Mt Everest Challange 2024

Basestation residents and friends took part in this year's Mount Everest challenge!

Now in its 10th year, this annual challenge sets the goal of going up Mount Maunganui 38 times in 50 days (the equivalent to climbing Mount Everest) You can do this solo or as part of a team.

We had 15 Basestation residents, staff, friends, and whānau taking part in this year's Everest Challenge.  After doing some calculations we worked out that between us all we climbed up Mauao 237 times!

 

Basestation Christmas Appeal - Under the Stars

Over the last few years Basestation has asked its residents to contribute non-perishable goods, toiletries and monetary donations to Under the Stars - a local charitable organisation that works alongside Tauranga’s homeless and in need.

Combatting some of the challenges of remote working

To begin with, working from home seemed like an amazing opportunity with many positives!

The importance of feeling connected and community in the workspace

Although it seems like a distant memory, the impact Covid had has forever changed the way we work. For those of us who traditionally worked an ‘office’ job, options to work remotely or hybrid have now become commonplace. 

Small Business Day: Kōrero with KeriAnn Birch from Birch and Co.

Small Business Day 9th April is about celebrating, supporting and championing the heart and soul of kiwi communities - small businesses.

At Basestation, we have a lot of small businesses based here in our coworking space.

We sat down with two residents who own a small business, we asked them what they do, how coworking helps them to do this, and what it means to own a small business.

Below is the kōrero we had with KeriAnn Birch, Director and Founder of Birch and Co. KeriAnn is a bookkeeper, her tagline is ‘Crunching the numbers so you don’t have to.’

Small Business Day: Kōrero with Andrew Mahon from MOCA

Small Business Day 9th April is about celebrating, supporting and championing the heart and soul of kiwi communities - small businesses. 

At Basestation we have a lot of small businesses based here in our coworking space. 

We sat down with two residents who own a small business, we asked what they do, how coworking helps them to do this, and what it means to own a small business. 

Below is the kōrero we had with Andrew Mahon, Director and Owner of MOCA. MOCA is a web development company based in Tauranga and employs seven staff and two contractors (all New Zealand based).

Parents of Basestation: Kōrero with Soraya Hebert from STEMWana

With it being the school holidays at the moment, we thought now would be a good time to shine a spotlight on some of the parents who regularly use Basestation. We caught up with Soraya  Hebert from STEM Wana  for a kōrero on how she navigates mahi with a 18 month old tamariki in tow .

Safe Space Alliance

Basestation recently signed up to the Safe Space Alliance

Who is the Safe Space Alliance?

They are a LGBTQI+ led non-profit organisation that helps people identify, navigate, and create safe spaces for LGBTQI+ communities worldwide. Their two core activities include maintaining an online directory of spaces around the world that welcome and support LGBTQI+ communities, and helping LGBTQI+ people get to safety. 

 

Techweek inspired blog with June Chong from TechnologyWise

 

As it is Techweek this week; Aotearoa’s festival for tech that’s good for the world - we thought it would be a good excuse to catch up with some of our residents in the technology sector at Basestation. One of the longest standing companies here is TechnologyWise, we sat down for a kōrero with June Chong, one of the youngest members of the team. 

 

Pride Month: How to create a coworking space that’s LGBTQ+ safe and welcoming

As it’s Pride Month, it seemed like a good time to share how we aim to create a safe and welcoming space at Basestation for all our residents. We have recently joined the Safe Space Alliance and they provide a helpful range of resources for companies to use.

International residents - Kurt Cordice

We are fortunate that at Basestation we attract a number of people who are from overseas. This contributes to the diverse and inclusive culture we seek to foster in our coworking space. With Canada Day coming up on Monday 1st July, we thought it would be a good excuse to kōrero with one of our Canadian residents.

Meet Kurt Cordice from Enigmatic Global, he is a regular user of our hot desks at Basestation and has been with us since 2017.

 

International residents - Charolotte Grosjean

We are fortunate that Basestation attracts a number of people who are from overseas. This contributes to the diverse and inclusive culture we seek to foster in our coworking space. With Bastille Day (Fête nationale française if you are French!) coming up on Sunday 14th July, we thought it would be a good excuse to kōrero with one of our French residents. 

