It takes a lot of work to open a new business as an entrepreneur. It takes even more work to divorce a husband, leave the Mormon church and come out as queer. Founder of Garden Of collective Eden Strader did all of that.
The collective, aimed at creating a wholesome sapphic community, boasts a fully furnished and stocked coworking space in Ravenswood and also hosts a number of other sapphic events, ranging from parties to crafting gatherings. Strader’s bottom line is that all who identify as sapphic are welcome, and that she hopes every event feels like one big friend group.
Strader first started hosting events with the idea for Garden Of in February 2025. She only moved to Chicago in summer 2024, immediately searching for an “entirely sapphic” space—something she said she was able to find in New York.
She originally threw lesbian parties in Brooklyn and kept the idea when she came to Chicago—the first one in February brought in over 50 people. She then began looking for local bars or other locations who would want to partner with events, and it took off from there.
For Strader, this feels like a total fresh start. Raised in the Mormon church—“was a little Mormon child bride, had a whole husband,” she recounted—she got divorced, left Utah and left the church in 2020. She said she began coming into herself as the peak of the pandemic died down and eventually started getting into hosting and queer events in 2024.
The coworking studio at 4619 N. Ravenswood Ave. was acquired in July, with crowdfunding covering the first month’s rent and the furnishings.
Strader wanted to hit the ground running in order to generate enough income to continue paying for the space. Garden Of launched officially the first week of August.
“It’s been really, really wild and really beautiful,” she said. “It’s just amazing to have the feeling of a third space, almost like a coffee shop, where you can know that you’re entirely surrounded by sapphics … Queer culture [is] often very nightlife focused. So it’s been really lovely.”
The coworking space was inspired by Strader’s own desire to get out of the house and see people as a self-employed person. Access to the cozy space along with free food and drink comes from membership passes ranging from one day to one month. There’s also a new program Strader has introduced, where membership can be exchanged for volunteer hours.
Strader’s vision for the collective is a “friendship-forward” space—she asks everyone to come with friendship on their minds, not romance. Outside of the collective’s parties, the activities are also “sober-forward.”
The events, which take place at other designated locations outside the coworking space, have included craft nights, bouquet making classes and clothing swaps.
There are also events specifically for BIPOC individuals or where masks are mandatory.
One of Strader’s favorite events are those titled “Only Come Alone.” In the beginning, she noticed about half of attendees were coming alone, which she said was so brave and could be scary for people. She decided to “neutralize the playing field” and make everyone come alone to certain events and has recently introduced age-specific nights.
She’s especially loved seeing younger sapphics in the 18-20 range meet each other and find community at such a young adult age.
Strader has also been explicitly clear in messaging to invite trans women and women of color into the space. She said it’s unfortunate that, in the current cultural climate, something like that needs to be specified. However, she believes it’s “our responsibility as hosts” to be vocal about inclusion.
“I know trans women are women. But they sometimes feel scared to come into spaces that don’t clearly talk about that, and understandably,” she said. “So it’s been so important to me to talk about the things that I’m passionate about and use our platform to make it very clear—we won’t tolerate any -phobias or -isms.”
With community being a driving force for the creation of Garden of, Strader wanted it to be accessible to everyone. Part of that has included exchanging memberships for volunteer hours. She said it’s been beneficial to her to offload a bit after working 60-80 hour weeks and has helped connect people in the community together.
Some volunteers open and close the studio once a week, some help scan tickets at events, some do research on venues. Strader said she also tries to be mindful of people’s extrovert- or introvert-levels when figuring out what roles they’d be best at. So far, the program has helped the collective feel like “a giant thing we’re part of rather than just one person steering the ship,” she said.
Now, Garden Of is Strader’s full-time role. She’s always been self-employed—previously as a destination wedding photographer and then business consulting for creative entrepreneurs—which she said allowed her an easier transition into running the collective.
Some of her favorite community feedback has been hearing that events were even more friendly and welcoming than advertised. Attendees have told her they met people at gatherings who they immediately felt like they had been friends with forever. Strader said she hopes Garden Of feels like “what the girl’s bathroom does at the bar.”
“I really wanted Garden of, no matter how big it got, to feel like that essence of a house party,” she said. “Where it feels personal, and it feels like you know the host, and it feels like you’re with friends, no matter what.”