From FinTech to Podcasters: Meet the New Members in Our Coworking Community

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Summer is in full swing here at our coworking offices in Gowanus, Brooklyn, and we’re so pleased to be seeing you all again. We’re thankful not only for current members who’ve been holding it down throughout the pandemic, but also grateful to have so many new members join over the past few months!

As we ease into the new normal, we want to make sure that members—new and old—get to know one another. If anything, the separation we all just endured underscores the value of having a professional community to lean on for networking, collaboration, and business development. So over the next month or two, we’ll be doing a New Member Spotlight in our newsletter. So without further ado, here are some of our awesome new members.

Meet the New Members in our Community:

Garrett Raburn of Mission City Church

Garrett considers himself a “church planter,” as he starts churches from scratch. “Like any start-up founder, my daily grind is a mad dash of diverse activities from my “industry,” says Garrett. In his current role at Mission City Church of a few dozen people, he wears multiple hats, serving as the “village event planner, crisis counselor, hospital chaplain, leader coach, fundraiser, Bible scholar, nonprofit networker, wedding officiant, etc.” He’s “the person who shows up every week with something engaging to say.”

Garrett says, “I love to contribute to human flourishing, and faith and church allow me that chance. Ministry also gives me access to honest, safe conversations with people on the subjects that matter to them. […] It reminds me what a privilege it is to be a pastor.”

Vivien Kwok of Quora & Park Slope Marketing

Vivien is a product manager for Quora, where she works on ways to gain and retain the most valuable users. She says, “this involves figuring out which features to build across Quora products (web, app, emails), and meeting with various teams to get alignment and make things happen!”

Additionally, in her spare time, Vivien runs an Instagram account and newsletter to promote local businesses and events happening around Park Slope. Let her know if you’re interested in working together!

Kevin Grommersch of Greenlight Financial Technology

Kevin works with UX researchers and designers, marketers, software engineers, and content creators on an investing platform for kids and families. Greenlight Invest allows kids to invest in stocks and ETFs with parental oversight; they can research stocks, learn about investing, and propose trades to parents.

Kevin says, “I am passionate about helping families teach their kids about financial literacy. Personal financial education tends to be very limited in schools throughout the country. By learning about investing and money management hands-on, children can develop the skills they need to be financially successful adults.”

Jed Goldstein of BomaChats

Jed is starting a podcast called BomaChats with some friends after 7 years managing and starting businesses in Southern Africa. “Boma” is the swahili word for a place that provides shelter from the elements…, a place where people gather around a fire to learn and build connections with others. Their goal for BomaChats is to increase investment into the African start-up ecosystem by showcasing the rich diversity, innovations and challenges across the continent’s multiple start-up hubs. “We want to do our small part in helping build the businesses that will build Africa,” he says.

“I love doing research and asking questions, so the format of the job is ideal. Plus, the world of podcasting represents a new domain for me, so it’s quite exciting to be at the beginning end of the learning curve,” says Jed.

Abe Loomis

Abe is a freelance writer who specializes in education. The bulk of his work consists of composing features, profiles and other content for a broad range of colleges and universities, as well as trade unions and labor-related organizations in New York. A former Wall Street Journal copy editor, Abe has also taught high school history and English, as well as computer-literacy classes for recent immigrants. To top it off, he’s also a songwriter with several albums of rootsy music available at abeloomis.bandcamp.com.

Abe tells us, “I love learning and telling new stories as I talk to people about their passions. Among my favorite articles to research and write have been an account of the life of the first African-American graduate of Williams College, the discovery by a Northeastern University student of a lost Mayan city in Guatemala using remote sensing technology, and the various roles of Mount Holyoke alums in the fight to legalize same-sex marriage.”

We look forward to bringing you more member news and project updates. Want to share projects, accomplishments, and advice with our community? Reach out to Neil or Erin!