In the spring of 2015, Nancy Sexton found herself at a crossroads. “I was a personal trainer and a screenwriter, but I wasn’t really happy,” she says. “I had some successes, but it was nothing that could support the lifestyle I wanted.”
She asked her husband, Tim, if she could take some time off and let the universe reveal her next step. “I told him if I didn’t come up with something by the end of August, I’d go back to training and screenwriting,” Sexton says. “I meditated and worked on myself, and sure enough, in mid-August, I got an email from a co-working space in Brentwood called The Office through a screenwriting group.”
Sexton had never heard of co-working, but the idea intrigued her. “I got more and more excited as I dove down the rabbit hole of this ‘new’ idea,” she explains. “To me, it was new, but co-working had already been around for 10 years.”
Unlike traditional offices, co-working brings freelancers, remote workers and entrepreneurs together to share a common workspace, fostering networking, idea exchange and cross-industry partnerships.
In November 2015, Sexton took a leap of faith by opening The Muse Rooms on Vineland Avenue. A year later, she opened a second location in Burbank on South Victory Boulevard, followed by a third in L.A. Her husband partnered with her in the venture until he passed away from cancer in May 2023.
Although the pandemic forced Sexton to close the Vineland site, the Burbank and L.A. locations have survived and thrived. “Our key benefits are our price and our approach,” she says. “We are member-focused. In the past few years, between COVID, the strike and now the fires, it hasn’t been easy for members to keep their businesses going. I care about my members’ success and work with them through good times and bad.”
One of the most creative elements of The Muse Rooms is the unique designs of both locations. “Our design implements late 1800s creative inspiration with modern-day creativity,” she explains. “That time period created a melting pot of creative designs that stand symbiotically together, where cultures pulled from each other to create new designs. Since we live in the entertainment capital of the world, we have an immense resource of creative elements all around us. So we took both and pulled together a design that reflects creativity, inclusiveness and individuality.”
The Muse Rooms provides a unique resource for the Toluca Lake community, where entertainment professionals, writers and creative entrepreneurs can collaborate, network and find the flexibility they need. “Our whole space represents the entire industry — from our design to our locations to our approach,” she says. “When people come in for a free trial, they can tell that there is heart in our design and our space, and it feels like home to them. Our location allows members to be close to the studios, and our production and studio background lends an understanding of what our members need.”