NORTHAMPTON — The interior of The Sphere Innovation Lab at 82 Maple St. in Florence is in itself a testament to its mission of collaboration and overcoming obstacles for women and nonbinary entrepreneurs.

Chairs at the tables are designed to allow easy turning for speaking with others, with workstations that look more like restaurant booths, seating up to four people in a space. Near the front entrance is a oval-shaped container carrying “silent signals” that slides into two colors — “red” means you are busy and need your own space, “green” means you’re open for conversation and discussion.

The Sphere’s physical space, set to open on Nov. 1, is the result of more than a year of efforts by its co-founders to support women entrepreneurs in Northampton. The organization has held several networking and training events over the past year, but now will have a space to call its own, in part thanks to a $100,000 MassDevelopment grant.

Megan Allen, one of the co-founders of The Sphere, runs the Community Classroom tutoring business located several doors down from The Sphere. Like many people, her life was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic — she was let go from her job, but she was provided a severance pay that allowed Allen, a former public school teacher, to start her own business. She quickly found she wasn’t alone in doing so.

“There were a ton of women-owned business in Florence and Northampton, but they’re so busy, doing all the things, they weren’t necessarily connected,” Allen said. “They’d be right across the street from each other, but not necessarily know each other that well.”

The founders of The Sphere, through conducting a survey of business owners in the city, identified three main obstacles they say as impeding women and nonbinary entrepreneurs: community support, access to resources and time. The Sphere subsequently was designed with overcoming those obstacles, in collaboration with the Design Thinking Initiative at Smith College.

“One of the things we found with the survey is that 40% of the respondents were still working from home, never returned to the office or to a brick-and-mortar,” Allen said. “So that was the impetus for applying for the grant for this space.”

Allen knows firsthand the difficulties of balancing running a business and running a household, a workload that many women entrepreneurs are still expected to carry. Arriving at The Sphere, Allen brought her 4-year-old daughter Cora, giving her snacks and a coloring book to keep her occupied. Asked if any of the issues found in their study apply to Allen’s own career, she turned toward her daughter. “You’re looking at it,” she said.

Christina Webster, another co-founder who works with Allen both at The Sphere and at Community Classroom, said it was important to include nonbinary and other gender non-conforming individuals as part of the mission.

“They are also in the gender minority, which women are too, in business anyway,” Webster said.

Over the past year, The Sphere has held several workshops and events to bring women entrepreneurs together, with creative titles such as “Cookies and Conversation,” focusing on women’s mental health, “Taxes, Trivia and Tequila,” “Loans and Love: Speed Dating for Financial Success,” and “Funding and Flexibility,” where attendees learn about grant writing while practicing yoga.

The past events, or “salons,” have attracted local entrepreneurs like Elena Sharnoff who runs B Strategic Communications, a web design and branding strategy company. Sharnoff became an early believer in The Sphere’s mission after attending a salon held by the organization.

“I really appreciate being able to have a space where I can meet other women, to find opportunity in a space that just encourages interaction and a kind of warmth and camaraderie,” Sharnoff said. “I feel like this space is an extension of that desire to really enable people whose interests share certain challenges.”

The group plans to continue to expand the innovation lab, with the basement being remodeled to feature private office spaces, gender-neutral bathrooms, and a studio for recording podcasts. Enrollment is open now by visiting its spherenorthampton.com. Membership pricing plans range from $50 to $225 per month, with the top plan offering 24/7 access to the lab space, discounts on workshops and events and unlimited access to the lab’s resources.

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.