot going on in our day besides just our office. So, we are next to a grocery store and the gas station and the ATM and the nail salon. And we’re like two steps away from Target. And most important thing is for right off the highway. And we have a lot of parking because we value women’s time too much to have them driving around, looking for a parking space. Because we feel like if it’s not outside of SheSapce, it’s inside SheSpace. And that is why we have exercise here. Because we feel all women need to stay healthy.
Leisa: Absolutely.
Leisa: So, there are so many amenities here. Of course, my favorite, when you say work out at work, I love that old concept. So I want to know everything you have, but what beyond that? What else are you doing for women?
Kaite: We’re doing quite a bit. Something I’m very passionate about, as I have two young girls is offering childcare to women, mothers, young mothers. So, we do, we partnered with the motherhood center and we’ll be the summer offering some childcare options. For people, including myself. We think when the kids are out of school, that a lot of these entrepreneurs, you carry the burden of finding childcare during the summer months, which can be very expensive and very hard to come by. So, we’re looking forward to getting that started this summer. I know my kids will be in attendance.
Leisa: They are your very own guinea pigs.
Katie: Yeah right.
Stephanie: So, it’s short term. So it’s not like a full-time childcare, but we’re really excited as like, like in childcare falls through and you have this meeting and what do you do? Usually the women would have to cancel. And so we are doing everything we can to give them quality affordable daycare so that they can keep progressing in their professional lives, which will keep them happy and content in their personal lives. But we do have a lot of things in here. So I am passionate about literacy, which everyone that knows me knows that, that’s why behind us is like the beginning of a library. It’s like a lending library. Then we also have a bookstore. To qualify to be in the bookstore, the book has to be written by a woman, but we have all the way from board books up to, there are so many women in here that are writing books or have written a book or going to write a book.
Leisa: With self-publishing it’s really phenomenal. We know so many people that have written books.
Stephanie: Which I think kind of leads us into, like we were talking about events. So that would be an example of the events we’d have like an author talk series. And so that the authors would come and talk about the books that they’ve written. We have a designer series starting. We have an artist series starting. And so just because you have no need for an office, no need for like a private desk, does not mean you can’t be part of SheSpace and part of the social network and the social community. So, you can join for a very small monthly amount and you can come to all these events we have, of course their professional networking, but they’re also willing to just like to continue to learn. We have painting classes and wine tasting classes.
Katie: And that’s for the woman who does have an office and may work in corporate America, that their office is still open, and they’re required to go in or you know, stay at home moms that just want to be part of the community and come to networking events.
Stephanie: It’s very popular. It’s growing very, very quickly. And then of course we do have all the professional development as well. Right now, we are in week three of social media series because most women that own their own business, or even if they just do it personally, especially these lovely ladies. I mean, it’s all about social media and everything it can do for you. And so that’s what I’m learning.
Leisa: It’s a whole different world.
Stephanie: It’s been wonderful for Katie because I don’t have to ask her quite as many questions.
Katie: But it is these days such a big aspect of owning your own business is social media.
Leisa: Yeah. Without a doubt. I mean, we, we were talking earlier about my daughter and her podcast. It’s only promoted on Instagram. I don’t know that it’s, you know, occasionally something leaks out to Facebook, but I don’t think she looks at Facebook anymore. It’s totally an Instagram world.
Stephanie: It’s changed the marketing and advertising world.
Leisa: Yes. Without a doubt.
Leisa: Okay. So how do I use SheSpace?
Katie: We have several different membership levels. So, starting from a private office, dedicated desk or a community space. And if you’re not quite sure yet we have packages where you can buy starting at four days, you can come in and test out the space. It’s a smaller fee. You don’t have to sign on to a monthly fee yet.
Stephanie: But they always end up signing on to a monthly. So, it’s by membership. You cannot just walk in off the street, which is another thing, we are a locked facility. So, I think that’s worth talking about, and it’s mostly women here. There are men here, by the way, there are men here. This is open to everyone. We’ve got male, female, regardless of how you identify how you identified today versus tomorrow. So this really is open for everyone, but it is focused on females and people that identify as females, but it is a locked facility. We’re very security minded. We have a lot of cameras. We’re very careful. So, you cannot just walk in off the street and come here and we’re selective about who we invite to be a member.
Leisa: But when you have an event, can non-members come.
Stephanie: Yes. By invitation.
Leisa: From a member or from you, I guess.
Stephanie: Yes. It’s a curated crowd.
Leisa: So I have two more questions. The first one, what’s your web address?
Katie: It’s www.SheSpaceHTX.com.
Leisa: We have to find you, everyone’s going to check you out.
Stephanie: We are very easy because of the people that helped us.
Leisa: With our more than the website, remember the fun of HTX?
Stephanie: You were the HTX person.
Leisa: I love that idea because now you can do DTX if you want and ATX know all of that. Okay. So my last question is, do you think there are some women we should interview for women in business here?
Stephanie: I think it could be like the feeder program for you. I mean, there are so many.
Leisa: We can just set our studio up here. Great background. We’re talking about, you have a podcast.
Stephanie: I heard you say it here. I just heard you say that.
Katie: Yeah.
Leisa: But you have a podcast studio?
Stephanie: We do have a podcast studio that we didn’t even talk about.
Leisa: We didn’t.
Stephanie: It’s very popular and our problem is we do like to highlight our members is there’s so many wonderful women. We have a hard time picking. We want to do them all at the same time. So, answer to your question is yes, definitely.
Leisa: Thank you both so much.
Katie: Thank you Leisa.
Stephanie: Thank you for so many things.
Leisa: There, you have it. Extraordinary women doing extraordinary things. I’m your host, Leisa Holland-Nelson, and this has been another edition of Women Mean Business. We’ll be back again soon with the next one.
