She leaves amid a furor over treatment of black and brown employees at the chain of women’s networking spaces. Audrey Gelman is the CEO and, with Lauren Kassan, the co-founder of women’s co-working space The Wing.The company has locations in New York City, Chicago, and San Francisco, with plans to open soon in L.A. and Boston (and London, West Hollywood, Toronto, Seattle, and Paris to follow).

[10] By November 2017, the club had around 1,500 members. Audrey Gelman, the founder of the Wing, a women-only co-working space, at the Washington, D.C., location in 2018. Audrey Gelman, the Wing’s Co-Founder, Resigns. Audrey Gelman…

Audrey Gelman (born June 2, 1987) is an American businessperson and political staffer. With her business partner Ms. Kassan, Ms. Gelman founded the Wing in 2016 with the idea that women in gig-economy New York needed a place to take meetings, network and refresh their makeup. [28] Their first child was born on September 24, 2019. On June 1, one employee who asked for an update on her payments was told in an email that “the fund is currently paused as we continue to raise more money and distribute grants to the existing applicants.”. “Hold up, how do you have 200k for orgs when you still haven’t paid numerous employees that applied for the employee relief fund?” said one commenter, among many. The company announced a Wing Employee Relief Fund.

“The Wing unilaterally condemns all racist and state-sanctioned violence against Black communities. Employees who witnessed the altercation said they felt the white guest was at fault. She maintains an ownership stake of more than 10 percent in the company and will remain on the board.

“The company is elevating leadership from within to create a newly formed Office of the CEO that will be composed of Lauren Kassan, Celestine Maddy, and Ashley Peterson,” a spokeswoman for the company said in a detailed email. The black women of Dumbo had a whole groupchat that we spoke in every single day for MONTHS because we didn’t feel safe working at the wing. Civil rights movements were good for Audrey Gelman, a founder of the upscale women-only club and co-working space the Wing, until they weren’t. She is a childhood friend of Lena Dunham, who has called her the inspiration for the Girls character Marnie. [4] That month, The Wing launched the magazine No Man's Land[4] and also raised $32 million in a series B funding round, led by WeWork. Dues are waived for about 300 low-income members.).

Shortly after she did so, employees went on virtual strike to protest her leadership and to ask for sweeping changes to the management of the Wing, especially its treatment of black and brown employees.

[7] In the December 2014 issue of Forbes, Audrey Gelman was named one of its 30 Under 30: Corporate Climbers, and was previously named in the magazine's 30 Under 30: Law and Policy list. The Wing was among them, saying to its 548,000 followers that it would make a $200,000 donation to causes associated with the Black Lives Matter movement.

In accordance with Wing bylaws, employees alerted the white woman that she would be banned from the space. That was the same day it told some employees it had run out of money and couldn’t spare $500. [2] She returned to New York after Clinton's primary defeat. Audrey Gelman, co-founder of The Wing, is stepping down as CEO of the millenial-pink–hued women’s co-working space.. On Thursday morning, Gelman notified staff in a company-wide email that after running the business for a little over three years, today will be her last day. While the corporate staff was about 40 percent people of color, the employees who ran the spaces themselves — the cafe workers, the cleaners, the maintenance staffs, the desk clerks — were hourly wage earners who were mostly people of color, according to former employees. She finished her bachelor's degree in political science at New York University. It chartered buses to ferry members to Washington for the inaugural Women’s March and offered its members panel discussions like “Workshop on Anxiety & Depression in a Post-Trump World and “A Conversation With Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.”. In the next three and a half years, Ms. Gelman and Ms. Kassan raised more than $100 million from venture capitalists and investors like Valerie Jarrett, a former adviser to President Barack Obama, and the soccer star Megan Rapinoe, opening eight more locations, from London to Los Angeles.

To enable Verizon Media and our partners to process your personal data select 'I agree', or select 'Manage settings' for more information and to manage your choices. [18], In 2013, Politico listed Gelman as one of its 50 Politicos to Watch. The frustration among employees and former employees continued to percolate through the past week, with employees taking steps to organize a response via group chats and emails.

[14] In June 2019, the Wing's motion to dismiss the lawsuit was denied and as of September 2019, the lawsuit was pending.

She leaves amid a furor over treatment of black and brown employees at the chain of women’s networking spaces. [22], Gelman endorsed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the run-up for the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Gelman dated photographer Terry Richardson from 2011 until 2013. We stand with the protesters who are putting their voices and bodies on the line to advocate for the dire change that we need in this country.”, The response was perhaps not what Ms. Gelman and her fellow executives had hoped.

Audrey Gelman — who resigned as CEO of women-only club the Wing in June amid accusations that the feminist networking space treated black and brown employees poorly — … Shortly afterwards, the company instituted its first formal membership policy which went into effect on September 24, 2018. Audrey Gelman (born June 2, 1987) is an American businessperson and political staffer. [2][3], Gelman attended the Lab School and Bard High School in New York City. She declined to comment further.

[26] In April 2016, she married Genius co-founder Ilan Zechory[27] in Detroit. [1] She was the inspiration for Allison Williams's character Marnie on Girls. [4][5] During this time, she also appeared in the satirical web series Delusional Downtown Divas by Lena Dunham. "[10] The first location was in the Flatiron District.

[12] On March 1, 2018, the New York City Commission on Human Rights started a "commission-initiated" investigation[13] into how The Wing membership system operates. HuffPost is part of Verizon Media. By mid-May, several former employees had received their checks, but others had not. Evelyn Hockstein/for The Washington Post, via Getty Images. She declined to be interviewed.

She is the founder of The Wing, a women's co-working space and social club founded in New York City in 2016. She is the founder of The Wing, a women's co-working space and social club founded in New York City in 2016. Less than a month after the opening of the club’s first location, in New York’s Flatiron district, Donald J. Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in the presidential election, and suddenly the Wing had a new mission and urgency.

In August 2018, a male applicant who was denied admission filed a lawsuit against The Wing for gender discrimination. Between April 15 and June 7, employees could apply for one-time assistance grants of $500 each. [4] In 2013, Gelman joined the New York office of strategic consulting firm SKDKnickerbocker. Black lives don’t matter to yall.”. But the Black Lives Matter movement, amplified by the police killing of George Floyd, has not played to Ms. Gelman’s advantage.

She was the inspiration for Allison Williams's character Marnie on Girls. President.