St. Louis entrepreneur creates a 'third place' to help women thrive and reduce isolation

Reported in NPR

As guests and members walked through the heavy wooden door of a Central West End home built in the late 1800s, they were greeted by two women who provided drinks and put away their coats. The two-story hideaway is a place for women and mothers to create community, relax or work remotely.

Entrepreneurs, students, doctors, creatives and mothers gather at korédé House to build relationships to help fight isolation and improve their mental health. Recent reports show that more people are experiencing loneliness, which the U.S. surgeon general calls a public health crisis and is negatively impacting health.

“The loneliness that a lot of people experience creates a lot of issues,” said Ronke Faleti, founder of korédé House. “If we have more spaces like this to gather — and specifically targeting women and targeting mothers — I think that we will be nicer people.”

Like many women during the pandemic, Faleti worked from home while caring for her family simultaneously. She crammed in work, home school and family time and could not carve out time to mentally take care of herself.Read more here.