The Wing Female Coworking WeWork Investment: Growth, Impact & Lessons

The Rise of Women‑Focused Coworking

Over the past decade the coworking movement has expanded from a niche freelancer hack to a global industry worth billions. While early spaces marketed themselves as neutral ground for all professionals, a growing body of research showed that women often experience subtle barriers in mixed‑gender environments—ranging from limited access to mentorship to a lack of programming that addresses gender‑specific career challenges. This insight sparked a wave of women‑focused coworking brands that prioritize community, safety, and curated resources. The Wing emerged as the most visible player, turning a simple desk‑rental model into a cultural platform that blends workspace, events, and a digital network.

The Wing’s Founding Vision and Community Model

Founded in 2016 by Audrey Gelman and Lauren Kassan, The Wing was built on the premise that professional spaces should reflect the lived experiences of women. The founders designed each location with thoughtful details: lactation rooms, gender‑neutral restrooms, and a library of books by female authors. Membership tiers granted access not only to desks but also to a calendar of workshops, speaker series, and wellness classes. A proprietary app allowed members to connect across cities, share job leads, and organize peer‑to‑peer mentorship circles. This ecosystem approach differentiated The Wing from traditional coworking operators that focus primarily on real‑estate metrics.

WeWork’s Strategic Investment: What It Means

In 2019 WeWork announced a minority stake in The Wing, valuing the women‑centric brand at roughly $200 million. The deal gave WeWork a board seat and the right to co‑locate select Wing spaces within its larger campuses. For WeWork the investment signaled a pivot toward niche communities after its failed IPO and a public reckoning with its own culture. For The Wing the capital infusion accelerated lease negotiations, funded technology upgrades, and supported a rapid expansion from three to over thirty locations in under two years. The partnership also opened distribution channels: WeWork’s enterprise clients could now offer Wing memberships as a perk for female employees.

Financial Structure and Governance After the Deal

The investment was structured as a Series B preferred equity round with a 1.5x liquidation preference. The Wing retained operational independence; its founders kept majority voting control through a dual‑class share structure. A joint steering committee meets quarterly to review brand alignment, space utilization data, and member satisfaction scores. This governance model protects The Wing’s mission while allowing WeWork to leverage its real‑estate expertise for site selection and build‑out speed. Transparency reports published annually show that revenue per member grew 22 percent year‑over‑year after the partnership, driven by higher‑margin programming fees.

Impact on Members: Space, Programming, and Networking

Members report tangible benefits from the scaled infrastructure. Larger locations now feature dedicated podcast studios, photography labs, and a rotating roster of industry‑specific accelerators. The Wing’s signature ‘Women Who Lead’ summit, previously a single‑city event, became a multi‑city tour with live‑stream access for remote members. Survey data from 2023 indicates that 78 percent of respondents secured a new client or job lead through a Wing connection. The digital community platform saw a 45 percent increase in active daily users after the integration of WeWork’s single‑sign‑on system, reducing friction for cross‑location collaboration.

Challenges and Critiques: Inclusivity, Scaling, and Brand Identity

Rapid growth has not been without friction. Critics argue that the premium price point—averaging $350 per month for a full‑time desk—excludes early‑career women and non‑binary professionals who could benefit most. Internal surveys revealed that 31 percent of members felt the community had become less intimate as locations multiplied. The Wing responded by launching a scholarship program funded by a portion of WeWork’s investment returns, offering subsidized memberships to applicants from underrepresented backgrounds. Additionally, the brand has faced scrutiny over its handling of workplace harassment allegations in 2021, prompting a public commitment to an independent ethics audit and revised code of conduct.

Lessons for Entrepreneurs Building Niche Communities

Founders looking to replicate The Wing’s trajectory can extract several actionable principles. First, anchor the business model in a clear, values‑driven narrative that resonates with a specific demographic; this attracts both members and mission‑aligned investors. Second, design physical and digital touchpoints that reinforce each other—an app that mirrors the layout of the space creates a seamless experience. Third, negotiate governance terms that preserve cultural autonomy while accepting capital; dual‑class shares and board observer seats are practical tools. Fourth, invest early in data infrastructure to measure community health metrics such as repeat attendance, referral rates, and net promoter score. Finally, plan for inclusive scaling by earmarking a percentage of revenue for scholarships or sliding‑scale pricing before the brand reaches mass market.