Meet Charlotte Grosjean from Bark Limited, she has a permanent desk at Basestation and has been with us since January 2023. She started off in a single office on our first floor but after a few months moved down to our ground floor to join the open plan hot desk space. 

 

Powered by Impact

As part of Basestation’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) we sponsor or offer in-kind support to initiatives, events or groups that align with our kaupapa. One of these is Powered by Impact - a podcast series set up by one of our residents, Bryar Stewart from The Icehouse. Powered by Impact is Bryar’s side hustle and passion, we wrote a blog about her drive to get the podcast up and running earlier this year as part of our International Women’s Day series.

International Coworking Day 2024

Friday 9th August was International Coworking Day, celebrating the impact of the coworking movement! Being a coworking space - it’s pretty special! To celebrate we gave mini tours of our space AND FREE COFFEE from Folk Coffee Roasters

World Wide Web Day

1st August is World Wide Web Day, the day is observed to commemorate the World Wide Web (www) and its impact on the world. As one of our meeting rooms is named after Sir Tim Berners-Lee (the founder of the web), it felt fitting that we should honor the day with a blog about him and the massive impact the creation of the World Wide Web has had!

Charities at Basestation - Stand Tall

The 5th September is International Day of Charities!

We thought this would be a great excuse to share a bit about one of the charities at Basestation - Stand Tall. Founded by Pascale Hyboud-Peron (also one of the co-founders of Basestation) - Stand Tall works alongside rangatahi to grow and develop their entrepreneur skills and mindset. One of the many programmes Stand Tall delivers in the Bay of Plenty is, the Young Enterprise Scheme (YES)

National Coding Week - and a good excuse for us to talk about Grace Hopper, the namesake of one of our meeting rooms

Monday 16th September marks the start of National Coding Week. Now in its 11th year, this week sets out to inspire individuals of all ages to learn and embrace coding skills.

The importance of coding skills in today’s digital age can not be overstated. Whether it’s developing apps, designing websites, analysing data or automating tasks, coding is at the heart of many technological innovations. 

It is also the perfect opportunity to talk about Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, one of the namesakes of our meeting rooms. Hopper was a pioneer of computer programming, she saw the opportunity and importance to make programming accessible to all and advocated for coding languages to be created in ‘English’. 

 

Māori Language Week

To end Māori language week, we wanted to share a blog which captures a kōrero we had with three people who have connections with Basestation. We wanted a variety of perspectives, lived experiences and their relationship to Aoteraoa and Te Reo Māori. We spoke to:

  • Manaia - a young wāhine in her twenties, born and raised in the Tauranga, Manaia's whakapapa is on her paternal side to Te Atihaunui a Pāpārangi. We talked to Manaia about her mahi with Stand Tall and the Young Enterprise Scheme in a previous blog which you can read here.  
  • Erin - also born and raised in Tauranga, Erin is pakeha with European ancestry. She has three adult daughters and works at Bike Stop which is a partnership with Basestation and Tauranga City Council. You can also read a blog post we did with Erin when she was the Community Assistant at Basestation here
  • Pascale - is one of the four co-founders of Basestation. Pascale migrated to Aotearoa from Europe in her 20’s and she is the founder of Stand Tall. You can read more about Pascale and her mahi in a blog we wrote for International Women’s Day here.

Mental health and coworking

As it’s Mental Health Awareness Week, we thought it would be a good opportunity to look at the correlation of good mental health and coworking. 

According to Worksafe:

  • One in three workers have experienced work-related mental health or wellbeing issues in the previous 12 months. Almost 56% of those took time off work as a result. 
  • One in five workers experience work-related depression.
  • Nearly one in three workers experience anxiety. 

As we are expected to spend around 30% of our waking hours at work - ensuring good mental health at work is essential. 

Connection and Kai at Basestation

Part of the human condition is to be social and find connection and belonging. 

With remote working on the rise, more people are looking to join a coworking space so they can connect with others on a regular basis rather than just working from home. 

At Basestation we understand the importance of connection and belonging, so we host regular events and opportunities for our residents to connect, network and create belonging together. Here are just some of the events, initiatives and opportunities we've hosted or got behind in the last 6 months!

Not sure if coworking is for you?

Each month we host an open day for everyone to experience coworking.
Get in touch with our team to find out when the next open day is or book a free tour of our space.