Stoke has been honored to serve and grow with the Denton community for seven years! Here’s some of the history and changes Stoke has seen since first opening its doors to Denton.
Stoke Space and Management
Stoke Coworking opened to the public on August 1st, 2016 after renovation of the original warehouse building to become equipped for flexible workspace with office amenities that included offices, meeting rooms, open workspace, and a kitchen and event space. Coworking spaces had been on the rise well before Stoke’s opening, ushering in a new era for the workplace and for remote workers and small business owners who previously had more limited options.
Stoke was originally managed by the Dallas Entrepreneur Center in partnership with Denton’s Economic Development department. When the time came for a new management contract, Marshall Culpepper, longtime Dentonite, who was invested in seeing the startup and tech community in Denton thrive, submitted a proposal to manage Stoke under Hickory and Rail Ventures. Marshall was the original organizer of the Denton Jelly, LittleDOCC, and Bootstrap Denton. The initial vision for Stoke involved making it the first of many spaces that Denton entrepreneurs and techies could call home, which has now expanded to include becoming an entity that helps cultivate community and support entrepreneurs through programs and events. Heather Gregory would become executive director and then owner of Stoke in the years following, bringing her experience as an entrepreneur, architectural designer, and community builder.
Starting out, Stoke offered a range of memberships that varied based on entrepreneur or remote workers’ needs: workspace, meeting space, office amenities, and a built-in network of professionals. These memberships included virtual, coworking, dedicated, and office memberships; students also had a discount on coworking membership. After seeing a need for additional membership types in the first few years of operating, Stoke added coworking 24/7 and nights & weekends memberships.
One of three dedicated desk membership areas at Stoke in 2021.
Partnerships Stoke Has Cultivated
With the support of the City of Denton, Economic Development Department, Stoke has also developed and hosted educational workshops and mentor sessions benefiting entrepreneurs, small business owners, freelancers, and the like. These educational workshops and mentor sessions have been iterated and improved upon year after year based on observation and feedback of participants. Some forms that Stoke’s educational offerings have taken on have been Lunch + Learns, Fireside Chats, and Coffee + Convo sessions. This past spring, Stoke launched its Colearning Membership, a learning opportunity for business owners and entrepreneurs alike online.
In the fall of 2020, Stoke partnered with the Center for Women Entrepreneurs at TWU to facilitate the AccelerateHER incubator program for women entrepreneurs. During a time in which intentional human connection was crucial to our health while navigating the pandemic, Stoke and TWU facilitators of the program witnessed moving support, encouragement, and growth among the first cohort of the AccelerateHER incubator program.
Who’s Working From Stoke?
Stoke continues to serve the Denton community of entrepreneurs, business owners, freelancers, and side hustlers by conducting surveys pre- and post-events to ensure that programming meets the needs of their audience. Over 52% of Stoke members who answered questions for our most recent member survey are small business owners or employees, and 33% of our member population are remote workers.
About 20% of members have been at Stoke for 5-6 years, with a handful having been at Stoke since day one of operation. Almost a quarter of our members joined in the last 6 months, with the rest of member survey respondents equally ranging from having been at Stoke for one year to four-five years.
24% of survey respondents identify as working in marketing, advertising, or media buying, and 19% said that they worked in technology. Another 19% of the Stoke member survey participants indicated that they worked in business services. No matter what industry you’re in, you’ll find a great network and community at Stoke to support you or cheer you on with your endeavors.
Space Transformation
In 2020, what was previously the coworking space was transformed into additional workspace that followed guidelines for safe distancing during the pandemic. Despite the uncertainty of the times, Stoke was committed to safely reopening and providing much needed workspace as well as interaction that mitigated the fear and isolation that resulted from the nature of the pandemic.
Stoke’s event-space-turned-workspace in 2020.
Stoke added nine new offices in 2021 to accommodate a need for private offices for Dentonites looking for workspace outside of our local coffee shops or their home offices, including four individual private offices and eight medium offices.
Additional space improvements included commissioning a mural by local artists Melanie Little Gomez and Dez Smith of ArtLab 3000 and artwork by Hollingsworth & Co. Every art piece, plant, and placement of furniture is carefully considered to make Stoke as welcoming and as productive a workplace as possible.
We hope to see you at Stoke soon!
