Inside Make Lemonade, a new co-working space for women
Twenty-six-year-old Ryerson grad Rachel Kelly’s new co-working space for women was bred out of frustration. She’d been freelancing on and off for years, and was tired of working in cafés. Kelly became enamoured with the co-working concept after volunteering at the Centre for Social Innovation. Then, when a new job she’d accepted pulled out last minute because of budget concerns (so, when life handed her a lemon), she decided to follow her entrepreneurial passion and create her own co-working space—fittingly called Make Lemonade.
Creating a female-focused space was natural for Kelly. “Many of the communities I was involved with online were mostly made up of women,” she says. “So I wanted to create something physical.” She set up an inspirational Instagram account to gauge interest and started hunting for spaces last fall. She found her ideal location—the top floor of a traditional low-rise office building at Peter and Adelaide—last spring, and, with the help of her family and friends, spent the summer renovating. They tore down walls, ripped out faded carpet and painted everything bright white and sunny yellow. She officially opened her doors in September, and currently counts bloggers, lawyers, a real estate agent and a CEO of a skincare company as members. Guys are allowed too, they just have to align with the brand’s core feminist values.
Kelly did all of the branding herself, but hired MMNT Design to help with the space. This is the lobby lounge, with a giant inspirational wall quote:
As you continue inside, there are a bunch of shared desks which members can have access to for $300 per month (fees start at $25 for drop-ins):
The “indoor patio” is carpeted in AstroTurf and decorated in chic patio furniture (yes, that’s a lemon tree on the left):
There’s also a spacious board room for meetings:
For $500 per month, members get a designated desk, complete with an ergonomic chair:
Everyone has access to the private phone booths:
A smaller meeting room in the back can be rented out:
There’s also a lemonade-themed mural by Quinn Rockliff, an artist who typically sketches nudes:
The trendy kitchen is home to a Smeg fridge and Instagrammable tiled floor:
The space—complete with an 8-seater bar—can be rented out for birthday parties, bridal showers and any other kind of event.
326 Adelaide St. W., 647-882-9914, makelemonade.ca
, she decided to follow her entrepreneurial passion and create her own co-working space—fittingly called Make Lemonade.
Creating a female-focused space was natural for Kelly. "Many of the communities I was involved with online were mostly made up of women," she says. "So I wanted to create something physical." She set up an inspirational Instagram account to gauge interest and started hunting for spaces last fall. She found her ideal location—the top floor of a traditional low-rise office building at Peter and Adelaide—last spring, and, with the help of her family and friends, spent the summer renovating. They tore down walls, ripped out faded carpet and painted everything bright white and sunny yellow. She officially opened her doors in September, and currently counts bloggers, lawyers, a real estate agent and a CEO of a skincare company as members. Guys are allowed too, they just have to align with the brand's core feminist values.
Kelly did all of the branding herself, but hired MMNT Design to help with the space. This is the lobby lounge, with a giant inspirational wall quote:
As you continue inside, there are a bunch of shared desks which members can have access to for $300 per month (fees start at $25 for drop-ins):
The "indoor patio" is carpeted in AstroTurf and decorated in chic patio furniture (yes, that's a lemon tree on the left):
There's also a spacious board room for meetings:
For $500 per month, members get a designated desk, complete with an ergonomic chair:
Everyone has access to the private phone booths:
A smaller meeting room in the back can be rented out:
There's also a lemonade-themed mural by Quinn Rockliff, an artist who typically sketches nudes:
The trendy kitchen is home to a Smeg fridge and Instagrammable tiled floor:
The space—complete with an 8-seater bar—can be rented out for birthday parties, bridal showers and any other kind of event.
326 Adelaide St. W., 647-882-9914, makelemonade.ca){kind=link}