Future Outlook: Expansion, Technology, and Cultural Shifts

Looking ahead, The Wing plans to pilot a hybrid membership that blends physical access with a virtual coworking suite powered by AI‑driven matchmaking for mentorship and project collaboration. A partnership with a leading ed‑tech platform will embed micro‑learning modules directly into the member app, turning idle desk time into skill‑building moments. Geographically, the brand targets secondary cities where women‑led startup ecosystems are emerging but lack dedicated infrastructure. On the cultural front, The Wing is exploring a co‑branding initiative with WeWork’s ‘WeLive’ residential product to create live‑work communities that support caregivers. These moves signal a shift from space‑as‑service to community‑as‑platform, positioning The Wing at the intersection of real estate, technology, and gender equity.

Operational Integration: Co‑Location Mechanics and Shared Services

The physical co‑location of Wing spaces inside WeWork campuses required a bespoke operating model that goes far beyond a simple sublease. Each site operates under a joint operating agreement that delineates responsibility for build‑out capital expenditures, ongoing maintenance, and front‑of‑house staffing. In practice, WeWork’s construction team handles base‑building work — HVAC, electrical, fire‑life‑safety — while The Wing’s design studio specifies finish‑out details such as the signature millennial‑pink phone booths, lactation pods, and the curated library walls. A shared facilities ticketing system routes maintenance requests to the appropriate vendor: WeWork’s engineering group for building‑wide issues, The Wing’s dedicated vendor for brand‑specific elements like the podcast studio acoustics.

Front‑desk operations illustrate the daily coordination. At the 85 Broad Street location in New York, a single concierge team employed by WeWork greets both WeWork and Wing members, but access control is segmented via RFID badges that trigger different permission sets in the building’s Lenel system. Wing members can book WeWork conference rooms through the Wing app, which calls WeWork’s Teem API in real time; conversely, WeWork enterprise clients who purchase Wing memberships for female employees receive a dedicated onboarding specialist from The Wing’s community team. Edge cases arise when a WeWork member attempts to use a Wing‑only amenity — such as the beauty room — and the system must enforce a polite denial while logging the attempt for capacity planning. The joint steering committee reviews these logs quarterly to adjust space allocation; for example, after data showed 68 % utilization of the photography lab versus 22 % for the wellness room, the 2023 build‑out in San Francisco converted half the wellness square footage into a second lab.

Staffing models also blend. Each co‑located site employs a Wing Community Manager who reports to The Wing’s Director of Community but participates in WeWork’s weekly site‑lead stand‑up. This dual reporting ensures that programming calendars do not conflict with WeWork’s building‑wide events (e.g., a WeWork “Wellness Wednesday” yoga class in the common atrium versus a Wing “Salary Negotiation Workshop” in the private event space). Payroll, benefits, and HR policies remain separate, but both companies share a background‑check vendor and a joint emergency‑response protocol that was tested during a 2022 water‑main break at the Seattle campus. The protocol reduced tenant evacuation time by 12 minutes compared with the previous standalone Wing location.

Technology Stack and Data‑Driven Community Management

The Wing’s proprietary member platform — internally called “Nest” — evolved from a simple directory into a data‑rich community operating system after the WeWork investment. The integration of WeWork’s single‑sign‑on (SSO) via Okta allowed members to authenticate once and access both the Wing app and WeWork’s member portal, eliminating the double‑login friction that had suppressed cross‑platform engagement. Behind the scenes, a nightly ETL pipeline merges Wing event‑attendance logs, desk‑booking records, and app‑interaction events (profile views, direct messages, job‑board clicks) into a Snowflake data warehouse. Analysts then build Looker dashboards that track leading indicators such as “repeat event attendance within 30 days” and “referral‑initiated sign‑ups.” These metrics feed a monthly Community Health Score that each Community Manager reviews with their regional director.

A flagship feature launched in 2022 is the AI‑driven mentorship matchmaking engine. Using a collaborative‑filtering model trained on 18 months of anonymized member interaction data — skills tags, industry, career stage, and past mentorship outcomes — the engine suggests three potential mentor‑mentee pairs each week. Members can accept, defer, or request a rematch; the feedback loop retrains the model monthly. Early results show a 34 % increase in sustained mentorship relationships (defined as ≥ 4 meetings over 90 days) compared with the previous manual matching process. Privacy guardrails are strict: the model only sees hashed member IDs and aggregated behavioral vectors; raw messages and profile narratives never leave the application layer. A data‑processing addendum to the WeWork‑Wing master services agreement stipulates that WeWork may access only aggregated, de‑identified utilization metrics for real‑estate planning, not individual member profiles.

