Betsy Blancett Nacrelli is running her right hand over the back of a cozy-looking, pearl-gray, pleated velvet chair. We’re standing in the reception area of MPWR, the incubator for women-owned businesses in Midtown, where the late-afternoon sun adds to the warmth of this Instagram-worthy workspace.
The chair that Blancett Nacrelli is stroking isn’t just a chair, though; it’s also a symbol. So, too, are the four curvy, gray, cushioned bar stools behind her; the rose-colored, velvet tufted couch to her left; and pretty much every piece of furniture and decor inside this former warehouse on Locust.
“The bones of the building are super industrial and masculine, with all the exposed ductwork and brick,” she says. “There are a lot of black and iron elements. When I moved in, I wanted to soften it, give it a feminine touch. That’s why almost every element has some sort of curvature to it.”
The softening wasn’t just architectural. As the founder and owner of MPWR, Blancett Nacrelli is providing a literal and figurative place for women—and their startups—to feel comfortable and flourish. That’s the mission of this women-centric coworking space: to replicate the connections and built-in advantages that men often have in business, while providing women small-business owners with resources they might otherwise struggle to find. For example, Blancett Nacrelli says she’s introduced several tenants to all kinds of service providers, from accountants to bankers to box printers.
MPWR, which will celebrate its first anniversary in May, is already at capacity—and more space is on the way. Blancett Nacrelli says she’s preparing to open two more MPWR locations this year, including a fulfillment and shipping center.
The idea for a women’s incubator was hatched two years ago, when Blancett Nacrelli moved her jewelry company, Collections by Joya, into the studio next door. The building that would become MPWR was vacant at the time, and Blancett Nacrelli and her friends found themselves admiring its potential and trading ideas about how they might fill it. Blancett Nacrelli considered all of the things that she had wanted and needed when she started Collections by Joya, and a few months later, MPWR was born. With it, she included several built-in services, the kinds of things that a newborn business needs but may struggle to find and afford. Members can take advantage of complimentary monthly photo sessions with professional photographers—“All women, of course,” Blancett Nacrelli says—as well as graphic-design and branding services and access to in-house strategists. There are even monthly Mentor Mondays, when members can mingle and gain insight from prominent women in the business community.
“When I started Joya about seven years ago, the first line of the business plan was ‘When women support each other, incredible things can happen,’” Blancett Nacrelli says. “We took that same mission statement and applied it here. We want to provide a space for women to work creatively and collaboratively with one another.”
For wedding planner Charley Coldon, founder of Coda’s Events, the collaborations began the moment she moved into her office last spring. For a time, she shared a workspace with Meghan Ostermueller, owner of graphic-design studio Mod Co., and the two teamed up for several weddings. “I’ve worked with almost everyone that has a full-time office in this building,” she says. “Lindsay Scholz actually made my website and did a phenomenal job. She helped me align my business with my values and what I wanted it to be, instead of it just being a business. Then Dianna Allen [founder of home fragrance shop Terra] made my candle collection. And I’ve also helped The Women’s Creative with some of their events. It’s all here.”
Although it’s merely a coincidence that Blancett Nacrelli opened two businesses on this street, the symbolism isn’t lost on her. Locust occupies a meaningful place for women in St. Louis history. When the city hosted the 1916 Democratic National Convention, suffragists wearing white dresses and gold sashes lined Locust in a silent protest as delegates made their way down the street toward the old St. Louis Coliseum. The assembly of defiant women was called the Golden Lane Parade. To reflect this history, Blancett Nacrelli has tried to incorporate nods to local culture and MPWR’s unique ties to St. Louis by making sure there aren’t just soft curves throughout the building but arches, too.
As we stand in the lobby, in a modern space that feels far removed from the suffrage movement, Blancett Nacrelli points to a pair of gold-framed, arched mirrors meant to reflect St. Louis, past and future.
“I would love for this street to be a hub for women-owned businesses—kind of like a T-Rex type of place,” she says. “I would love to see this street rebranded as the Golden Lane.”