International Women's Day 2020: Celebrating astounding women in the coworking industry.

The celebration of International Women's Day is a universal yearly event, which takes place on the 8th of March. On this day, the world honours women who have excelled in their professions and industries from the likes of Malala Yousaf to Dr Mae Jemison and Jessica Watson. We've decided to partake in this celebration by putting pen to paper and composing a list of astounding women in the coworking industry, in no particular order. 

Liz Elam: Liz Elam is a known and celebrated leader of the global coworking movement.  Liz Elam blends a spirit of collaboration and innovation with an unwavering commitment to excellence and pushing boundaries.  

Founder of the largest coworking conference in the world, the Global Coworking Unconference Community (GCUC). Liz Elam unapologetically pushes the coworking movement to adopt sound business practices and think bigger about the vision and impact individual operators and workspace brands can make. 

Liz Elam, also launched Link Coworking in Austin, Texas, in 2010, which expanded to three locations, and she grew it to the fourth-largest coworking brand in Austin before selling it in 2019. 

Cat Johnson: Cat Johnson is a content strategist, storyteller and teacher; her work focuses on coworking and community. She is the founder of coworking Convos and the Coworking Content Alliance. In early 2020, she launched the Coworking Content Shop to provide a one-stop resource for marketing and content tools. As lead writer for Shareable, Cat Johnson helped establish the publication as the 4th nonprofit blog in the world. Her work has been featured in dozens of publications, including Yes! Magazine, Mother Jones, Triple Pundit, Huffington Post, Lifehacker and Allwork space.

Angel Kwiatkowski: Angel Kwiatkowski is the founder of Cohere, the first and largest community-managed shared office space in Fort Collins, Colorado. Since its opening in 2010, Cohere has helped more than 500 local freelancers and remote employees to integrate into their community and to achieve professional and personal success. Angel was also the first female panellist at the first-ever Global Coworking Unconference and Conference (GCUC), and she is among the few female coworking authors in America. She also founded Fort Collins' the first niche collaborative rehearsal space for musicians in 2015.

Chelsea Rustrum: Chelsea Rustrum is the author of It's a Shareable Life, and the founder of a social and educational series in the Silicon Valley, dubbed The Sharers. Chelsea Rustrum also worked as an adviser to dozens of marketplaces, she speaks to corporate audiences such as PwC and J&J. Chelsea Rustrum has participated in various conferences and summits speaking on the growth and development of the collaborative economy, including TEDx, Expo Italy, Grow Co. She also contributed to articles in Inc. Magazine, Wall Street Journal, Wired, Forbes, and The Economist.

Nicole Vasquez: Nicole Vasquez, is a serial entrepreneur, she has built companies and communities with the shared mission of supporting, promoting, and connecting people to the resources, opportunities, and networks that can help them reach their personal or professional goals. Nicole was named one of the "35 Under 35 Making an Impact in Chicago," she won the 46th Ward Innovator Award and the RedEye Chicago Big Idea Award for Community. She was a Professional Fellow through the U.S. Department of State travelling to Europe to speak about entrepreneurship, building collaborative communities, and owning coworking spaces.

Her current roles include Co-Founder and Chief Community Officer of Deskpass (named one of Chicago's "50 on Fire" companies), Co-Founder of Second Shift (coined as 'Chicago's Best Coworking Space in 2017). Founder of The Shift, a social impact program company, which empowers people with the skills to create and maintain safe, respectful, and inclusive environments and communities.

Some women in the coworking industry couldn't make it to this list, nonetheless, we celebrate and honour you, including every other woman reading this. As the saying goes, an empowered woman is an empowering woman. Happy international women's day!  

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