Jane Ciccone, founder and owner of the gluten-free cracker bakery Onesto Foods, had been struggling to find an office space that fit her needs and lifestyle.
Coffee shops? Too expensive.
“There’s only so much coffee I can drink,” she says.
Home? Too many distractions, like throwing in a load of laundry or starting dinner. And while she had found a shared workspace, it housed manufacturing on the bottom floor and didn’t have any sense of community or cohesion.
“I just didn’t have that inspiration to go to work,” she said.
A Space for Women
Enter Birdhouse Amesbury, a 2,200-square-foot women’s collective in the Amesbury Trades Mill building that offers not only a beautifully curated coworking space, but also a place for women to gather, learn from each other, host and attend events, and feel community.
For Ciccone, Birdhouse is not only close to her West Newbury home, but has “absolutely everything” on her wish list and more, from a light, bright, airy space filled with art; to a private office that she can rent and decorate; to conference rooms available for her to reserve; to coffee, tea, and drinks in the fridge; to a supportive, relaxing, engaging, and encouraging community of like-minded women.
“Even though every woman that’s there has a completely different type of business, somehow we all fit together and support each other,” she says. “It’s just wonderful.”
Birdhouse Amesbury was founded in July 2024 by friends Jodi McGroarty and Crystal Rimoczy, to provide women a space where they can focus on their passions.
“Whether it’s work, personal projects, connections, meeting people,” says Rimoczy. “The purpose is having women do what’s best for themselves, but also alongside other women so we can support each other.”
Serving women across a wide geographic area, from Boston to Portsmouth and everywhere in between, Birdhouse is more than just a coworking space.
Community and Coworking
“Really, at its core, it’s designed for community, coworking, and events,” says McGroarty. “As we speak, we have a number of women here coworking, and then often during the evening hours, and sometimes during the day, it transforms into an event space. And that community is really sprinkled throughout.”
That community comes in the shape of women using the space to connect with their “coworkers,” but also through events and programs that Birdhouse hosts that mix business with fun and friendship. There are monthly group coaching sessions and monthly networking events, as well as other special events throughout the year, like an upcoming holiday card-making workshop on Saturday, November 15, and the annual Winter Market on Saturday, December 13, featuring women vendors, food, and music.
Other events have included knitting, sound baths, yoga, and “really anything that’s to improve someone’s skills or life,” Rimoczy says.
Birdhouse offers a wide range of membership levels, depending on needs and interests, ranging from single-day or five-day passes, to monthly or annual memberships, including the option to add a dedicated desk for annual members. It also offers a more flexible community membership that includes a day of coworking a month, discounts and early access to events, and monthly group coaching.
Whatever level of membership they choose, women who use Birdhouse have access to a space that’s not only aesthetically beautiful—think high ceilings, exposed brick, and massive windows—but practical and comfortable. There are comfy couches and chairs, rugs, throw pillows, desks, and large-scale murals, plus reliable Wi-Fi, printer access, refrigerators, coffee and tea, free parking, and conference room access. And, most crucially, there’s a quiet, calm space to work.
“It’s a space where women can go, be together, and let it be a space for them, with no one bothering them or needing to check in with them,” Rimoczy says. “It’s more like a friend’s house where you can just be focused on your work.”
While other coworking spaces are often male-dominated, Birdhouse offers an empowering space for women to focus on themselves, their work, and their passions while lifting each other up and forming community. Rimoczy and McGroarty also understand the importance of women in leadership and mentorship and hope to provide an avenue for those connections to form in a space that’s as professional as it is “feminine and beautiful and whimsical.”
Members like Ciccone have found that and much more.
“If you’re open to it, you don’t just go do your work and leave. You’re part of a community,” Ciccone says.