BCBUSINESS.CA ApRIL 2018 BCBusiness 37
lIfE SToRY: Vancouver's Werklab
is technically a coworking space, but
Christina Disler doesn't think that term
suffices. "Our business is our commu-
nity," Disler says, describing a model
in which potential users must apply to
be a member of the Werklab family.
"We won't sell out and do the daily
drop-in thing because that disrupts
what we're building and becomes very
transactional."
Disler, a Vancouver native, stopped
pursuing a psychology degree at
the University of Western Ontario in
her third year due to mental health
struggles. But she believes being on
the sidelines while her entrepreneur
father, Willy, sold his Internet protocol
business to Vancouver-based paladin
Security in 2015 was like an
mBA. her
dad taught her that "you don't have to
let [dropping out] be seen as a failure
and define you and define what your fu-
ture looks like," she says. Once the sale
closed, Disler started building Werklab
until it opened in early 2016.
THE boTToM lINE: Werklab
is expanding its Strathcona space
to 16,000 square feet. Now at 100
recurring monthly members (including
businesses like Booje media, a digital
marketing agency; garmentory, which
connects emerging fashion designers
worldwide with clients; and Lagree
West, a boutique fitness studio), the
company projects that membership
will increase by 600 percent once the
expansion is complete. –N.C.
C h R I s t I n A D I s L e R
Founder and CEO
werklab inc.
age: 28
thirty
unDer
thirty
