Photo by Erin Stubblefield Sexuar
Founder and CEO Stacy Taubman (center) addresses a table of members at Rise Collaborative Workspace's VIP opening in January.
Professional women who run their own businesses or meet in coffee shops will soon have a new stomping ground. On February 9, RISE Collaborative Workspace, a 6,000-square-foot co-working space dedicated to supporting St. Louis’ female entrepreneurs, opens its doors to the public.
RISE is not the first project from its founder and CEO Stacy Taubman, a former educator who also runs Girls Dreaming Big, a tutoring and coaching program for young women. So what prompted her to open a second business?
“Besides being a little crazy?” she quips, laughing.
The idea grew from Taubman’s own needs. When she first started Girls Dreaming Big, Taubman still had access to a classroom. But transitioning from teaching in a classroom to tutoring in a coffee shop, she found herself frustrated by the limitations of Starbucks. “There’s so many of us working from cafes, there’s something right about it,” Taubman says, “but there’s something wrong about it, too.” Asking strangers to watch your bags, trying to look professional without an office...
Taubman started going to other co-working spaces, such as TechArtista. She liked them, but they weren’t perfect for her—so she started her own.
“Anybody out there who’s going to Starbucks for meetings would be perfect for RISE Collaborative,” Taubman says.
Located between Clayton and Ladue, the space features 3,000-square-feet of work stations and collaborative space, 11 private offices for rent (though only one remains unclaimed), a classroom, three conference rooms, a phone/lactation room for mothers, and free parking, along with services like wifi and a snack bar.
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Photo by Erin Stubblefield Sexuar
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Erin Stubblefield Sexuar
RISE’s mission is to serve women, “curating an awesome community” for support and help. As a business owner, Taubman says, she owes a lot to women. “Women have helped me to become successful,” Taubman says. “I have only taken one business class my whole life, called Business 1 2 3 at Mizzou, which is basically how to balance a checkbook.” She learned everything else from others.
So Taubman intends for RISE to be a place for women to meet each other, collaborate, and learn. Memberships, which range from $40–$600 per month for adults and $25–$50 per month for high schoolers, require at least a six-month commitment to RISE. In the long run, Taubman hopes to foster mentorship opportunities between older and younger women; she also plans to connect teens and young people to RISE’s members, bolster an internship program, and develop RISE’s nonprofit arm, RISE Society, which provides need-based membership scholarships.
She’s already seeing some of RISE’s values acted out in its establishment. The 50-some founding members have provided their own services—like lighting and coffee—for RISE’s use.
“These women are collaborating to help us rise up,” Taubman says. “We want that for our members, but they’re doing that for us, too.”
Visit RISE Collaborative's grand opening at 8820 Ladue Road on February 9 from 3:30–7:30 p.m.
