We often hear that coworking offers a different experience of going to work, sometimes going so far as being described as an ‘antidote’ to corporate office culture, and it helps if we name exactly what that means; if coworking is in large part about creating an intentional community and life, then Lizi Sprague of Songue PR has had the quintessential work journey of finding just that. Originally from England, she and her husband Andy (who also runs his business Luma Digital out of Keller) came to California via the Bay Area a decade ago, living there and eventually working their way north to Petaluma, which to Lizi, felt like the place they’d been looking for. In building that home here in Sonoma County, it also became apparent that the high-stress, remote-work nature of her company was not going to fit into the home environment she wanted for her family.
In looking for the working formula, she found Keller Street Cowork. When you’re a parent and a worker, everything is full-time, usually meaning there’s a lot of work needing to be done in very short windows. KSCW offered the solution – a place near to home that would allow for maximum efficiency and communal support for her work. It’s so easy to get tied up in responding to emails, meetings, and the thousand other distractions in any given workday, and in wanting to separate home life from work life, coworking offered a solution that met that need. Home life is centered around family, and work life stays in its lane so both can be managed with intention.
It’s that vision of intentional community that has allowed her business to truly thrive, and lest we think that it’s an uphill battle to build that community, it hasn’t been. By using the in-house resources of amenities like Startup Squad, building support structures hasn’t been the main effort; it’s the thing that arises naturally from doing the work in the context of other creative professionals. It’s the organic outcome of groups of people using their gifts to offer support to and share that excellence with each other.
This ethic of mutual empowerment is also reflected in her PR work, saying, “Communications is an industry built on amplification, yet we still hoard access like it’s finite. The most powerful currency in communications isn’t reach — it’s advocacy. The leaders who open doors, share credit, and sponsor talent don’t dilute their influence, instead they compound it. If we truly believe in the power of narrative, then ‘Give to Gain’ shouldn’t be a personality trait women are expected to embody. It should be a business model.” We couldn’t agree more, and we can see it in the support our member community offers each other.
For Lizi, coworking allowed for the unique combination of freedom and support that transformed her relationship to remote work, to family, and her role in all of it. It’s the glue, the connection, and the adaptability of a coworking space that brings it all together, and the perfect story of how cowork can be one of the foundations of a life well made.
Songue PR’s office is always open for a neighborly chat. Pop in and say hello, and don’t miss Tea Time with Lizi on 3/19!