In this episode of The Charlotte Business Podcast, host George-Alain Boti sits down with Devanne "Devin" Pena, a licensed architect and the founder of AfroSpace, a community clubhouse on the east side of Charlotte that gives interest-based groups a physical place to gather and make their own. They talk about building the business on a $40K start and the mindset shift that helped her separate her self-worth from her business results.
Devanne opens up about five years as a full-time entrepreneur, the stretch where she went back to a job just to get health insurance, driving for Amazon and teaching on the side to stay afloat, and how a business that began as a hair bar became a clubhouse shaped by what she watched happen inside the space. If you are a Charlotte entrepreneur trying to bootstrap your way to your first big milestone, this conversation is for you.
“I'm trying to create the conditions where people can gather often here, because that's how you create community: through familiarity.”
Watch the full conversation above, or listen on Buzzsprout.
Devanne started architecture school in 2007 and graduated in 2012, then spent years completing the hours and apprenticeship required to become licensed. She has been a licensed architect for about 10 years. Along the way she always tried to bring a cultural thread into her work. While working at a design firm in Austin she found herself doing mostly technical production work instead of design, and at 27 she left to pursue something more creative.
After leaving her job Devanne spent three months in Cape Verde, where she saw how people gather, and it sparked the question that started AfroSpace: how can she design a space for Black women that is welcoming to everyone? She had already seen the power of physical space and describes designing it as her own form of social justice. She started developing the idea in 2019, ran free incubator sessions for people with ideas on their hearts, and in 2020, after being let go from her job, decided it was time to pursue it.
Devanne has had the physical space for about three years, but the idea is closer to seven years old. She was a full-time entrepreneur for five years in a row before going back to a job for health insurance. During that stretch she drove for Amazon and taught architecture as an adjunct at UNC Charlotte to stay afloat, which she says was much harder than having one job.
The first idea was a DIY hair bar. When co-working and subscription memberships were booming, Devanne shifted toward co-working plus social space, which also helped her land an investor. After a pilot program she saw that subscriptions were not sticky. She noticed how many local groups gather informally around Charlotte and realized AfroSpace could be a clubhouse. Groups have included a Christian praise group, queer dinner parties, cookbook clubs and women's empowerment groups.
Devanne calls AfroSpace a neurodivergent-led space with different seating options, and says a clubhouse is about your special interest outside of work. She experimented with a monthly co-working club after seeing that some visitors worked in silence while others mostly chatted, which led to the idea of a quiet room and a "yapping" room.
When Devanne noticed that new events struggle to sell tickets, she created a community rate: after a group books once, it unlocks a lower rate for future bookings. She also introduced a low flat weekday rate. A first-time booker gets a booking link, repeat bookers get a payment link, and the whole process takes her about 30 seconds. Short-notice requests, like needing the space in two hours, are not something she will accommodate.
Devanne shares that her Cape Verdean roots shaped the space. She describes morabeza, a Cape Verdean word for being welcoming and making people feel at home, and says home is a feeling rather than a physical place. She explains how seeking inclusion and care after moving from Massachusetts to North Carolina as a child shaped AfroSpace, which she describes as a place to feel welcomed. Guests have told her that the space feels like being at home.
Devanne is candid about the emotional side of entrepreneurship. She explains that she realized AfroSpace had been a gift for herself as well, that she had learned to measure her value by how useful she could be, and that the business helped her separate her self-worth from her output. She says she can now stay at peace whether or not the business thrives.
AfroSpace sits upstairs in a business complex on the east side of Charlotte, with about 2,000 square feet and rent of roughly $2,800 per month. Devanne works out the minimum number of bookings needed to break even, and notes that most bookings are community events with some baby and bridal showers mixed in. She is on a five-year lease and says that if the space can consistently break even with a profit margin of 5 to 10 percent over the next two years, she will reinvest in it. She also sees the space as a place for entrepreneurs to test an idea with a pop-up before going to investors.
Her advice is to find the blue water, the place where a real need and real value meet, an idea she took from the book Blue Ocean Strategy. She encourages entrepreneurs not to be afraid to ask for money, including crowdfunding, if their motivation is right.
With no savings after losing her job, Devanne raised about $15,000 through a crowdfunding campaign with help from friends and received a $25,000 investment from Backstage Capital. That $40,000 foundation let her focus on AfroSpace full time. She says that level of self-sacrifice was not necessary and that she would put her well-being first, and she urges founders to test demand through customer validation before spending their own resources.
Devanne closes with the lesson that what you imagine does not always translate to the real world, so you need to put your ideas in front of people and pivot often. George thanks her for keeping the project going and the two talk about possible ways to collaborate.
If you are thinking about opening a physical space, trying to fund a first venture without a large savings account, or balancing a job with a business you believe in, Devanne's story is an honest look at what that really takes.
Devanne "Devin" Pena is a licensed architect, designer and the founder of AfroSpace, a Charlotte community clubhouse that gives interest-based groups a physical place to gather consistently and make the space their own. A Fayetteville native with Cape Verdean roots, she believes community is built through repeated gathering, and her role is to create a place communities can return to.
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