Helen Knight Tells Us How to Survive WFH & the Coffee Slushie You Need to Try
The Founder & CEO of Alcove also shares her favorite candle and where to buy cute dog toys!
Hi! How are you doing? We’ve been visiting family in New England this week, which means lots of swimming, soft serve, and cousin time. It’s been a fun break from the city, and now I’m looking forward to getting back to Park Slope for the last stretch of summer.
Today, I’m excited to share my interview with Helen Knight. Helen is the Founder and CEO of Alcove, a new space opening in the neighborhood where you can reserve soundproof pods for private productive time. When Helen was looking for a neighborhood to open her first location, Park Slope was at the top of her list. Not only for the support the local population shows locals businesses, and visa versa, but also because the community rallies behind female business owners, particularly moms. “It's very encouraging because it's been terrifying, at times, to be going down this path while also expecting our first baby. But I feel like being in this community is making it easier,” she told me, when we chatted in June; she was nine months pregnant. Helen and her husband welcomed a beautiful baby boy in mid-July.
Helen shares how she went from Atlanta, where she grew up, to Brooklyn, what inspired her to study Arabic in college, and her long-term dream for Alcove. She also tells us her favorite local things to see, eat, and do, including where to find the best cinnamon buns, a gift shop with an art gallery in the back, and a delicious Indian restaurant.
Kelley MacDonald: Hi Helen! Thanks for taking the time to chat with me between launching a new Park Slope-based business and being NINE MONTHS PREGNANT!
Helen Knight: [Laughs] I’m excited to chat! Thank you for asking me. I’m flattered!
So, you grew up in Atlanta. What was that like?
Yes, I’m from the Atlanta area, specifically Decatur, Georgia, which I think has a lot in common with Brooklyn. Brooklyn is to New York such as Decatur is to Downtown Atlanta/Inner Atlanta Proper. It's a close-knit community. I made a lot of my close friends there. Alcove’s Chief Marketing Officer is also from there. We went to middle school together. So, we've been best friends for going on 25 years, and now, we both live here; life is funny in that way. I'll probably be in New York for the foreseeable future, but I love Atlanta.
When did you move to NYC?
I moved in January 2015, so about nine and a half years in. I'm very excited to soon be a real New Yorker. They say you need 10 years. I moved here for a job with Girls Who Code after I wrapped up the political campaign that I was on. Although, it wasn’t just because I got that job; it was more of an intentional plan. My best friend was living here, and I had visited her a lot and really like it. I moved in with her in Bushwick. She was living at the DeKalb and Knickerbocker intersection — that was quite a way to start my New York experience as a 25-year-old. I wasn't cool enough, to be clear, to live in Bushwick, and I'm still not cool enough [laughs]. But I really loved the residential community feeling. There were so many great local businesses, a lot of which have sadly closed, but some are still there. I was there for about a year and a half.
I ended up commuting to Connecticut for almost three years every day for a different job, which was not what I pictured for my New York experience, but I literally met my husband on the bus to work, so I cannot complain too much.
Wow, that's a cool way to meet your spouse!
[Laughs] It gives you a lot of time to talk to someone when you're sitting in traffic on I-95.
Did you randomly sit next to each other?