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The idea is for women to have a place to bond over motherhood, wellness and work
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Sophie Moenter<\/a> opened the business with her best friend, Melissa Darr, in January 2026
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While women can participate in day-to-day events and classes, there is a monthly membership<\/a> for wanting more access<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the non-judgmental zone as well. Your kid has a meltdown. That\u2019s OK. We\u2019re used to it,\u201d said\u00a0Moenter.<\/p>\n
Moenter and her best friend, Melissa Darr, started small with this dream.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe originally started this concept out of my photography studio, which was 500 square feet,\u201d said Moenter. \u201cAnd we very quickly realized how much moms and women need community. And it blew up pretty much overnight.\u201d<\/p>\n
It grew into a space in St. Petersburg they named the Paloma House.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are listening and we are looking for feedback.\u00a0We\u2019re hoping that this checks boxes for the women in the community. You don\u2019t have to be a mom. You just have to be a woman. You know, someone who\u2019s looking for support,\u201d said\u00a0Darr, co-founder of Paloma\u00a0House.<\/p>\n
Inside the large black and white building, there are health and wellness rooms, cozy social meet-up spots, even quiet areas to work. All of this, with the understanding that children are welcome. There is even a play-care area where children can be watched if a mother needs to have time to work in a room nearby.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/paloma_house_bn9_FL_2026_1.jpeg\")
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Play-care area at the Paloma House in St. Petersburg, Fla. (Spectrum News)<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/paloma_house_bn9_FL_2026_3.jpeg\")
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Health and wellness room at the Paloma House in St. Petersburg, Fla. (Spectrum News)<\/p>\n
\u201cCommunity. That is mainly why I joined. I literally became a member yesterday,\u201d said new member Nicole Waters.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt felt very divine because we\u2019ve just moved down to St. Pete from Boston this past fall, and I was always hoping that by the time I became a mom, something like this would exist,\u201d said\u00a0Emma Compagna, member.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kids are everywhere, and the chaos that comes with children is embraced. Even Moenter\u2019s son is there in the building.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been the inspiration behind everything here,\u201d said Moenter, smiling at her son, Remy. \u201cI feel very, very lucky that I get to bring him everywhere I go with me, and I wanted other moms to feel, you know, that ability as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a two-year-old, and this type of environment was not around for me,\u201d said Darr. \u201cAnd when I kind of started learning more about our vision, it was a no-brainer.\u201d<\/p>\n
But this space is not just for moms or moms to be \u2014 it is a place for working women, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo as an entrepreneur, this space has been great because there\u2019s a lot of other entrepreneurs here as well. So a lot of like-minded women, is very community-oriented,\u201d said\u00a0Compagna.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/paloma_house_bn9_FL_2026_2.jpeg\")
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Working area at the Paloma House in St. Petersburg, Fla. (Spectrum News)<\/p>\n
For Moenter and Darr, it is a space for women to pause, breathe and grow in life in a calmer way.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s kind of reminded me who I am again, because I have somewhere to flex my personality. And it\u2019s not just small talk,\u201d said\u00a0Compagna.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Paloma House does have a different memberships for those interested.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On Sunday, Feb. 22 there is a grand opening celebration. It is happening at the Paloma House on\u00a010787 Oak St. NE, St. Petersburg, FL 33716 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Moenter said it is free for families to attend, including dads.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 For a long time, Paloma House owner and founder Sophie Moenter had a goal:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":162810,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[767,3075,28,115,596,202,204,203,199,201,200,135,835],"class_list":{"0":"post-162809","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-petersburg","8":"tag-app-community","9":"tag-erin-murray","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-pinellas-county","13":"tag-st-pete","14":"tag-st-pete-headlines","15":"tag-st-pete-news","16":"tag-st-petersburg","17":"tag-st-petersburg-headlines","18":"tag-st-petersburg-news","19":"tag-tampa","20":"tag-vod"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}