Kathrin Louis has spent almost 20 years mastering the art of hospitality.
Hotels. Restaurants. The kind of environments where you learn to read a room in seconds, anticipate needs before they're spoken, and turn strangers into regulars through nothing more than genuine attention.
Twelve years ago, she moved from Germany to Los Angeles. And now, as Community Manager at Carr Workplaces in Downtown LA, she's discovered something important: coworking, at its best, is also hospitality but with desks.
It's why she's a semi-finalist for Community Manager of the Year 2025, an award that will be presented at the Global Workspace Association conference in Chicago. Sponsored by Coworks for the third consecutive year and presented by CEO DeShawn Brown, the recognition celebrates the people who understand that flexible workspace isn't really about flexibility at all. It's about the humans who show up every day.
And in one of the most complex and challenging neighborhoods in the country, Kathrin has shown up consistently, even when everything around her was in flux.
Downtown LA isn't an easy place to be. It never has been. But in recent years, it's become a study in compounding challenges: wildfires and smoke-filled air, regional protests that shut down streets, the lingering aftermath of pandemic-driven instability and commercial vacancy. The kind of environment where uncertainty becomes the baseline.
Many operators would retreat. Scale back. Wait for things to stabilize.
Kathrin stepped forward.
When air quality from nearby wildfires worsened, she didn't just send an email and hope for the best. She quickly sourced air purifiers. She provided wellness updates. And she checked in on members one by one, "not out of obligation, but out of genuine care."
She launched a donation drive for wildfire relief. She coordinated a micro-volunteering day to benefit local nonprofits. And somehow, in the midst of crisis management, she still found time to organize moments of levity. National Chocolate Day. Have a Coke Day. Small things that lifted spirits when people needed it most.
When local protests shut down parts of downtown, Kathrin calmly coordinated with security, adjusted member access with empathy, and "offered flexibility wherever possible to those members and their families."
This is what leadership looks like when the script goes out the window. Not rigid adherence to protocol, but thoughtful adaptation to what people actually need in the moment.
"Her ability to weave compassion into crisis management and turn everyday programming into something meaningful has made our space feel less like an office—and more like a community," her nominator explains. "That community is not just about occupancy or events, but about relationships, and she works tirelessly to foster an environment where everyone feels seen, valued, and supported."
In a post-pandemic coworking landscape marked by uncertainty, Kathrin has created something rare: a refuge of consistency and community.
Kathrin's path to community management makes perfect sense once you understand her background. Those nearly two decades in hospitality were more than training. They were preparation for exactly this kind of work.
She worked in hotels and restaurants, learning the rhythms of service, the importance of anticipation, the way a small gesture can transform someone's entire experience. When she discovered Carr Workplaces, what drew her in was simple: "Carr Workplaces is upfront about being a hospitality company."
Finally, a coworking operator that understood what she'd known all along. That "fostering community" isn't a nice-to-have feature. It's the entire point. That the industry needed people who could "apply her hospitality experience to this role."
And there was a practical benefit too: "better work hours compared to the hotel industry." After years of late nights and weekend shifts, the office world offered something valuable—the space to build a life while still doing work she loved.
This is Kathrin's first office and coworking space she's worked in. But you'd never know it. She brought everything she learned from hospitality and translated it seamlessly: the guest becomes the member, the lobby becomes the common area, the service philosophy remains exactly the same.
Make people feel welcome. Anticipate their needs. Turn transactions into relationships.
And her infectious smile is a powerful weapon.
Ask Kathrin about her favorite parts of community management, and the answer centers on one thing: connection.
"Building community," she says simply. "Introducing new office members to existing members. Fostering relationships with both physical and virtual office members. Hosting community events."
It's the same satisfaction she found in hospitality: the moment when you successfully bring people together, when you create an environment where relationships form naturally, when your space becomes a backdrop for human connection rather than just a location where work happens.
She's particularly proud of how she engages both physical and virtual office members. In an era when hybrid work threatens to fracture communities, Kathrin refuses to let virtual members become invisible. They're part of the ecosystem too. They deserve the same attention, the same care, the same sense of belonging.
Her approach to community building is both strategic and organic. She introduces members to each other intentionally, looking for complementary businesses or skills. She hosts themed events that give people permission to be playful. (Yes, they celebrated National Cheeseburger Day.) She encourages interaction in ways that feel natural rather than forced.
The goal isn't just to fill a calendar with programming. It's to create moments where connection happens almost by accident, facilitated by someone who understands how to set the stage.
When Kathrin describes what makes an ideal community manager, she's describing the skills she uses every single day.
"Someone who is curious about people," she starts. Someone who "does not judge others" and "gets to know people and finds connections."
But curiosity alone isn't enough. You need the ability to "adapt quickly to situations" and "solve problems efficiently." You need technical competence, whether that's "handling technology issues" or "patiently helping clients with printer or connection problems."
And critically, you need to "build strong relationships between team and clients."
That last part matters more than people realize. A community manager isn't just the friendly face in the front. They're the bridge between the operational machinery of a coworking space and the human beings who use it. They translate corporate policy into personal care. They advocate for member needs while keeping business realities in mind.
Kathrin takes particular pride in her problem-solving abilities. Technology issues that would frustrate most people become puzzles she's determined to crack. "Always finding a solution, even if it takes a few minutes," she explains. That patience—the willingness to sit with someone through their printer crisis or connection problem—builds trust in ways that perfectly executed events never could.
