Faces of Denver's WeWork Community

New York City-based WeWork, the community-focused work-space provider with two Denver locations and a third in the works, extended an invitation to Colorado companies to participate in the Creator Awards. The event, intended to serve as a celebration of entrepreneurship, innovation and creativity, will take place May 10 in San Francisco, Calif., acknowledging participants throughout the Western United States and British Columbia.

Launched in March 2017, the global program recognizes high-impact entrepreneurs and nonprofits, awarding more than $15 million in Creator Awards funding. To date, 167 winners have been honored, with more than 170 jobs created at the businesses funded.

"The west is known for its pioneering spirit, conquering challenges and expanding opportunity through creativity and innovations," says managing director of WeWork West, Jon Slavet. "And that's what the Creator Awards are all about. This even is an unparalleled opportunity to … celebrate leaders solving our biggest challenges … and we couldn't be more excited."

Applicants are invited to submit for an award in one of four categories:

• THE PERFORMING ARTS AWARD: ($18,000 to $72,000 prizes)
• THE NONPROFIT AWARD ($130,000 to $360,000 prizes)
• THE NEW VENTURE AWARD ($136,000 to $360,000 prizes)
• COMMUNITY GIVER AWARD ($36,000 to $130,000 prizes)

Following a review process, finalists from the region will be selected to present live in front of a panel of judges.

The Creator Awards are open to WeWork members as well as companies that are not affiliated with the company. 

Here, meet a few members of Denver's WeWork community (from left to right):

GEOFFREY THOMAS, 45

FOUNDER  |  USER EXPERIENCE + USER INTERFACE DESIGN 

DIRECTOR GUICEWORKS

"It's good to be where the action is and businesses are working everyday to grow and refine their product or process. I feel that helps raise the level for everyone in the space."

​NICK CONLEY, 30

DENVER HEAD OF OFFICE  |  CATER2.ME

"Not only do we help WeWork feed its community members, but WeWork is also a great place to find new companies to partner with. We've served appetizers and snacks to other companies in our WeWork to better get to know them and to give back to the community here."

KERRIE GILL, 27

COMMUNITY CAPTAIN  |  VETERANS IN RESIDENCE

"The community and atmosphere WeWork has established is already very rich and wholesome. By bringing yet another aspect to the mix, our Veterans are able to connect to a vast community they may not have otherwise had access to. Likewise, existing WeWork members may not have any ties to our nation's military, so Veterans in Residence opens the door for conversation and understanding about what it's like to serve… There are so many networking events that are relevant to our needs as business founders and aspiring entrepreneurs, it's difficult to decide which ones to go to."

ALLYSE SANCHEZ, 28

SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGER  |  INK COMMUNICATIONS CO.

"INK expanded into the Denver market roughly two years ago … We needed more space that would be accommodating for long-term expansion … As a satellite office of a larger company still in high-growth mode, it just makes sense for us to leave the capital expenses to WeWork and focus our attention on the business."

JULIETTE LACOMBE, 26

COMMUNITY MANAGER  |  WEWORK UNION STATION

"You normally think of shared spaces and think of only tech or design in this type of environment, but we have lawyers, real estate, accounting, analytics, nonprofits, etc." 

WHAT HAS CHANGED ABOUT YOUR WORK SINCE JOINING THE WEWORK COMMUNITY? 

"It's stopped feeling like work."

LAWRENCE WAGNER, 47

CEO  | SPARK MINDSET

"Spark Mindset is ready to reach out to other WeWork members across the world. Community is extremely important to me. To be a part of a supportive community that encourages me to do what I love has increased by confidence during some tough times in my entrepreneurial journey."

BRIAN PONTARELLI, 41

CEO  |  INVERSOFT

"Inversoft is a bootstrapped Denver startup that provides two products: An identity and user management platform and a profanity filtering ad moderation system."