INDIANAPOLIS — Inside of Maven Space, a co-working space in downtown Indianapolis, you'll find a large group of women, working together and supporting each other.
"It's magical! When I get to come in and witness and make a connection between two women that maybe would never have met before, connected before," Leslie Bailey said.
Bailey is the co-founder and CEO of Indy Maven and Maven Space.
Indy Maven is a digital media platform that launched in 2019, with a focus on uplifting women's voices through content and community.
Bailey asked her audience the question: What do you want?
"The answer was always: be with other women, connect with other women, support other women. I had seen spaces like this popping up around the country and I thought, well, we should have that here in Indy too," Bailey said.
Maven Space opened about a year ago at the corner of Capitol Avenue and Michigan Street in downtown Indy.
"The concept is that you can come here and get everything you need to get done in a day. So you can invite a colleague in for a meeting, you can grab lunch with a friend, you can grab a juice on your way over to the gym, get your workout in whenever it fits in your day," Bailey said.
With a monthly membership at Maven Space, members get access from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. In addition to work spaces throughout, there is a full gym, cafe, podcast recording studio, lending library, event space, and a mother's room.
"I love supporting and inspiring women. It's what I do every single day," Lateva Woolfork said. "To be in a space where it's all for bold women, like, who doesn't want that one girl doesn't want to be in that energy?"
Woolfork is an entrepreneur and a mother of 6. She says since joining Maven Space, she's made new friends, expanded her contact list, and has pushed herself and her businesses forward.
"Everybody needs a friend, and especially a girlfriend, right?" Woolfork said. "A girlfriend that makes money and can help you think through a problem that you might have, can push you to really deliver something amazing and teach you right?"
Maven Space also offers personal and professional development programming for members.
Each month, Woolfork hosts a class focused on moving the needle in your business.
"We bring in women just like us, who know something amazing, and can inspire us to do something different," Woolfork said.
Bailey says they chose the name Maven because Maven means expert or connoisseur.
"Every man and every woman is an expert in their own way. So we thought, well, if everybody's an expert in something, and you bring all of these people together to talk about their thing, and the thing that they're an expert about. That's how all of that information sharing and support works."
As they approach one year open, Maven Space has about 50 members, Bailey says she's excited for even more women to join their community.
"We do encourage anyone to join, we just ask that you're an ally and you share the mission of uplifting women," Bailey said.
