We Are Cortex | Isabel Hernandez

You might say that Isabel Hernandez takes the friction out of day-to-day business for clients in the Cortex Innovation District. Need furniture for a new employee? Hernandez and her team are on it. Printer broken? Call Hernandez. Need the fridge stocked? You know what to do.

As community operations coordinator for CIC — Cambridge Innovation Center — it’s Hernandez’ job to make sure the promise of the global company is fulfilled: “Creating the best possible environment and programming to enable startups, scale-ups, corporations, and public entities to tackle the biggest local and global challenges.”

Cortex and CIC are partners in creating the innovation atmosphere in the district. In addition to its St. Louis hub in Cortex, CIC serves startup communities in Berlin, Boston, Cambridge, Philadelphia, Providence, Rotterdam, Tokyo, Warsaw and soon, a location in Fukuoka.

“CIC loves small entrepreneurs and CIC loves to invest in the community they're in,” Hernandez said. “We are very focused on local vendors and making sure we’re bringing in small entrepreneurs from the area. We have a social impact cohort that focuses on that.”

CIC’s focus on social impact applies equally to its own employees, a fact that moves Hernandez deeply when she reflects on the opportunity she’s had in her nearly three years with the organization.

“I've been able to professionally grow and find myself in a professional workspace,” she said. “When I first started working in the district, I was very quiet and shy. I have never had a place where I could openly be myself and also see others openly being themselves with how much diversity you see.”

Working in a community with innovative thinkers drives Hernandez and her team to work hard to solve their clients’ problems.

“My team and I are tasked with keeping the clients in the building happy,” she said. “We are in charge of fixing small inconveniences in their day-to-day work life.”

That includes regularly surveying clients — from business leaders to rank-and-file employees — to learn how they can further streamline their work, from reconfiguring printer stations, changing the choice of food vendors or evaluating the best ways to equip the conference rooms.

“CIC and Cortex are partners in all aspects of the district,” she said. “At CIC, we love community. Being in Cortex, it's really helped us flourish and bring in more clients — and bring them not only into CIC, but also expose them to the Cortex Innovation Community.”