Community of Cultivators: Edition 46

Here at GCUC we are immensely fortunate to cross paths and work with so many amazing people. Through our work, we’ve cultivated a global community of people we think you should know about.

Community of Cultivators is a blog series we created to introduce you to coworking game changers and connectors. Each month, we’ll release new interviews that we hope inform and inspire you.

Happy Earth Day friends! Today we are coming at you with an interview with Nancy Fornasiero Founder and Director of ACE Coworking. Fun fact about Nancy, outside of her coworking life, she is an author and professional editor. If you have not had the pleasure of meeting her in person at a past GCUC Canada conference, we highly suggest you keep reading and make it a point to connect with her.

What in your life are you most proud of cultivating or creating? Why?

The first answer to pop into my head is “my kids” – I’m super proud of the awesome young men they’ve grown into. But of course, as parents we only nurture our children into adulthood; we aren’t fully responsible for creating them. I would say the same is true for the other accomplishment I’m proud of: launching ACE Coworking. I take some credit for creating the space and community; no one else had thought of building a coworking facility in our city. With the help of my husband we researched, planned, marketed and filled the place all on our own. I planned the interior design myself and even a lot of the buildout was done DIY style. However, when people tell me how great ACE is, they always reference “the energy” or “the vibe.” I can’t take full credit for that piece – sure, I try to nurture a certain culture here, but it’s our members who really bring the life, personality and energy to our community.

What podcast would you recommend to others and why?

My favourite podcast is “Longform,” which I became a fan of before I was involved in coworking and was still working fulltime as a writer and editor. It’s geared towards writers and journalists, but if you like hearing about the creative process behind brilliant minds and projects, you’ll enjoy it no matter your profession. For anyone curious about entrepreneurship, “How I Built This” is a great podcast too.

What is one piece of advice you give everyone who works with you?

At ACE we have a detailed manual that our staff members and even interns are asked to read and follow. It has a lot of dos and don’ts in there, but one “rule” stands out: Make a point of interacting with each and every member every day, even if it’s a just quick hello. If a member or guest spends time at ACE and no one has engaged with them at all, I feel we’ve failed. Without that one-on-one interaction, they may as well have been working from home alone.

What is the best habit you ever started? What habit do you want to start but haven’t yet?

I started keeping a “bullet journal” about two years ago and it’s allowed me to consolidate all my dozens of to-do lists into one organized place. It’s a really satisfying way to start my day, keep everything on track, and check off completed tasks. It’s not a typical diary – you can check out the bullet journal method online. As for habits I’d like to start… well, I’ve had countless false starts trying to commit to a regular fitness program, but I’m embarrassed to admit that none of them stick for very long. I’d like to work on that for sure.

If you had $500 to spend what would you buy?

I’d spend it on a welcome back party for our ACE members, post-COVID. We are going to celebrate bigtime when this is over!