Dr. Gleb Tsipursky – The Office Whisperer
Cat Johnson – Coworking Marketing Maven
Angela Howard – Culture Expert
Drew Jones – Design & Innovation
Andrea Pirrotti-Dranchak – Competitive Advantage
Jonathan Price – CRE & Flex Expert
Jeremy Fennema – Tech Innovation Alchemist
Building Industry Gathering (BIG) Oakland has opened its Downtown Oakland’s Frank Ogawa Plaza location. The 3,650 square foot coworking space is geared towards providing smaller companies with high quality resources they otherwise would not have access to, particularly women and minority-owned businesses.
BIG was founded by architects Deanna Van Buren of Designing Justice + Designing Spaces, Oscia Wilson, developer Kyle Rawlins, and contractor Jean Bjork.
The space is outfitted with plotters, large-scale printers, review tables, and a material library that is useful for small companies. BIG will also host networking events and education opportunities for members.
“The building and construction industry is still very much an old boy network where new opportunities often depend on who you know, and this puts smaller firms and those run by women and minorities at a disadvantage,” said Bjork.