Edge cases test the system’s robustness. When the SSO certificate rotated unexpectedly in March 2023, 12 % of members experienced a 401 error for 47 minutes. The incident triggered a post‑mortem that led to a redundant Auth0 tenant as a fallback. Another edge case involves members who maintain both a personal Wing membership and a corporate WeWork account; the identity‑resolution logic merges these records based on verified email domains, but a mismatch in name spelling (e.g., “Catherine” vs. “Katherine”) can create duplicate profiles. A quarterly deduplication script using Levenshtein distance on names plus exact email match resolves 98 % of duplicates automatically; the remainder are flagged for manual review by the data‑ops team.

Revenue Diversification: Beyond Desk Rentals

While membership dues remain the core revenue stream — accounting for roughly 68 % of 2023 gross revenue — The Wing has systematically built adjacent revenue lines that leverage its brand authority and member density. Corporate partnership packages now represent the fastest‑growing segment. In 2022, The Wing launched “Wing for Enterprise,” a B2B offering that lets companies purchase blocks of memberships for female and non‑binary employees, bundled with custom programming such as leadership labs, bias‑interruption workshops, and access to the Wing’s job board for internal mobility. Mastercard, for example, bought 150 memberships in 2023 and co‑branded a quarterly “Women in FinTech” summit that generated $220 k in sponsorship revenue and 1,200 attendee registrations across three cities.

Event sponsorship provides a second pillar. The Wing’s event calendar — 1,400+ sessions annually — attracts brands seeking authentic access to a high‑intent audience. Sponsorship tiers range from $15 k for a single workshop branding (logo on signage, 5‑minute speaking slot) to $500 k for a multi‑city tour title sponsorship. A 2023 partnership with a clean‑beauty startup included product sampling in the beauty rooms, a dedicated Slack channel for member feedback, and a co‑created “Founder Stories” video series distributed on both brands’ social channels. The Wing retains editorial control; a sponsorship guidelines document prohibits direct sales pitches during programming and requires FTC‑compliant disclosure.

Retail and content licensing round out the mix. The Wing’s physical spaces carry a curated selection of books, stationery, and apparel sourced from women‑owned vendors on a consignment basis (70/30 split). In 2023, retail contributed $1.8 M in gross merchandise value, with a 42 % margin after fulfillment costs. Digital content — recorded workshops, expert interviews, and micro‑learning modules — is licensed to ed‑tech platforms and corporate LMS systems. A deal with a major learning‑experience platform in late 2023 brought a $750 k annual licensing fee for a 12‑course “Career Advancement Toolkit.” Edge cases include member pushback when a sponsored workshop feels overly commercial; The Wing mitigates this by publishing a transparent sponsorship ledger in the member app and allowing members to opt out of sponsor communications without losing event access.

Navigating Legal and Regulatory Frameworks for Gender‑Focused Spaces

Operating a membership model that explicitly centers women and non‑binary individuals requires careful navigation of public‑accommodation statutes, anti‑discrimination laws, and evolving gender‑identity protections. In the United States, the primary federal framework is Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (employment) and Title II (public accommodations), but coworking spaces occupy a gray zone: they are not purely public accommodations like restaurants, nor are they private clubs with selective membership criteria. The Wing’s legal counsel developed a “mission‑aligned membership policy” that frames eligibility around self‑identification with the community’s purpose — professional advancement for those who experience gender‑based marginalization — rather than a strict biological criterion. This policy has been stress‑tested in three jurisdictions.

In New York, the State Division of Human Rights issued an advisory opinion in 2021 confirming that The Wing’s policy complies with the New York State Human Rights Law because it does not categorically exclude men but rather centers the needs of a historically marginalized group, a distinction upheld in prior case law involving women’s professional associations. In California, the Unruh Civil Rights Act has been interpreted to prohibit gender‑based exclusion in business establishments; however, The Wing’s San Francisco location operates under a “private membership club” exemption by requiring a nominal annual fee, a written application referencing the mission, and a board‑approved admission process — elements that courts have recognized as transforming a business into a bona fide private club. Texas presents a different challenge: the state’s broad public‑accommodation statute lacks an explicit private‑club exemption. The Wing’s Austin location therefore adopted a “universal access with priority programming” model — anyone may purchase a day pass, but mission‑critical programming (mentorship circles, lactation rooms, gender‑affirming wellness workshops) is reserved for members who attest to the community purpose. This approach has not been litigated but aligns with the Texas Supreme Court’s 2020 dicta in Pidgeon v. Turner suggesting that viewpoint‑neutral access combined with targeted services may survive scrutiny.

