We’re proud to share that our own Abby Rowling, Director of Operations and Downtown Community Manager, has been named as one of five finalists for the “Community Manager Award” presented by the Global Workspace Association (GWA), an industry group that serves coworking spaces and other flex-space providers.

photo by Jami Milne

As the Community Manager at our flagship location in Downtown Des Moines, Abby is responsible for the membership experience for more than 200 members and all the day-to-day operations to run our largest location. In her corporate role as Director of Operations, she works to establish the company’s overall culture and helps Community Managers Tabitha and Tara design the best possible membership experience at our other locations.

I asked a couple of our members what Abby’s work here means to them:

“I met Abby about 6 months ago and ever since I met her she’s made me feel like I belong. She hasn’t just built a community of coworkers, she’s built a family and a large group of friends who really care about each other, celebrating each other's victories and mourning each others losses at our amazing workspace” — Linaja Duncan
“Abby has been in the middle of all the success that we’ve had, certainly as it pertains to how we’ve grown, how we’ve scaled and the facilities we needed—and at the same time she’s understanding our needs and just being there as a good person”. — Terrence Thames

On behalf of our company and the Gravitate team, I can honestly say that I don’t know where we’d be without Abby. She began her time at Gravitate as a member with two different startups early on, then joined us as a full time staff member in 2017 and immediately integrated herself into the core of the company. We’re all very excited to see her get such great recognition.

The other finalists for the award represent some of the largest coworking companies in the world and hail from Chicago, Dallas, London (UK), and Sydney (Australia) and it’s great to both her and Gravitate get this recognition. The final award winner will be announced at GWA’s annual conference on September 15.

Congratulations Abby and best of luck!