©2023 Saratoga Photographer.com
By Jill Nagy
A dozen years ago, Catherine Hover started a business called Paint and Sip in Saratoga Springs, a place where people could, as the name suggests, paint pictures and sip wine. Within a year, she added additional studios, which she has since sold.
The sales proceeds went into Palette, a woman-focused co-working and incubator space, also in Saratoga Springs. Palette was founded in 2019 and expanded in 2020. Palette spawned several other businesses, some owned by Hover and others, partly financed by her.
Recently, Palette outgrew its space and moved to new quarters. Those quarters, down the street at 480 Broadway, have also grown tight and Palette has rented two more nearby offices.
Their previous space, at 493 Broadway, became the Beauty Bar at Palette’s, run by Fawn McClintock. McClintock did the buildout for the salon but, until she is fully on her feet, Palette will hold the lease on the space and provide further support to the fledgling business that opened in March.
The Beauty Bar can be reached at heylady@palettecommunity.com.
An aesthetician, Tina Cross, has a business offering facials also in the former Palette building. Palette has also fostered Micropolitan Matchmakers, the new business of Gabby Fisher and Becky Daniels in Schenectady that opened in February.
Other businesses created through Palette include Small Packages, an e-commerce business preparing small gift boxes and baskets, accompanied by handwritten notes. Palette member Riham Laruffa owns that business.
Marcella Hammer, the chief operating officer of Palette, said the role of business incubator was not part of the original plan for Palette. It grew from the co-working project.
“It’s just so natural for us to support women,” she said, “It’s organically become a theme, which is so cool.”
All of the owners of the newly hatched business are members of Palette. Currently, the organization has 257 members, Hover said. They have 28 partner spaces throughout the United States. When members travel, they can plug in the their laptops and go to work at any of the branches.
Despite being a successful business and creator of businesses, Palette tries to keep things light.
“Our entire culture is very playful,” Hover said, “We don’t take ourselves very seriously.”