Better Together: The Programs and People Behind theCO
theCO is more than a coworking space. Behind the scenes, a small-but-mighty team is powering multiple programs that support entrepreneurs, artists, makers, and downtown dreamers. From telling Jackson's stories to cultivating space for Black-owned businesses, these initiatives may look different, but they’re all connected by a shared mission: building a thriving, inclusive community that empowers small business owners, entrepreneurs, and artists.
We’re taking a look at all the programs, how they’re connected, and our staff’s favorite moments over the 2025 year. Here’s a look at how it all comes together.
What We Do (and How It’s All Connected)
So what exactly do we do here at theCO? We are a coworking workspace, but we’re much more than that.
CO:membership gives you access to our open coworking space, conference rooms, media room, and makerspace. Members enjoy an escape from solo working at home and being a part of a community.
theCO supports entrepreneurs by making the path to starting a business less daunting. Through business brainstorming sessions with Staff Advisors, entrepreneurs can set goals, get unstuck, and leave with a clear plan. theCO also offers free monthly advising with local experts and hosts CO.STARTERS, a 9-week program designed to turn business ideas into action.
Shelby Tyre is our Community Manager, supporting our members in their everyday work around theCO. Her favorite memory this year was watching our CO.STARTERS group show up week after week, ready to build, dream, and cheer each other on. There’s something magical about watching strangers become collaborators and supporters. Being part of their journey was a total highlight.
Another way we reach out to the community is through events and programming, like our networking event Spark, our monthly Free Work Fridays. This year, the second cohort of food-based businesses completed the ScaleUp Kitchen program and expanded their entrepreneurship journal in West Tennessee.
Katie Weatherford, our Communications and Events Director, said that her favorite moment was Taste & Tell, a tasting event we hosted in September featuring food from the businesses in our ScaleUp Kitchen program. Although this was technically our second year hosting the event, we renamed it and moved it to a downtown Jackson venue, which made it bigger, more exciting, and more challenging. The turnout blew us away, the energy in the room was amazing, and getting to see so many people enjoying the food from the businesses that worked so hard made the night really special.
Soul Collective – Making Space for Black Creatives
Soul Collective is an entrepreneurial community dedicated to elevating the arts, culture, knowledge, and wellness of Black businesses through unity, commerce, education, and cultural experiences. Housed inside the Historic Jaxon Station in downtown Jackson, Soul Collective serves as a business incubator and retail hub where Black-owned entrepreneurs can cultivate their ideas with support, connection, and resources. They offer a 10-week incubation program that helps bootstrapping and underserved business owners evaluate success, unlock opportunities for growth, and build leadership and community among fellow entrepreneurs.
In addition to business support, Soul Collective hosts a variety of events and cultural programming designed to foster connection and celebration. Make It Happen Monday gives business owners a chance to connect with an accountability coach, brainstorm, and set realistic, attainable goals, while Royal Reclamation celebrates Black entrepreneurship, arts, and culture by creating space for dreamers and business builders to rise, be seen, and be heard. They also offer community-focused experiences through programs like Cultural Canvas, youth workshops, networking mixers, and seasonal markets that bring people together around creativity, culture, and economic empowerment.
Trunetta Atwater is the Program Director for Soul Collective and the memory that stands out from the 2025 year was bringing back the Soul Holiday Market on Small Business Saturday. It's been over 2 years since the last market. It was very nice to see new makers and entrepreneurs supported by holiday shoppers. After seeing how much joy, connection and opportunity it created, she’s excited to say moving forward it will become a tradition. In 2026, the market will be our way of saying we still believe in gathering, in buying Black and in showing up for small businesses.
Our Jackson Home – Storytelling for the City
Our Jackson Home (OJH) is a creative placemaking program of theCO, where arts and culture are utilized to increase community identity and make people proud of where they live and work. The focus is on generating community pride, and OJH believes artists do that best.
This comes about through three major areas of focus: community events, storytelling, and public art. OJH’s two major annual events are 731Day — a city wide celebration of the city of Jackson — and Porchfest — a free live music event hosted in the yards of Jackson neighbors, with some other events sprinkled in between. The main storytelling project is the Our Jackson Home printed journal, though storytelling also happens through blogs, photographs, and other written and visual art. OJH has a formal partnership with the City of Jackson to install public art on public property, and they completed 5 new public art installations this past year.
Lizzie Emmons serves as the Program Director for Our Jackson Home and the moment that stood out the most in 2025 was our collaborative event with the City of Jackson that we named "Design Dash". This was a new event that encouraged more local artists to create public art, many of them for the first time. Local artists were asked to team up with one other artist they enjoy working with before they signed up to participate, and then come to theCO for two days straight to design a mural together from scratch. We had a blast all working together at theCO for two days straight on mural designs, and the event resulted in one of the teams actually getting to install their mural Downtown at the Farmers Market. It was all so fun, and the new mural brings so much color and life to the space.
Maddie McMurry is the Editor-in-Chief of the journal and her favorite memory was the release of the 10-year anniversary journal and gallery show in April. Getting to design and create a journal that reflected a decade of storytelling was incredibly meaningful and a fun creative process. She loved getting to see people from the past decade all come together to mark this significant milestone for the program. The journal has changed and evolved over the past decade, but the authentic storytelling OJH is known for has stayed consistent, and that is something to be proud of.
JDDC – Downtown Development in Action
The Jackson Downtown Development Corporation (JDDC) is here to enhance Jackson through the purposeful design and investment in its downtown.JDDC is a separate non-profit that is staffed by theCO, with Beth Ann Simpson serving as the director and the communications team at theCO helping spread the word about our downtown space.
JDDC is focused on driving activity downtown and this happens through economic driven programs such as their annual events, like Lavender Trail and Downtown Passport, designed to get people to shop, eat, and spend time downtown during the holiday season.
theLOCAL is another pillar of JDDC, which allows businesses to test their concepts in a brick and mortar space before hopefully graduating into a larger space. Going through theCO’s CO.STARTERS program is a requirement for being a tenant.
Overall, JDDC serves to create spaces that generate activity and places where people want to be. Beth Ann’s favorite memory from JDDC this year has been supporting the current tenants at theLOCAL. This group of entrepreneurs have not only created beautiful spaces, they are also honing their craft inside these walls, all while supporting one another. Their individual success and collaborative relationships are a powerful reminder of what a strong, connected downtown community can create.
Shared Values
“ Whether you're an artist or you're interested in starting or growing your business, just start here. Check out our website. Figure out how we could help,” Lisa Garner, CEO of theCO said. “We really do want to help. I know that sometimes people are intimidated, but just start. We'll see if we can help you. We'll see who we can connect you to. That's what we want to do and that's what we're here for.
Lisa’s favorite moment of 2025 has been seeing entrepreneurs utilizing multiple resources theCO offers. People we've had Business Brainstorming sessions with also going through CO.STARTERS and ScaleUp, or testing out their business at theLOCAL and also utilizing the makerspace for signage.
“I love seeing what we provide being utilized and it's been neat that several people are really getting all they can from what we're offering,” Lisa said. “Cheers to more of that in 2026!”
Whether you’re showing up for a Soul Collective event, flipping through an OJH journal, seeing businesses pop up in downtown Jackson, or working together at theCO—you're part of this story. And we’re better together because of it.
