Kate Dezarnaulds penned an interesting piece as the founder of WorkLife about a recent email she received regarding the WeWork Affiliate Network, and what this very strategic move could mean for other indie brands.

While Kate makes the case that this isn’t a moment to panic, "it is a moment to stop sleepwalking".

Further listening: This TWIC Discussion from 2024 with John Santora (CEO, WeWork), Anant Yardi (Founder, Yardi) and Jason Anderson (CEO, Vast) about the formation of this affiliate network. And this TWIC Discussion with Sam Rosen and William Sandford about the acquisition of Deskpass, Breather and Hubble.

Kate Dezarnaulds shares that after a long journey WorkLife has also become a B-Corp Certified business.

While she shares the challenges of getting certified as a small busy business, it was also interesting to take a look at the B-Corp Directory to explore how many coworking brands were on there (there’s 830).

Kate Dezarnaulds, founder of WorkLife coworking spaces, won the Outstanding Business Leader award at the inaugural Kiama Business Awards in Australia, describing the recognition as "absolutely delightful" and unexpected. Dezarnaulds founded WorkLife in 2017 in Berry after growing tired of her daily commute to Sydney (at least 882 times), initially trying remote work from home and cafes before opening her first coworking space.

The company expanded to Kiama and Coledale, lost their Kiama location during COVID, and bounced back by opening a Picton location in 2023, with WorkLife also nominated in the Excellence in Small Business category.

Kate Dezarnaulds from Worklife chats with Carrie Kwan and Lucy Kippist about discovering community and connection at the same time as building a successful coworking space on the Mumbition podcast.

Liz Elam chats with Kate Dezarnaulds about Worklife and it’s rural coworking business and secondary income streams on the GCUC Coworking Podcast.