One Roof Women

One Roof Women was founded by former corporate lawyer,[5] Sheree Rubinstein and US based strategist, Gianna Wurzl.[6][7] In 2015, after establishing coworking spaces in Melbourne and Los Angeles, Rubinstein and Wurzl incorporated a Sydney women's coworking space, founded by Dr Catriona Wallace,[8] into their stable. Initially focused on growth, the early iteration of the One Roof model looked at conversions of under-utilised physical spaces, to transform them into shared workspaces for women.[9] Leveraging the conversion of these physical spaces, one Roof sought to create a complete ecosystem supporting women in business. This ecosystem incorporated traditional networking and publicity infrastructure, such as business and start-up events and workshops, into less traditional support structures, such as yoga and meditation classes. These elements were buttressed by networked service provision for new businesses, such as legal, finance, fundraising, and communications services.[10][11]

While the Los Angeles and Sydney branches transformed into virtual networks, the Melbourne branch, run by Sheree Rubinstein, experienced enormous growth. In April 2016, One Roof took over space in Southbank and transformed it into an entrepreneurship hub that realised the initial goals of the One Roof founders, offering dedicated office space as well as coworking space. One Roof estimates it has engaged 10,000 women, across four cities, and hosted over 500 workshops.[12] In recognition of One Roof's contribution to women in business, Rubinstein won the 2016 Victorian Young Achievers Leadership Award[13][14] and was nominated as one of Australia's top young innovators by The Foundation for Young Australians. In 2015, Rubinstein won a $10,000 seed grant from BASF to drive innovation. Rubinstein continued her connection with the One Roof charity partner, SHE, run by Melbourne-based non-profit YGAP, which seeks to foster female entrepreneurs via its accelerator programmes in Kenya, South Africa and Australia in a bid to improve the lives of women and girls.[15][16]