Here's how her nominator describes Kathrin's impact: "Kathrin is the heartbeat of our DTLA location."
In one of the most polarizing and complex neighborhoods in the country, she leads with empathy. She thrives under pressure. She creates consistency and stability in an environment that is constantly in flux.
Her strengths—adaptability, connectedness, individualization, input, and maximization—allow her to "not only manage day-to-day operations but to elevate them into moments of connection and care."
That elevation is what separates adequate community management from exceptional community management. Anyone can manage operations. The trick is doing it in a way that feels human rather than mechanical, personal rather than procedural.
"She understands how to balance professionalism with warmth, business needs with human needs, and corporate expectations with local culture," the nomination continues, "all while turning challenges into opportunities for deeper engagement one thoughtful interaction at a time."
One thoughtful interaction at a time. That's the work. Not the big initiatives or the Instagram-worthy events, but the daily accumulation of small moments where someone feels seen. Where a problem gets solved with patience. Where the space feels like more than just four walls and WiFi.
Community management isn't without its frustrations. Kathrin is candid about the challenges she faces.
"Members are reluctant to use us as an extension of their business," she notes. There's still a gap between what community managers can offer and what members think to ask for. The potential is there, but the bridge hasn't been fully built.
There's also the "difficulty getting members to participate in events." You can plan the perfect networking mixer or themed celebration, but if people don't show up, the community building stalls.
It's a delicate dance—creating opportunities without creating obligations, encouraging participation without applying pressure.
And then there's the ghosting. "Dealing with potential clients who 'ghost' after tours" is emotionally exhausting in a way that's hard to explain to people outside the industry. You spend time, energy, and enthusiasm showing someone around, answering their questions, imagining them as part of your community—and then they disappear without a word.
These challenges are universal in coworking, but they hit differently in Downtown LA, where the external pressures are already intense. When you're managing crisis after crisis, when the neighborhood itself is in constant transition, adding the everyday frustrations of community management to the mix requires a special kind of resilience.
Kathrin has that resilience. And more importantly, she hasn't let the challenges harden her. She's still curious. Still patient. Still committed to fostering connection even when it would be easier to give up.
Sometimes you need a moment of pure absurdity to remind you why this work matters.
For Kathrin, that moment involved a Korean company filming a commercial in the Carr Workplaces location. The commercial featured a person in a full Yeti costume.
Seems straightforward enough, right?
Except the Yeti couldn't get out of the costume as quickly as planned. And the other members couldn't resist. They kept taking pictures with the Yeti, who was stuck in the costume "longer than expected," probably getting increasingly warm and regretting their career choices.
It's the kind of moment that becomes office legend. The story you tell at conferences. The memory that makes people smile years later.
But it's also a perfect metaphor for community management: sometimes your job is to facilitate the unexpected, to roll with the chaos, and to let joy happen even when nothing is going according to plan.
There's a reason Kathrin's nomination is so powerful. In a city that has seen more than its share of challenges, she "eliminates the transactional nature of business by bringing human connection back into focus."
Not simply through building a beautiful and productive workspace, but through "being a champion of what community can become through her intuitive ability to see the unique contributions of each person, to create memorable experiences for our clients and their guests, and to uplift the stories and efforts that make the DTLA area so rich and diverse."
This is the work Downtown LA needs. Not another operator who treats coworking as a real estate play. Not another space that prioritizes aesthetics over authenticity. But someone who understands that in a neighborhood marked by instability, a community manager's job is to be the constant. The grounding presence. The person who shows up even when—especially when—everything else feels uncertain.
Kathrin works with partners to revitalize and reinvigorate the surrounding area. She doesn't just manage a space, she contributes to the neighborhood's recovery and evolution. Her commitment extends beyond her members to the broader community, understanding that a coworking space can't thrive in isolation from its context.
"Kathrin's commitment to excellence, combined with her sincere heart for people, makes her an irreplaceable part of our team and driving force behind our center's success," her nominator writes. "Carr is extraordinarily lucky to have her in our family, and there is no one more deserving of the Community Manager Award."
As the coworking industry continues to evolve, we're learning an important lesson: the spaces that survive and thrive aren't the ones with the best amenities or the fanciest designs. They're the ones with community managers who understand that this work is fundamentally about human connection.
Kathrin Louis understands this in her bones. She spent two decades in hospitality learning how to make people feel welcome, valued, and cared for.
Now she's applying those skills in an environment that desperately needs them. A downtown neighborhood navigating crisis after crisis, a coworking landscape trying to find its footing in a post-pandemic world, a community of professionals seeking stability and connection in uncertain times.
She creates that stability not through rigid systems or impersonal protocols, but through thoughtful interactions. Through sourcing air purifiers when the smoke rolls in. Through organizing chocolate days when spirits need lifting. Through patiently troubleshooting printer problems. Through introducing the right people to each other at the right moment.
When DeShawn Brown presents the Community Manager of the Year award in Chicago, whoever takes home the recognition will represent thousands of community managers doing similar work in their own contexts. Building bridges instead of walls. Creating consistency instead of chaos. Choosing compassion over transactions.
And in Downtown LA, Kathrin will keep doing what she does best: showing up, paying attention, and making sure that in one of the most challenging neighborhoods in one of the most complex cities in the world, there's at least one place that feels like home.