About
BLANKSPACES is a coworking community of entrepreneurs and freelancers sharing space, collaborating, and networking. Our five Southern California locations feature WorkCafé open seating, dedicated desks, private offices, virtual office mail services, meeting rooms, and event spaces available by the hour, day, week, month, or year.
As Southern California’s first and oldest coworking community since 2008, BLANKSPACES provides a personal, boutique experience for members to grow their businesses.
Jerome Chang
Founder / Architect
323 330 9505
jerome@blankspaces.com
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Jerome is the founder of BLANKSPACES and a still-practicing licensed architect. As an early pioneer of coworking, Jerome co-founded LExC, the League of Extraordinary Coworking (the first national network of coworking spaces) and COSHARE (the first national association of shared spaces). Jerome honed his design skills at Clive Wilkinson Architects (CWA), known worldwide for the office headquarters of Google, Chiat/Day and Mother Advertising. Prior to CWA, Jerome was a designer at SFJones Architects, which has designed renowned restaurants such as Spago Beverly Hills, Nobu Malibu, Hamasaku, and Lucky Strike Bowl. Jerome holds a Master of Architecture degree from Harvard University; Master of Engineering and Bachelors of Science degrees from Cornell University. He instilled some right-brain training and a little more left-brain to develop BLANKSPACES. With each project for BLANKSPACES and for private clients, Jerome iterates and improves the various elements that constitute the BLANKSPACES experience.
Emmy Benson
Revenue Manager
Emmy has been with BLANKSPACES since September 2011, managing revenue for all locations. She has a bachelor's degree in English from Olivet Nazarene University and several years of stage management experience garnered from Kansas City's community theatre industry. When not at BLANKSPACES, Emmy writes Young Adult novels, runs a community food pantry, and organizes children's community events in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she lives with her family.
Ethan Chang
Accounts Manager
Since November of 2015, Ethan has been proudly serving the BLANKSPACES team and community so that everyone can thrive at SoCal’s original Coworking company! His choice hobby is anything and everything computers, but when he can escape from said computers, he enjoys outdoor adventures and tasting the best food that Los Angeles has to offer.
Elizabeth (Liz) Nowlin
Community Manager
Liz has worked for BLANKSPACES since September of 2017. She’s a Pasadena native, and loves now being a part of the coworking culture and innovation scene. Right now she’s working on gaining her Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. Her bicycle is her vehicle of choice and weekend hiking adventures are her favorite end-of-week activity. She’s also great for pointing out the best vegan food and bars nearby!
Elizabeth (Eliz) Geli
Marketing Manager
Elizabeth (aka Eliz) is BLANKSPACES’ longest-serving team member, having joined in March 2011. Since then, she’s always helped out in some capacity from behind-the-scenes communication projects to filling in at the front desk. She currently manages the company’s newsletter, calendars, displays, and back-end operations projects. She has a bachelor’s in journalism, master’s in specialized arts journalism, and master’s in communication management, all from the University of Southern California. Eliz is a co-host of Sequel Rights podcast.
Lani Kim
Facility Manager
Lani has worked at BLANKSPACES since December 2018, splitting her time between the Pasadena and Larchmont locations. You can usually find her at the front desk with a cup of peach tea. Raised in the OC, she moved to Pasadena for college, studying chemistry and economics at Caltech. In her free time, she loves to experiment in the kitchen by trying out different bread recipes. On weekends, she travels around the country to compete in various styles of dance.
Brenda Tsay
Account Supervisor
Brenda Tsay is the the Account Supervisor at BLANKSPACES. Brenda is a graduate of the University of Washington, where she received a B.S. in Accounting from the UW Foster School of Business and a Dance Minor. After graduation, Brenda returned home to Los Angeles to pursue a career in business management & earn a CPA license. On weekends, she likes to explore new foodie spots with her husband and son. Every once in a while, she likes to be more adventurous with her food palette, so she travels to different parts of the world to try new authentic dishes she has never had before.
Ciara Velasquez
Community Supervisor - Culver City
Ciara is a Los Angeles native; born and raised in the Venice/Culver City area. She is an avid sports lover who has tried everything from dance to softball and even dabbled in surfing. She has her Bachelor’s in English and Journalism from Loyola Marymount University. During her spare time she likes to crunch brunch, read, or hang out with her Labrador Retriever, Charlie.
Catherine Casem
Facility Supervisor - Culver City
Catherine recently joined BLANKSPACES and while she is new to the world of coworking, she is very familiar with its core value of community and takes pride in facilitating an efficient, comfortable environment for all of our members. When she's not at work she enjoys watching movies and television (the darker the comedy, the better), reading (especially science fiction), and long-distance running (from her problems). You can find Catherine at the front desk at our Larchmont location, where she is happy to answer any of your questions about coworking at BLANKSPACES, the latest film release, her thoughts on colonizing Mars, and beyond!
Tresa Chath
Facility Supervisor - Santa Monica
Originally from India, Tresa lived there for the first 14 years of her life before moving to California and attending high school in the US. She's moved around a bit since then; living in Napa, CA for 2.5 yrs, then in Canton, MI for 3.5 yrs. In her free time she enjoys painting and exploring the city.
Cherylen (Cher) Watts
Front Desk Coordinator II
Cherylen (you may call her "Cher") is a Los Angeles native and joined BLANKSPACES in April 2019. She enjoys the simple things in life like hanging out with friends, eating, working out and catching up on some of her favorite shows. At work, her favorite thing to do is to give tours to all the new and prospective members at BLANKSPACES.
Elly Brinkerhoff
Front Desk Coordinator - Culver City
Elly is a newcomer to the world of co-working, but not to California sunshine! She found her new home in LA after growing up in San Diego and spending the last 3 years on the east coast. Elly graduated with a degree in studio art in 2012 and is passionate about painting and drawing. She’s an ice cream connoisseur, webcomic admirer, podcast consumer, and all-around nature lover. Catch her at the Culver City location where she’ll gladly chat with you about anything from rock climbing, to cooking techniques, to the joys of dog ownership!
Sanjay Gidwani
Front Desk Coordinator
Sanjay Gidwani was born and raised in Sydney Australia. He has a broad range of retail and real estate experience. In the retail space he has worked with Harrods and Party City, and in real estate; WeWork, CBRE and Westfield. He enjoys traveling, surfing and practicing yoga. At BLANKSPACES he looks forward to working on business development and real estate partnerships.
