Whether it is a business meeting, workshop, or a small event, people need a space they can use. @ The Space gives them the room they need… for a price. This is just the next step in a long entrepreneurial journey for Jodi Fedor.
The two-floor venue is art gallery-sleek, but warm and beautifully fluid in its design. Odd little knick-knacks from Fedor’s peripatetic life growing up on a 62-foot schooner and a 900-acre farm in the Okanagan Valley can be found upstairs in the third-floor boardroom “Annex,” while flashes of colour from area artists abound, along with candles and essential oils.
It is, in short, a pretty good representation of Fedor herself who, since launching her international natural skin care line Exuberance Beauty at 32, has evolved from a dynamic young woman on a mission to see her vision realized into a powerhouse of ideas and networking.
After launching Exuberance Beauty three years ago she grew the business from humble beginnings to a slot in New York’s lavish Henri Bendel department store. Fedor says her plan was always to move into a creative role and to expand into “Exuberant Life,” which will be a lifestyle brand starting as a website, and moving into events and mentoring. Meanwhile, she’s also thrown herself into @The Space with operations manager, Sara Jackson.
It’s a good partnership, says Fedor, because it underlines her feeling that “women do bring something inherently creative and nurturing to business. It’s really inspiring. We’re in this place in Ottawa right now where we’re seeing so many young women really engaged in creative things; they’re honouring and listening to their own ideas. That’s what we’re trying to be part of with @The Space – to be a creative environment. I’m passionately excited by the idea of being a nexus for people to do that.”