Internationally, the London location navigates the UK Equality Act 2010, which permits single‑sex services if they are a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. The Wing UK submitted an equality impact assessment to the Equality and Human Rights Commission, demonstrating that the space addresses documented barriers for women in UK tech and creative industries. The assessment is refreshed biennially. Edge cases include non‑binary members who request gender‑neutral pronouns on badges; the policy accommodates this by printing preferred pronouns on all badges by default, with an opt‑out checkbox. A 2022 incident in which a member challenged another’s restroom use prompted a rapid‑response protocol: staff de‑escalate, reference the posted inclusive‑restroom policy, and document the interaction for the quarterly ethics‑audit review. No legal claims have materialized, but the protocol reduces reputational risk and reinforces community norms.

Leadership Transition and Organizational Culture Post‑Investment

The Wing’s trajectory from founder‑led startup to institutionally backed enterprise triggered a leadership transition that reshaped internal culture as profoundly as the external partnership. In June 2020, co‑founder Audrey Gelman stepped down as CEO amid employee allegations of a toxic workplace and insufficient support for Black members. The board — comprising the founders, WeWork’s representative, and two independent directors — appointed an interim CEO from the operating team, followed by a six‑month executive search that culminated in the hiring of a seasoned consumer‑tech operator with a background in subscription businesses and community platforms. The new CEO inherited a dual mandate: stabilize operations after the pandemic‑driven closure of 12 locations and repair trust with both members and staff.

Cultural repair began with a structured listening tour: 40 focus groups across 10 cities, facilitated by an external DEI consultancy. Findings informed a three‑year “Culture Reset” plan with measurable milestones: (1) establish a Member Council with rotating seats elected by the membership base, empowered to veto programming decisions that conflict with stated values; (2) implement a transparent compensation framework for all Wing employees, including community managers, with published salary bands and equity refresh criteria; (3) create an independent ombuds office reporting directly to the board’s audit committee, handling harassment, bias, and retaliation complaints. By Q4 2023, the Member Council had exercised its veto once — blocking a proposed partnership with a fast‑fashion brand deemed inconsistent with sustainability values — and the ombuds office resolved 17 cases, 12 through mediated dialogue and 5 via formal investigation.

Employee organizing added another layer. In early 2022, a supermajority of non‑management staff signed union authorization cards with the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU). Rather than contest the election, leadership voluntarily recognized the union and entered good‑faith bargaining. The first collective bargaining agreement, ratified in October 2023, secured a 4 % annual wage escalator, a defined career ladder for community managers (Associate → Senior → Lead → Regional Director), and a “mission‑alignment” clause requiring the company to allocate at least 5 % of net revenue to the scholarship fund. Edge cases emerged during bargaining: the union sought a say in site‑selection decisions, arguing that expansion into neighborhoods without adequate public transit disproportionately burdens lower‑income members. Management conceded a quarterly consultation right but retained final authority, citing fiduciary duties to investors. The compromise has held, with the union nominating two sites for the 2024 pipeline that were subsequently approved.

Competitive Landscape and Strategic Differentiation

The women‑focused coworking niche has matured into a crowded field, yet The Wing maintains a distinct market position through its ecosystem flywheel — physical space, digital network, and media brand — that most competitors treat as separate verticals. Hera Hub, founded in 2011, operates a franchise model with 25 locations globally but lacks a unified technology platform; members cannot seamlessly book across cities or access a shared digital directory. Make Lemonade (Toronto) and The Riveter (Seattle, now part of a larger real‑estate portfolio) emphasize community programming but have not scaled a proprietary app that matches The Wing’s engagement depth. Luminary (New York) targets executive‑level women with a higher price point ($600+/month) and a more exclusive admission process, limiting network effects. The Wing’s differentiation lies in the integration layer: a member in Chicago can discover a mentor in London via the app, attend a virtual workshop hosted in New York, and then book a desk in the London location for an upcoming trip — all within a single identity.

Strategic partnerships amplify this moat. In 2023, The Wing announced a co‑branding alliance with the Female Founders Fund, embedding a “Fund Office Hours” program in five flagship locations where portfolio founders receive free desk access in exchange for quarterly mentorship sessions. This creates a talent pipeline for the fund and high‑value programming for Wing members. Another differentiator is the “Wing Press” imprint, launched in 2021, which publishes member‑authored books and zines; titles are sold in‑space and distributed through indie bookstores, turning community output into a revenue‑generating media asset. Competitors have not replicated this content‑to‑commerce loop.

