In the age of start-ups, solo entrepreneurs, and small businesses, shared workspaces are seemingly everywhere nowadays. These convenient spaces offer companies at all various stages of development a move-in ready office, with flexible leasing terms and amenities found in larger office spaces for a fraction of the price.
One particular shared workspace in South Florida is setting itself apart from the pack by also helping making a difference in its community.
Quest Work Spaces, founded in 2010 by self-made CEO Laura Kozelouzek, has eight locations throughout South Florida and New York, and offers free space for a year to charities and non-profits every time it opens its doors to a new location
“When we open a new center it takes some time to fill it,” said Kozelouzek. “My thought was rather than it sit there and not being used, I wanted to put it to good use.”
When Superstorm Sandy hit days after opening its first New York City location, the Quest team flew up from Florida and spent many days and nights preparing temporary work spaces for the companies that were displaced from the storm so they could operations going while they recovered.
“Every other operator was forcing these companies to commit to long terms and kind of taking advantage of the situation,” said Kozelouzek. “What we did was let people commit on a weekly basis because no one really knew when there space would be ready to go back to.”
Quest also donated a portion of its proceeds from that time to Tunnel to Towers, a NYC non-profit, to help in the recovery effort in its new city.
With plans to open two more Quest locations in 2014 in Doral and West Palm Beach, Kozelouzek hopes to keep expanding its work within the community.
“We have an amazing client community,” added Kozelouzek. “We want to take it out of the center and into a community. We want to put our people resources towards helping and leverage our clients as a force for good.”
