The Wing — the female-focused co-working space and social club that was billed as a utopia for women — has been shut down overnight after weathering everything from a gender discrimination lawsuit and allegations of racism.
Founded by Audrey Gelman and Lauren Kassan, the company first launched in New York City in 2016. At the height of its success, The Wing had nearly a dozen locations, including spaces in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago. Members found out via email on Tuesday that the six remaining locations that survived the pandemic would be closed effective immediately,' The New York Times reported. With the backdrop of the Covid pandemic and increasing global economic challenges, we have been unable to recover and grow the level of active membership and event activity necessary to run a financially sustainable operation,' the letter read.
A spokesperson for International Workplace Group (IWG) — the parent company of The Wing — declined to specify the size of the co-working space's current membership, according to The Times.
Members were told they could use IWG's U.S. locations as a temporary workspace through the end of September.
TikTok user Hannah Eddins opened up about The Wing's closure in a video that was posted on Wednesday, saying she had 'major New York City drama to discuss.'
'I've been a member for about six months, since January, and all of a sudden last night at about 8:30 at night we all got an email saying it was shut down immediately [and] indefinitely,' she said.
Eddins used the app's greenscreen function to project the letter she received about the closing behind her.
'This is the email we received blaming it on COVID, but it has entirely opened up,' she explained. 'In January, when I restarted my membership, they were talking about all the new things they were doing post-Covid and that they were still doing really well. There's a lot of speculation it has absolutely nothing to do with Covid19.