A Letter from Jen & Tom
Thank you for Taking This Journey With Us
Six years ago, when W@tercooler existed only as sketches and lists in Jen’s notebooks, and she was looking for the “next thing” to do with her career, the idea of W@tercooler was born. We knew we wanted to create a shared work space where everyone felt welcome and inspired to chase whatever their ‘next thing” was — a place that was warm and welcoming, collaborative and inclusive.
After finally setting on our location in downtown Tarrytown we set out to to design a supportive environment that was all about functionality and thoughtful design, while still retaining that feeling of comfort and hominess. We opened our doors in June of 2011 with six members, and have over these five years been graced with hundreds of people who have called W@tercooler “home”, met clients, attended a workshop, or just dropped in to work or send a fax.
That first day was a white knuckle ride, wondering if anyone was going to show up. But folks did, and as word spread of the new place in town where you could escape the solitude (and never-ending distractions) of the home office and find other like-minded folks, the sketches in the notebooks and our vision truly grew into what would soon become our signature brand.
W@tercooler turned into a true community hub for working, learning and gathering — offering a place to share ideas, insights and skills as well as creations of pixels, paint, melodies and words. Amazing things happened here on a daily basis - and we are very proud of that.
Along the way, we have struggled with the size of our space, dreaming of the day we would have a location large enough for all the functions, events and programming we initially envisioned for W@tercooler.
We came to a crossroad recently and had to make a hard decision. Our lease was almost up and even though we had an amazing opportunity to expand to a larger space, we needed to take a step back and examine our business model, and rather than begin again in a larger space while still struggling with the same issues, we’ve decided to close our existing space and spend some time envisioning what W@tercooler 2.0 might look like in the future — the version that has the financial backing, a partner component, and the advisor-support that will allow us to fulfill that larger vision first conceived of in those notebooks. So stay tuned… The future is bright!
While it truly saddens us to close our doors, it also inspires us - - - we know that it’s the best choice for us right now and that we will continue to work towards our vision of what W@tercooler could still be, for us, and for the community as a whole.
Thank you to all the wonderful folks who contribute to this group… It has been invaluable over the years!
We could never have done it without you.
Thank you for believing!
Jenifer Ross & Tom Schumacher
914-261-1470
