Jaclyn Bonner never thought she’d join a coworking space. But when she started working remotely, she discovered that structure and community were both a necessity for her. “When I decided to go full-time with Urban Strategies, I just had this gaping void of people. I made the plunge, got a membership here, and haven’t regretted a single second of it,” she says.
Since joining The Impact Guild, she’s been able to find a community in San Antonio, while also doing communications and content development for an organization she’s passionate about. Her company, Urban Strategies, is a social enterprise that works with grassroots organizations on a number of social issues, from youth development to mental health. They also do development work with communities on the border and in Central America and often work with people who are considering coming to the United States.
“I’m really interested in migration issues, specifically working with refugees is kind of a long-term goal,” she says. “It’s great because I’m getting to learn more about the refugee and migration issues that are right here in our backyard through my company.”
The next step in pursuing her dream is working on her language skills. “For over a year now, I’ve been saying my goal is to learn Spanish. And I realized that I can’t say that anymore because I wasn’t taking any proactive steps to actually learn it,” she says. That’s why she’s interested in starting a Spanish conversation group at The Impact Guild in the near future. “I think it will be a great tool, not only for each of us in our own work, but also for just connecting with people.”
She’s also found an opportunity to further explore her interest in global affairs through investing in Kiva with the Impact Guild. She was first introduced to microlending while working for an NGO in Uganda. “Every Friday after payday, [the staff there] would get their microlending group together, and they would talk about their needs, and if someone had any that couldn’t be met, they, as a group, would pool their money for that member,” she explains.
Getting to be a part of microlending, even from the other side of the world, was an exciting experience for her. “I think it taps into the pulse of the community here, being that people are very socially conscious and globally minded.”
The mindset of the community she’s found at The Impact Guild is what she loves most about it. “Even though people arrive at their conviction to be socially conscious from different places, that’s what I think unifies this group,” she says. While her coworkers at Urban Strategies are scattered around the globe, the professional community she’s found here has made her feel at home in San Antonio.
Some of those professional connections have turned into great friendships as well. She got into running last year, and after moving to San Antonio, started looking for a running buddy in her neighborhood. When she joined The Impact Guild, she met Nora, another member who’s also a runner and lives just a few streets over. “That’s one of my favorite connections because she’s great and I learn a lot from her,” she says. “It’s nice to have a work buddy in a sense, to get to know better and spend time with.”