Whitespace Common Inc

After starting their own coaching and consulting companies Ashleigh Frankel and Christine LeLacheur both realized they needed one thing ― actual office space.

“We identified the challenge of not having a space to go to,” Christine says from the Whitespace Common office in North Toronto. “Both of us were either squatting at coffee shops or trying to get work done at home with little ones around, hiding in the bedroom etc., and that’s not very conducive to a good work environment.”

The friends, who met through their sons’ preschool, had previously looked into coworking spaces and decided to team up to open a collaborative-shared workspace on Yonge Street and Keewatin Avenue. The resulting Whitespace Common not only provides members a physical workspace to work from with access to business needs like a printer, scanner, WiFi connection, coffee and a private meeting room, but also the opportunity to connect with like-minded entrepreneurs.

“We really build a community of other female entrepreneurs to support each other in their business journey,” Ashleigh says, adding that although they focus on women, they aren’t exclusive to women.

In addition to running Whitespace Common, Ashleigh and Christine also use the office to run their respective coaching and consulting businesses, Click & Co and Cheurfire Consulting. “Coworking is people who are looking for and really focused on working for themselves but not by themselves,” Christine says. “I think that really captures the spirit of coworking.”