Hey all –
If you have met me hi again and if you haven’t, it’s so great to meet you via this blog. My name is Mercedes, I’ve lived here in Helena for the last 5 years and 8 years before that. My favorite animal is a pug (like the one I have at home with me) and I’m one of the co-founders of Virago co.
Virago co. was just a concept two years ago. I was working a job that was “aite” but I was tired of my small town and the lack of opportunities for women. My soul was screaming there’s got to be more (picture a Janis Joplin size scream, that’s what my soul sounded like) so I listened to my Janis Joplin soul and decided to travel over the summer of 2018. I visited Colorado, Utah, and Washington D.C. Over the course of my travels, I ended up visiting co-working office spaces in each state. It was a new concept to me one that I hadn’t seen before in Montana.
I came home and shared my idea with a friend and a man who told me it would be very hard to do and most likely I wouldn’t be able to pull it off (I’d love to track that guy down now and show him the space).
Shortly after my travels, I started doing marketing for small businesses and met Onawa Linden who also owns a marketing firm we worked together in TopFloor co-working which was a great home for us for a while. At that time we were also working with Stacey Otterstrom who was running PLuCk Coaching and Reagan Lozar who reps Beauty Counter. We started to discuss the idea of creating our own vibrant dynamic space for like-minded women (and men). AND that’s exactly what we did that day and we lived happily ever after. JK the process ended up taking much longer than we could have ever anticipated. We looked at a number of spaces, get held up in a pandemic, and in construction. Almost a year later we were able to open our doors.
So now we are three months into being open and we are learning so much along the way. My heart is so full each time I walk in and see people working. My heart skips a beat when someone new says “WOW this place is so cool, I didn’t know this was here”. I admire our team of baddies and all the incredible women who have joined our warrior women mission, and I can’t wait to meet more.
I am excited to chat with you all more about Virago, about your dreams, about your aspirations, and so much more.
I always love meeting new people so feel free to drop me a line if you ever want to say hi: montanamija@gmail.com
Xoxo Virago Co-Founder
-Mercedes Alyssa Bawden