A new female-focused workspace and social club opens in downtown Columbia

On the corner of Bull and Richland Streets sits a tall, pink building that will soon be an available space for Columbia’s working women, called Femme x COLUMBIA.

The Wade-Campbell-Wright House, 1501 Richland St., is a three-story house built in the 1800s. The house has had many different uses, most recently as corporate offices.

It will continue to be a work space, but like never before.

“Women work very differently than men and most work spaces are designed with males at the forefront just because they have been in the workplace longer,” said co-founder Stephanie Isaacs.

Femme x COLUMBIA was created by two women to support women as both a co-working space and a social club. The new business, which opened Oct. 8, is the first female-focused co-working space in Columbia and offers with six different membership options.

“I have been involved in projects that support and empower women for a while, and there’s so many great things happening. We really felt like there needed to be a centralized space for that, to keep the momentum going,” said co-founder Nell Fuller.

Fuller and Isaacs bought the historic home in June for $497,000, according to Zillow, and rehabbed the entire house. Out went the yellow paint and in came a pink exterior and green moldings. The business partners filled the home with art that either features women or was created by women.

Each room in the house is named after an influential Columbia woman, like civil rights leader Modjeska Simkins and Harriet Hancock,an attorney and advocate for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

“There’s multiple seating options for people and then you’d be able to pause a moment to socialize because we know that networking and that conversation moves people a long way,” said Isaacs.

The duo met working in the non-profit sector and shared a common bond of empowering women that led them to open multiple businesses together.

Fuller and Isaacs started their company femmeCAPITAL, the parent company of femme x COLUMBIA, in 2018. It is described as “a social impact investment and consulting firm” that makes early stage investments to start-up companies led by women and focusing on social change.

A portion of every membership bought for femme x COLUMBIA will be added to their investment fund, according to their website. So far, the parent company’s first investment is femme x COLUMBIA.

They’ve also partnered with Alabaster Studio, a local jewelry store that donates 25% of profits to ending human trafficking organizations.

Memberships start at $55 a month for basic amenities and can go up to $375 a month. The company targets working women who may need a space or corporate partnerships that may offer memberships for employees.

Along with workspace, femme x COLUMBIA has designated social spaces. The yoga room is on the ground floor, there is an outside seating area, outdoor space for workout classes or events, coffee stations dispersed throughout the house, a kitchen and an art room for painting classes.

Before work-from-home became common in the pandemic, femme x COLUMBIA was in the works. Like a lot of small businesses, it was affected by coronavirus, and Fuller and Isaacs had to push back their initial goal to open summer 2020.

Fuller and Isaacs hope to one day expand femme to other cities.

This story was originally published October 13, 2020 at 10:58 AM.