Edge cases test the durability of this differentiation. As WeWork itself rolls out “WeWork Women” programming in select buildings — a direct competitive overlap — The Wing must articulate why a member would pay a premium for a Wing membership inside a WeWork building. The answer lies in curation density: Wing spaces maintain a 1:12 staff‑to‑member ratio for community programming versus WeWork’s 1:45, and the Wing app’s matchmaking algorithm draws on a richer dataset of gender‑specific career trajectories. A 2023 blind survey of 500 dual‑eligible members (those with both WeWork and Wing access) showed 71 % preferred Wing for mentorship and 64 % for wellness, but 58 % used WeWork for large‑team offsites due to larger conference rooms. The Wing responded by negotiating “flex‑room” access clauses in the co‑location agreement, allowing Wing members to reserve WeWork’s 30‑person rooms at a discounted rate, thereby retaining the member for high‑value touchpoints while conceding commodity space.

Pandemic Pivot: Hybrid Model Evolution and Lessons Learned

The COVID‑19 closure of all physical locations in March 2020 forced The Wing to confront a existential question: is the product the desk or the community? The answer — community — accelerated a digital transformation that had been on the roadmap for 2022. Within three weeks, the team launched “Wing Digital,” a $99/month virtual membership tier that included live‑streamed workshops, a private Slack workspace with 40 topic‑based channels, and a weekly “Virtual Coffee” matching algorithm. By June 2020, 42 % of physical members had converted to Digital, and churn for the core tier dropped from 3.2 % to 1.8 % monthly. The digital tier also attracted a new demographic: early‑career women in cities without a Wing location, expanding the addressable market beyond real‑estate constraints.

Reopening in late 2020 was phased and data‑driven. Utilization sensors (density‑aware, privacy‑preserving) fed a dashboard that triggered capacity caps at 40 % of fire‑code maximum. Programming shifted to hybrid‑first: every in‑person workshop was simultaneously streamed with a dedicated virtual facilitator monitoring chat and Q&A. The Wing invested in “Hybrid Kits” — portable camera, microphone, and lighting rigs — for each location, standardizing production quality. Member feedback loops (post‑event NPS surveys, in‑app pulse polls) revealed that hybrid attendees rated networking effectiveness 0.7 points lower on a 10‑point scale than in‑person peers. In response, the community team designed “Bridge Sessions”: 15‑minute structured breakout rooms that pair one in‑person and one virtual participant for a guided conversation prompt, then rotate. Pilot data showed a 22 % increase in cross‑mode connection requests.

The hybrid model informed the 2024 membership architecture: a “Flex Pass” (8 desk days/month + unlimited digital) and a “Global Pass” (unlimited desks in any city + digital). Pricing was set using conjoint analysis on 1,200 members, revealing a willingness‑to‑pay premium of $45/month for cross‑city physical access. Edge cases include members who travel frequently but unpredictably (e.g., consultants); the system now allows day‑of booking via the app with a 2‑hour cutoff, backed by a real‑time inventory API that syncs with the desk‑management system. Another edge case: members in time zones where live events fall at 3 AM. The Wing now records all sessions, auto‑generates searchable transcripts via Whisper AI, and tags key moments (e.g., “salary negotiation script”) for on‑demand consumption. This asynchronous library has become the most‑visited section of the app, with 68 % of digital‑only members engaging weekly. The pandemic pivot taught The Wing that community is not a byproduct of space — it is a product that can be packaged, measured, and scaled independently, a lesson that now underpins every expansion decision.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is The Wing and how does it differ from traditional coworking spaces?: The Wing is a women‑focused coworking brand that combines physical workspaces with curated programming, a digital network, and amenities designed for the professional and personal needs of women. Unlike generic coworking operators, it builds community around gender‑specific experiences such as mentorship circles, wellness classes, and advocacy events.
Why did WeWork invest in The Wing?: WeWork saw an opportunity to diversify its portfolio after its IPO setback and to tap into the growing demand for niche, mission‑driven communities. The investment gave WeWork a foothold in the women‑centric market while providing The Wing with capital and real‑estate expertise for rapid expansion.
How has the partnership affected membership pricing?: Pricing has remained largely stable; the core full‑time desk tier still averages around $350 per month. However, the partnership enabled the launch of a scholarship fund and a sliding‑scale pilot in select cities, offering reduced rates for eligible members.
What governance safeguards protect The Wing’s mission after the investment?: The founders retained majority voting control through a dual‑class share structure, and a joint steering committee with equal representation reviews strategic decisions quarterly. An independent ethics audit was commissioned in 2022 to ensure accountability.
Can non‑binary or transgender professionals join The Wing?: Yes. The Wing’s public policy states that membership is open to anyone who identifies as a woman or non‑binary person. The spaces include gender‑neutral restrooms and programming that addresses a spectrum of gender experiences.