Have you ever moved to a new city? It can be a lot of fun trying new restaurants and seeing new site, but also challenging to meet new people. Now try moving to a city during a global pandemic. One member, Angelica Obi, recently did just that.  

From what I understand, you just moved to Austin at the beginning of the summer. Where are you from? And what brought you to Austin?

True, I moved to Austin in June because I got a job offer with a company called Veryable. I was also looking for a change at the time. I figured I’m young with no kids so might as well jump around while I can.

Did you visit Austin before you moved here? 

My boyfriend and I came here very briefly to get the vibe of the city. Dallas, where we were living, was a bit stuffy. So we wanted to make sure it was a good fit.

Where are you originally from?

South Florida, home of the BEST grocery store, Publix.

Where did you go to school? 

Florida Atlantic University. I studied health administration

What was it like moving to a new city during a global pandemic? 

Honestly it wasn't that bad. It was actually smoother than my move from Deerfield Beach, FL. It took me 2 years to make good friends in Dallas so it was pretty lonely. I made friends in my neighborhood just by walking Ellie (my dog) and also coming here to Createscape. Vana, (Createscape community manager), and Carly (Createscape member) have become great friends.  

Can you tell me about your company, Veryable? 

We are a relatively young start-up and our mission is to revitalize the manufacturing sector by allowing businesses to “variablize” labor costs in small increments and incur these costs in direct proportion to output. The goal is to unshackle businesses and allow them to scale while maintaining a lower and more constant cost structure. Our technology enables us to transform an antiquated and inefficient labor market – creating a real-time marketplace for labor that will put more people to work and relieve the burden on producers, improving overall productivity and enabling organic growth.

Since Veryable is kind of at an intersection with coworking as an industry (on-demand labor meets on-demand office space), I would be curious what your thoughts are on the future of work, workspaces and coworking spaces, flexibility, etc?

I think this year has proven that flexibility is of utmost importance to any business. Be it flexibility to access a workspace safely when you need it, or flexibility finding work or workers, the coming year will allow for companies to pivot and make good use of the resources available on-demand, now. This will eventually promote that their operations are successful, employees and workers are happy, and that they adjust to their needs while not incurring extra costs.

How did you find Createscape? 

Through Veryable : )

Is this your first time working at a coworking space?

Yes, and it’s been an interesting experience. The freedom to choose location and environment is freeing. It makes work less stressful and it allows you to truly step away and talk about something other than work with other members.

How do you think working at a coworking space serves your needs, as opposed to you and your coworkers just renting an office space somewhere?

Probably the space. It's nice to work with a team, but not have to sit with your team all the time. Everyone has personal space and the lax environment seems to encourage open communication without fear of maintaining a corporate mindset (if that makes sense). 

When we first started the Createscape newsletter, we did a big feature on Createscape pets. Since Ellie wasn’t a member at the time, can you ask her to tell us about herself? 

My brindle baby is turning 3 years old in February and she’s actually my first pet. For our third anniversary, my boyfriend adopted her from a rescue called Mutty Paws in Bells, TX. She can be quite rude, mischievous and is a BIG believer in “stranger danger.” But she's also the most loving, obsessive big baby. 

Originally, her name was Ellen, but we nicknamed her Ellie. She ONLY responded to Ellie, so we stuck with it to make it easier to train a 5-month-old puppy. We aren't exactly sure what breed she is, in all honesty. But one thing we do know is she’s definitely a pit mix. Maybe a bit of a black mouth cur or hound. 

She’s high-food motivated and will try anything if it involves food. So tricks are quickly learned when a cookie is involved, and then forgotten. I think she is perfect for our lil’ family of big personalities.