Women Leaders … with Kelly Barbazette: Entrepreneur finds joy with Neon Exchange in downtown Gilroy
Bowles turned the cheery and spacious Neon Exchange into an inclusive community space.
Photo courtesy Toni Bowles
After years working at the Santa Clara County Superior Court, Toni Bowles opened the Neon Exchange in downtown Gilroy.
By Kelly Barbazette
Kelly Barazette
After years of long commutes to a stressful job that began to feel unrewarding, Toni Bowles is exactly where she wants to be.
The founder and CEO of the Neon Exchange left her career as a deputy court manager to open the woman-focused co-working space and event venue, melding her desire for connecting with her community and fostering balance and joy in her personal life.
“I was supposed to do this — to provide a space for people to come together,” Bowles, 44, said.
I spoke to Bowles in the cheery and spacious Neon Exchange, located in the historic former Louis Hotel in downtown Gilroy, about how she came to transform the two-story building into an inclusive community space.
The 102-year-old edifice sat untouched for about a decade before it caught Bowles’ eye in 2018. At that time, she was commuting from her Hollister home, dropping off her twins at St. Mary School in Gilroy before reaching the Santa Clara County Superior Court where she had worked since 2001.
As a high school student, born in east San Jose and attending high school in Mountain View, Bowles thought she might have been an architect after finding enjoyment in her drafting classes. But she opted to major in international business instead while attending Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. She moved back to San Jose upon graduating with a bachelor of science degree.
She took classes at Lincoln Law School of San Jose, graduating in 2006 with a juris doctor degree, while starting a full-time entry level job at the courthouse in San Jose, which was across the street.
“As the kid in my family who was the first to graduate from college, I didn’t know what I wanted to do,” she said. “And when I didn’t know what I wanted to do, I kept going back to school.”
In 2001, she and her husband, Chris, who met in college, bought their first home in Hollister. While he was finishing graduate school, she climbed the career ladder, from paralegal to analyst to deputy court manager at the Superior Court of Santa Clara County, thinking her career would begin and finish at the courthouse.
She and her family found community in Gilroy when their twins, a boy and a girl, enrolled in TK at St. Mary School in Gilroy. While their ties to Gilroy grew stronger, Bowles was feeling lackluster about her job as it became more transactional. Coupled with being a working parent and spending multiple hours each day in traffic, Bowles began to lose herself.
“I slowly started to deteriorate. In my head, I was like, ‘Stop, you should not be ungrateful. You are the first to go to college in your family. You have a six-figure salary and you have a pension.’ The self-talk in my head was suck it up.”
Bowles finally confided in her parents about how she was feeling. The conversation gave her the freedom to embark on a year-long journey of self-exploration marked with reading, listening to TED talks, journaling, and creating business plans. For the first time she began investigating “what I wanted to do and what got me excited,” she said.
An article about a female-focused co-working space in New York sparked her imagination. She considered the idea of taking the business model of offering work stations on a membership basis and making it more community driven. One day in April 2018 after picking up her children from school and driving down Monterey Street, she saw a “for lease” sign in the window of the Louis Hotel.
She contacted a commercial Realtor, who showed her the building after warning, “Brace yourself.” She found it dark, smelly, and littered with garbage after sitting empty for years.
“But when I was walking around — I don’t know how to say this — but I could see the color, the tables, the people,” she said. “It was so awful, but I could see beyond that.”
She bought the building and got to work on the design plans. Her dad, a residential contractor, initially doubted the building could be salvaged. But his faith in her changed his mind. Bowles’ drafting classes came in handy as she drew up plans with the help of her husband, who is an engineer, and secured the permits for the renovation. It was a long, grueling process, temporarily disrupted by a broken sewer line among other snags.
On Oct. 28, 2019, the Neon Exchange was born when the first floor opened. Bowles immediately leased space to Gallery 1202 in a nod to supporting woman-owned small businesses.
“What better way to celebrate this journey than to help a woman business owner with her dream?” she said.
The space was doing well. And then COVID hit. With the second floor still not finished, Bowles ran to City Hall to secure the necessary permit. It was approved and essential services — from government satellite offices to local non-profit groups — were leased out the second floor, allowing the Neon Exchange to stay afloat.
For a couple of years, Bowles found ways to stay connected to the community while adhering to COVID guidelines. She and local artist Whitney Pintello painted a mural on the building with 40 residents who helped. For many of them, it was the first time socializing since the pandemic began.
She also started a cooking show in the Neon Exchange’s kitchen with local Chef Mark Segovila and invited residents, including the mayor, Gilroy’s economic development director, students, small business owners, and non-profit group directors. Bowles did the filming, editing, and production, resulting in 74 episodes on YouTube.
“At the time it was really rewarding,” she said. “In hindsight, it was one of the main things that healed me.”
The building also served as a repository for toy drives and food distribution when churches and shelters were shuttered. Bowles continues to host community-centric events.
“Maybe they don’t make as much money, but it has a huge impact. It’s a delicate balance of generating revenue, but also to have community events.”
Making connections with others motivates her. “I do really well with one on one. I have no problem with being really authentic. That’s where my sweet spot is — with human connection,” she said.
In January, she and her daughter, who is now 12 and plays club basketball, launched a nonprofit called PlayBrightly to share resources and information for families with student athletes in Santa Clara, San Benito and Monterey counties competing at mid and elite levels. It has paid for three college basketball camp scholarships and one club ball team fee, and hosted a meal prep class and a forum where college students shared their experiences.
Bowles reflected on her roller coaster days riddled with setbacks that her children witnessed. While she used to feel guilty when they saw her struggle, she now believes she has added to their emotional “toolbox.”
“People often ask how to raise resilient kids,” she said. “You can tell them all day to bounce back. But there’s nothing more searingly profound than a kid watching their parent navigate it.”
When asked what advice she would give others, she recommends not taking “no” for an answer and instead look for creative ways around an obstacle.
“When you have nothing to lose and have everything to gain, your risk assessment is different,” she said. “You’re willing to do whatever it takes.”
Kelly Barbazette, a former journalist for Bay Area newspapers, is a freelance writer. She lives in Gilroy with her husband and two daughters. She can be reached at [email protected].
