Amy Nelson left her career as a lawyer behind in order to pursue the dream of opening up a workspace that she, and other women professionals, needed. Now, The Riveter is one of the most prominent coworking spaces catered to women in the market.
When Nelson became pregnant with her first daughter, she started taking business-related classes. While she wanted female input in her business planning, she found herself surrounded by men. That is when she decided to build a workspace that she was seeking.
“Once I decided to do this, I entered myself into a pitch competition. Above all else, the thing that pitch competition made me do was hustle to get my shit together,” said Nelson. “I won the pitch competition on Nov 4, 2016. It felt awesome, and then four days later, the 2016 election happened. If I wanted to try to make the world more equitable for women, this was the time to do it.”
Going forward, Nelson hopes to continue the conversations that are important to women — particularly working mothers. The discussion of parental leave has been ongoing for decades now, and in order to make real changes in the workplace, companies need to lead by example.
While more women-focused coworking spaces are popping up, Nelson believes that it is great for women to have multiple options. She describes The Riveter as being different from other female-oriented coworking spaces due to its events being free and open to the public.
