Behind every coworking space, there is usually one manager performing the roles of tour guide, cleaner, events organizer, sales lead, and even therapist—all within the same day.
On a recent episode of the Coworking Values Podcast, host Bernie Mitchell sat down with DeShawn Brown, founder and CEO of Coworks, to discuss what it actually takes to support these managers and why the soul of coworking lives inside the chaos. The episode is rightfully called, Your Community Manager Can't Do 8 Jobs Forever with DeShawn Brown.
Your Community Manager Can't Do 8 Jobs Forever with DeShawn Brown by Bernie J Mitchell
When your community manager is tour guide, cleaner, sales, and dishwasher all at once — what happens when they finally burn out?
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We’ve all met this person: the coworking manager who had scarcely a moment to spare. This isn’t because she is wildly popular, but because she is overloaded with responsibilities.
That is who Coworks software is built for.
Brown, based in Raleigh, North Carolina, leads Coworks, which is a management and operations platform designed to help flex space operators and managers gain control over booking, billing, and—at its heart—community. He is also Director of Operations and Strategy at the Future Leaders of Coworking, known as “FLOC,” a peer-based community supporting early- and mid-career professionals in the coworking field.
Asked what he wanted to be remembered for, Brown offered a personal note. “For me, really just an innovator, somebody who really helped make a difference in whatever verticals and industries that I’m present,” he said. “If I can get that, that’s a big one.”
A thread that ties everything together
Mitchell had come across the phrase “generous leadership” in Brown’s digital footprint and pressed him for details.
Brown’s reply felt more like life wisdom than business-speak. “As a leader, the best thing that you can do is really motivate people, develop people. The best teammates… are the ones that you don’t have to micromanage or force, but who get excited to be where they are and doing what they do.”
Brown added that some of his most successful deals came from networks built on genuine goodwill. “That’s worked really well for all my organizations,” he said.
Brown drew a clear line between generous leadership and nurturing the next crop of coworking professionals. “You gotta tackle innovation on both sides,” he explained. “You go to people who are already established and…also develop that next wave.”
That is FLOC’s driving force: a peer community with industry mentors to help fill gaps and break silos.
Why burnout is the silent killer every coworking manager fears
Brown saw coworking managers as multitaskers with an unbeatable closet full of hats—one day a tour coordinator, the next a dishwasher, then an event organizer, sales admin, or booking admin.
The manager in Raleigh had been so busy “you couldn’t even get time on her calendar to deal with important issues,” Brown recalled. He explained how these moments inspired him to build Coworks as a platform that “supercharges” community managers, giving them superpowers to focus on what matters—community—rather than wrestling with admin all day.
The pair agreed that FLOC’s bigger purpose had always been to combat burnout and bridge the knowledge gap between managers. Brown believed education needed to start at the university level.
“Teaching people about entrepreneurship, teaching people about coworking…those people will come out and come into the market with fresh ideas and that young energy.” When he attended college, entrepreneurship wasn’t a major. Now, universities create entrepreneur spaces that resemble coworking. Coworks itself partnered with colleges to foster this shift.
Brown wants coworking studies to stand beside hospitality and ecosystem building. “I would have loved unreasonable hospitality and coworking to have been around when I went to college,” he admitted.
Successful coworking managers do more than most realize
Mitchell steered the chat toward learning and profitability, and Jamie Russo’s name quickly surfaced—Russo runs the Everything Coworking podcast and Community Manager University.
Brown lit up with praise for her. “She’ll walk you through from start to finish—from your business plan to ensuring profitability, understanding marketing channels, and, if you’ve already got a space, what services you’re offering.” Russo’s program is “very intimate and dedicated” to helping operators succeed.
Brown wished for more programs like Russo’s to enter formal education and believed flock filled the gap by connecting managers post-certification. “It’s so important to have that community of other managers, other spaces, other regions,” he noted.
Regional differences make coworking endlessly interesting. “Region to region, coworking is so different,” Brown remarked. “In the southeast, lots of big warehouses; West Coast, smaller spaces and relaxed vibes; New York, it’s just work, work, work.”
Not just tech bros and ping pong
Mitchell remembered those UK freelancer group debates where coworking got typecast as “tech bros playing ping pong.” Yet coworking means so much more—salon spaces, love spaces, maker spaces, community hubs. Brown agreed, lamenting the stubborn perception issue. “Of if they know coworking, the only thing they do know is WeWork. That’s a blessing and a curse.”
COVID changed the game, as people scrambled for neighborhood workspaces and discovered coworking—though their reference point was still WeWork. Brown saw this as progress but felt the industry needed to tell its story better.
He pointed out that coworking spaces grant access to amenities that small startups couldn’t dream of alone.
“I did my own startup, and I could barely afford the rent on an office. When I finally got one, there was no kitchen, WiFi, or furniture.”
Coworking solved all that.
Even his own team favored coffee shops for their energy, reminding him that spaces mattered. He cheers on coworking’s expansion to salons, wellness professionals, and makers, saying, “It’s about communities sharing resources, being more efficient, and gaining access to community they otherwise don’t get until they scale up.”
Business culture hidden in plain sight
Mitchell asked Brown about the “business narrative”— think the hustle of Shark Tank and The Apprentice. Brown focused on kitchen table entrepreneurs and builders, not sharks. These makers, barbers, and event pros need the community that coworking uniquely supplies.
Mitchell described his own event manager days, shuttling between coffee shops and home. “No congregating thing… If we had somewhere to go and sit down and congregate, it would have been magic, 100%.”
Brown insisted coworking holds something for everyone. “Truly, there’s at least one membership option that makes sense for them, even if it’s just a mailbox… You don’t want to put your home address on business documents. You should not.” That alone made coworking a compelling business solution.
Coworking deserved to show up on LinkedIn—finally
Mitchell brought up the ongoing campaign to add coworking as an official LinkedIn industry. “We’re trying to get 1000 signatures,” he said. Brown sees this as overdue validation. “It’ll legitimize all the amazing people who’ve been in coworking for ages, and the newcomers too. Seems simple and trivial but it’s a huge deal.”
The conversation closed with Brown urging everyone in coworking to elevate someone else, the industry, and themselves. He stayed optimistic: “We’re in a really awesome time. There’s uncertainty in real estate, but excitement and legitimacy in coworking and flexible space. My mission is to keep pushing that forward.”
