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5 female collectives opening their spaces to women everywhere
Women’s empowerment isn’t only present on the streets during politicized demonstrations, rallies and marches, but is increasingly being found in places of work.
Indeed, there are more alliances being made between women in multiple industries and businesses, that are often female-founded or female-run, but whose collaborations nonetheless culminate into women joining forces and uniting under the cause of validating each other’s work and creating more opportunities for one another.
And because every day is girls’ day, here is a list of women’s collectives dedicated to offering a platform for girls as part of a larger initiative to erase gender inequity that is characteristic of all industries.
Here’s to these groups that are making sure that girls get the opportunity to reclaim their time.
Camel Assembly
Though this community of women initially assembled together in New York, it has now expanded into a global one, with locations ranging from New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Toronto, and Hong Kong.
With the collective composed of creatives, leaders, and pioneers in their respective fields, Camel Assembly ultimately serves as a creative hub for women to convene together, collaborate, network, learn from, and inspire one another.
Camel Assembly hosts a variety of events, workshops, and programs that all adhere to the four central ideas that underpin the mission of the women’s collective; Be Healthy, Learn Something, Act Now and Tell Stories.
In speaking to Inspirational Women’s Series, co-founder Keshia Hannam discussed how the Camel Assembly has evolved since its inception, she says,
“At Camel Assembly, we weren’t trying to be a women’s empowerment movement (obviously; look at our name). We were just strong-willed, creative and driven women who came together to use our time effectively and enjoyably, and the result was empowering, inspiring.”
From poetry slams, boxing classes orientated around intimate partner violence, book clubs, and the publishing a weekly newspaper, Camel Assembly offers an array of events, services and an inviting learning environment that many women seek to be a part of.
And things continue to be in the works for the women’s collective; from the development of a video mini-series, organizing a music festival, as well as programs and workshops focused on issues of mental health and wellness.
Be on the lookout for the upcoming events Camel Assembly has to offer!
Women’s Collective at AP Cafe
From their inception, coffee houses and cafes have been a site for creatives to congregate. Instead of catering to the white European intellectual bourgeoise male, the crowd at AP Cafe are a radical assortment of bad-ass creatives who gravitate to this Bushwick gem, to collaborate and make connections with like-minded individuals.
Don’t be fooled by the cafe’s minimalist style, because there is an overwhelmingly positive and welcoming energy that permeates the space.
AP is definitely a space to look out for. The cafe serves up the goods; from great coffee, burritos, pancakes, acai bowls, a cracking avocado toast and more.
While the food and coffee are certainly a reason to check out the space, AP offers more than any other standard cafe. AP has also just launched a women’s collective that fosters a community of female creatives, local to the Bushwick area, and from other parts of the borough.
In fact, there is a brunch this Sunday where you can get your introduction to the newly launched Women’s Collective and creative space!
The Wing
Just by looking at pictures of The Wing, it presents itself as a dream workplace.
Its value lies not only via its modern, bright aesthetic but through its thriving positive, inspiring and encouraging workplace culture that the female collective has come to be known for.
Launching only two years ago, The Wing has attracted some infamous names and feminist icons to headline events. I mean does it get much bigger than landing an intimate sit-down interview with the first woman in U.S history to be elected as the Presidential nominee of a major party? Cue – Hilary Clinton.
The roots of The Wing derive from a women’s club movement that was originally founded in the late 19th century to early 20th century.
Driven by pioneering women of those early days, The Wing is a chique and modern iteration of the original women’s-club movement. As it has developed, The Wing still draws from its history in its larger project of creating a more inclusive space for women of color and LGBTQIA identified individuals. Importantly, The Wing offers scholarships to underrepresented women in their respective fields.
The Wing collaborates with non-profits and volunteer programs, spotlighting issues present in local communities and in turn, introduces the Wing’s members to participate in these very projects. The club has more than 1,500 members and has multiple locations nationwide!
She Works Collective
Founded in 2015, She Works collective was NYC’s first co-working and event space created for women. Created by founder Joanna Black, in the hope to inspire women to transpose their passions and ideas into a business model, the collective provides an event space for women to showcase their work, ideas, and products.
The collective helps women launch their business ideas via enrolling in the business program AccelHer Now! – that provides the training, tools, and coaching needed for the aspiring young female entrepreneur.
Notably, the co-working space is also a site for community building. After all, many of the women are going through similar experiences in their own work, whether it is pitching an idea to a potential investor, exhibiting their product/s to clients and customers etc.
It is in this way, the co-working space has forged an encouraging workplace culture, where women can seek out advice and suggestions from their co-workers, and at the same time, do their own thing at their personalized workspace.
Female Founder Collective
The Female Founder Collective is a female-led network of businesses who are committed to enabling and supporting female owned and led businesses.
The collective offers a platform that brings women together from an array of industries, facilitating connections between business leaders to connect, collaborate, as well as encourage and support one another.
In an interview with Elle magazine, one of the contributors to the collective, Aurora James, emphasized how the collective adheres to a business model that diverges from what is typical of the marketplace – it elevates the idea of “collaboration over competition.”
It is a networking system that is interested in consumer behavior and practices.
In other words, by labeling businesses as part of this female business collective, they seek to inform consumers and provide them with the tools to identify and know that they are giving their money to a female-led or founded company.