Maura Jackson runs The Feather Fixer, where she works as a leadership consultant and mentor. She’s also an author, event host and public speaker – and before going self-employed, she was chief executive of a homeless shelter, work she describes as her “bread and butter” for years. She’s on a hot desk at Weave, and has been coming in since April 2026.
How she found Weave
Maura didn’t go looking for a coworking space, she was invited in. “I got introduced to Weave by Joe (Heaton), so I got invited in for a meeting,” she says. The meeting itself was about supported housing, a subject close to her previous career, but the building did the rest of the work. “Once you’re over the threshold, it’s very difficult not to want to come back, because it’s so fabulous,” she says. That first visit, not long before she went self-employed, turned into a regular routine.
Getting out of the house
As a business owner, Maura could work from home – she has a home office and knows how fortunate that is. But she’s honest about what actually happens there. “It requires a degree of motivation,” she says. “When I’m at home, I’ll just think, I’ll put a wash on, I’ll run the hoover, and then teatime comes and I’ve done absolutely nothing.”
Being at Weave changes that. “Being here in a coworking space does mean you have to get focused and get concentrated, because you don’t want to waste your time,” she says. “It brings things into focus, which I don’t always get at home.”
Conversations that turn into business
For Maura, working alongside other people isn’t just about staying on task – it’s brought her actual work. “One of the great things about coworking is that you’re interacting with all the people. If you work from home, that doesn’t happen,” she says. “I’ve ended up having some really random conversations with people that have been both interesting, but also generated business for me, and for them.”
One conversation, in particular, stuck. “There’s someone here who puts lovely designs on cars – I had a conversation with them, and I’ve now got all the branding on the back of my car as a result of bumping into them. It cost me a few hundred quid, but that was definitely something worth getting.” Beyond that one story, she says the pattern repeats constantly – people connecting her with services she needs, or connecting others with hers. “It’s just people who want to connect with each other and say, ‘oh yeah, I know somebody who needs your service.’ It’s great to be around.”
A space that works for clients too
Ask Maura what she likes best day to day, and it’s partly about how the building makes her look. “When I’ve brought customers here for a meeting, you’ve got the facilities downstairs – somewhere to eat and drink just minutes away, tables outside, a lovely setting,” she says. “It’s a nice place to bring customers. It makes me look fancier than I am, which is always a good thing.”
The event that broke the ice
Early on, Maura went to a networking event downstairs that turned out to be more than she expected. “It was an event to promote coworking at Weave, and lots of people who already come here came to it,” she says. “So very early on, I kind of met everybody in one go – because before that, I’d turn up a couple of times and feel like I was in a library. I didn’t know who to speak to or what to say.”
That one event changed things. “It got rid of all the awkwardness immediately. After that, people were approaching me.” She’s since discovered there’s more going on than she first realised, including the Friday Club, Weave’s networking event. “As a consequence of that, I’ve met loads of other people – not just people who work here, but people from wider businesses too. It’s been a ripple effect. It’s been fabulous.”
Her advice to anyone on the fence
Early on, Maura went to a networking event downstairs that turned out to be more than she expected. “It was an event to promote coworking at Weave, and lots of people who already come here came to it,” she says. “So very early on, I kind of met everybody in one go – because before that, I’d turn up a couple of times and feel like I was in a library. I didn’t know who to speak to or what to say.”
That one event changed things. “It got rid of all the awkwardness immediately. After that, people were approaching me.” She’s since discovered there’s more going on than she first realised, including the Friday Club, Weave’s networking event. “As a consequence of that, I’ve met loads of other people – not just people who work here, but people from wider businesses too. It’s been a ripple effect. It’s been fabulous.”
What surprised her
Maura admits she wasn’t sure what to expect before she started coming in – including, practically, how much stuff she’d need to bring. “I’ve learned to travel light,” she says. What surprised her more was how open people were. “I think one of the things people don’t expect is how open it is – how open people are to having a conversation. There are different areas to break out into, talk to people, have something to eat, or do a piece of work.”
She’s used the space for far more than a desk. “I’ve had meetings on Teams, done some recording, made some videos for social media content, done a podcast – the space works for everything. I think people don’t realise the potential. They perhaps think they’ve just rented a desk and they’re tied to it. It’s not like that at all.”
Weave is...
“To me, Weave is connection,” Maura says. “Weaving is the process of knitting something together – it’s fabric. That’s why we’re in an old mill, where weaving actually took place. It’s about bringing something together, creating something, connecting things, and making it magic.”
For a leadership consultant whose own career has been built on bringing people and ideas together, it’s a fitting way to describe where she now spends her working days.
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