Why Small Businesses Matter in Darien: HAYVN

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Why Small Businesses Matter

Shop small, do big things for your community

Why Small Businesses Matter puts a spotlight on the local merchants who donate their time, talent, goods, and services for the betterment of our community. The shop local movement spreads virally as local businesses who are “tagged” have the opportunity to share their story!

You're IT HAYVN!

Four questions with Felicia Rubinstein, founder of HAYVN.

Why did you start your business?

It’s interesting how ideas and inspiration come to me. A few years ago, I was out walking and listening to a podcast about creating a coworking community and I realized that I wanted to do the same thing, but for women and in my local community as well as in Fairfield and Westchester Counties.

During my varied career in mechanical engineering to marketing to balancing work, life, kids, and a virtual marketing agency for independent contractors and freelancers I founded – I’d come to realize that women starting companies or working remotely for companies, were the “Invisibles”.

Our grand opening was in May 2019. Today, we’ve celebrated our second anniversary, survived Covid, and have morphed our community into one that helps entrepreneurs and business professionals. We have great programming for freelancers, remote corporate workers, like funding and launching a startup, writing a book – you name it.

HAYVN inspires so many more people than we initially dreamed including HAYVN Hub which helps match high school interns to HAYVN Roots & Wings program to help 20-somethings launch their career journey. Basically, we created HAYVN for you – and that “you” grow as our community and collective wisdom grows. HAYVN is all about supporting and energizing women on their professional and personal journeys. Because HAYVN believes when female entrepreneurs and small business owners come together, magic happens in all aspects of their lives.

What is your best-selling product/service?

There are so many different things we do at HAYVN that I’ll share some with you. HAYVN is a flexible workspace for enterprising women and men to connect, create and grow. Along with a vibrant and engaged community of entrepreneurs, HAYVN is a business HUB, offering short and long-term office space rentals, part-time private office space, meeting rooms (including our podcast room), and workshops and events to support local businesses.

I encourage you to check out the HAYVN’s programming, workshops, and exclusive member events by clicking here. To highlight a few of HAYVN’s signature programs, unique to HAYVN are HAYVN Hatch (pitch nights supporting startups), HAYVN Launch (a business incubator for female founders), HAYVN Roots + Wings (helping 20-somethings launch their career journey), HAYVN Health (healthy eating, cooking, meditation, wellness), HAYVN Half Time (virtual lunch meetings with experts and insights), and our career forum, internship job board, and HAYVN Hatch(let) which is a supportive pitch event for young female entrepreneurs 16-22.

Also highly valued are our workshops which run the gamut from business, strategy, finance, legal, marketing, technology, productivity, health and wellness, and social, personal/professional development. Our weekly morning meditation walks are always busy, networking happy hour full of new products and businesses to meet, and our virtual work sprint helps us set a goal and crush it in 90 minutes. Please visit our beautiful safe ‘HAYVN’ at 320 Boston Post Road, Darien, CT, or visit www.hayvn.com for more information.

How many local businesses do you use to support your business (products and services) and can you name them?

Currently, we support over 120 companies. Since HAYVN’s founding in 2017, we haven’t stopped reimagining what “working” looks like. We have a commitment to serve at least 75% of local and independent clients or customers. HAYVN is B Corp Certified which means HAYVN has rigorously demonstrated it’s a mission-driven company that balances profit and purpose in order to build a community for the full benefit of all stakeholders.

HAYVN seeks to build a thriving community of entrepreneurs in a way that addresses women’s needs. In addition, HAYVN is also creating network and business support systems with its own community of social impact members. Some of their members include Smile Coffee Werks, GoPure, Thinking Beyond Business, and Impact Growth Partners to name a few. You can learn more about our team here and our Community Partners here. Also, check out our HAYVN Mavens who are in-house professionals helping members every day of the week with their business questions here.

Have you "reimagined" your small business?

Yes - of course, and continuously, we did a lot of pivots this year. We have a vibrant social network where we meet virtually and in-house. Here are some examples of a few new workshop offerings:

1. HAYVN LAUNCH PROGRAM - Education, Mentorship, Coworking Community, Investor Network An incubator to help female entrepreneurs make their next big idea a reality or take their business to the next level - helping with funding and pointers to get in front of investors. (Learn more here).

2. HAYVN ROOTS & WINGS SERIES: A 4-week workshop series for recent college grads and others in their 20s who have not found their footing in the work world. Our workshop series guides and assists participants in preparing for a career journey. From discovering a career fit to nailing interviews and optimizing resumes, to managing new financial situations, this series will empower participants in navigating their place in the world of work and where they will thrive. (Learn more here)

3. BUSINESS INCUBATOR AND TRAINING PROGRAMS and WORKSHOPS We launched a Business Incubator and Training Programs in partnership with local agencies such as CTNext, the local Chambers, and SBDC. Through the Business Incubator, a specialist is available every day of the week at HAYVN to help business owners address key challenges – e.g. Finance, Marketing, SEO, Social Media, Technology, Legal (Learn more here). HAYVN also hosts training events to provide professional/entrepreneurial women with guidance and tools to advance their careers and grow their businesses.

HAYVN is located at 320 Boston Post Road in Darien. Visit HAYVN online here, and make sure to check out their Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages as well!

HamletHub thanks Fairfield County Bank for making our Why Small Businesses Matter series possible!

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Submitted by Darien, CT

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