Sleek Cowork was founded by Mariah HuQ, the creator, co-star and executive producer of Bravo’s Married to Medicine — the first original franchise developed for the network by an African American woman. She built Sleek on the McDonough Square in Henry County, Georgia, with a specific goal: to bring a modern, professionally equipped coworking and media facility to a smaller traditional town that would not ordinarily have access to one, at a price local entrepreneurs can actually afford.
Most coworking spaces are built by property people. They start with a lease, calculate a desk count, and work backwards to a brand.
Sleek Cowork was built the other way around — by someone who spent a career on the creator side of the camera and knew exactly what was missing.
From Chattanooga Newsroom to National Television
Mariah HuQ is a Chattanooga, Tennessee native who found storytelling early. She studied at Tennessee State University and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, then started her career in local television as a video news editor and associate producer at WRCB-TV, later hosting the programme “Trendz on 3.”
That grounding matters to how Sleek is designed. Before she was a television personality, she was crew. She has edited footage, chased deadlines, and worked in rooms where the equipment either supports the work or quietly ruins it. That perspective shows up in a coworking space that treats content rooms, soundproofing and production capability as core infrastructure rather than a marketing feature.
After five years at the station, she moved to Atlanta, transitioning into pharmaceutical and medical device sales while raising a family alongside her husband, Dr. Aydin HuQ.
Building a Franchise That Did Not Exist Yet
Mariah HuQ is best known as the creator, co-star and executive producer of Bravo TV’s Married to Medicine — a show that made history as the first original franchise developed for the network by an African American woman. Since its 2013 premiere, the series has drawn a reported audience of more than 27 million viewers across its run and has continued into an eleventh season.
Along the way she became a genuine pop-culture presence, credited with popularising phrases that entered everyday language well beyond the show’s audience — including “I got the receipts,” “Yaaasss,” and “throwing shade.”
The relevant part of that story for Sleek is not the celebrity. It is the pattern: she built something that did not previously exist, in a category where nobody had done it before, by identifying an audience that was being underserved.
Sleek Cowork is the same instinct applied to real estate.
The Insight: Small Towns Deserve Great Workspace
Ask most coworking operators where they expand and they will name a dense downtown. The economics are simpler there. The demand is proven. Nobody has to be convinced the category exists.
Mariah’s stated goal is deliberately the opposite: to open multiple modern locations in small traditional towns that would not ordinarily have access to a posh, contemporary, state-of-the-art facility — and to keep it affordable.
That premise looks obvious in hindsight and was not obvious at all beforehand. Henry County is one of the fastest-growing areas in the Atlanta metro. Thousands of professionals live there and work remotely. Content creators, consultants, agents and small business owners were commuting an hour each way to Atlanta to access facilities their own county did not offer — or simply doing without and working from home.
Sleek was built for those people. Not for Atlanta overflow. For McDonough, Stockbridge, Hampton and Locust Grove.
What That Vision Looks Like in the Building
A founder’s background usually shows up in what a space prioritises. At Sleek, the fingerprints are easy to spot.
- Media capability treated as standard, not premium. Soundproof content rooms, a green screen studio and production-ready spaces sit alongside the desks rather than in a separate paid tier — because a creator-founded space assumes creators are members, not visitors.
- Design as a working condition. Chic contemporary furnishings, lounge enclaves, elevated and adjustable desks. The aesthetic is not decoration; it is a bet that people work better in rooms they are glad to be in.
- Hospitality built in. A fully stocked artisanal coffee bar, premium teas and complimentary snacks reflect a television background where crew comfort is a production value.
- Community programming as infrastructure. Regular member events, lunch-and-learns and networking sessions exist because the isolation problem was understood from the start.
- Serious meeting capability. A conference room seating 22-plus with an interactive board, large display and full AV — the kind of room a Henry County business previously had to drive to Atlanta to book.
A Community Record Beyond Business
Mariah’s work outside television and business is part of the same thread. She has received the Ruby Hurley Humanitarian of the Year Award and the Chattanooga Humanitarian Award for community leadership, and holds a proclamation from the Governor and Mayor declaring November 23rd as Mariah HuQ Day in Chattanooga. She actively supports organisations including National Medical Fellowships and the Solaiman Foundation.
She has also built ventures rooted in personal experience before — co-founding Jewel and Jem, a bedding line celebrating mixed heritage, with her sister Lake, after recognising a gap in the market for children of multicultural families.
It is a consistent pattern across three decades: notice who is being left out, then build the thing for them.
Why the Founder Story Matters to Members
You do not need to care about Bravo to benefit from any of this. But the origin does change what the space is.
A coworking space built by a property developer optimises for occupancy. A coworking space built by a producer optimises for what people are trying to make. That difference is why Sleek has a green screen studio in a town of 30,000, why the content rooms are genuinely soundproofed, and why the events calendar is treated as part of the product.
For members, the practical translation is simple: the facility assumes ambition. Whether you are recording a podcast, pitching a client, shooting brand content, or just needing a professional desk away from your kitchen, the room was designed by someone who has needed all of those things herself.
The best way to understand the vision is to stand in it. Book a tour of Sleek Cowork on the McDonough Square — call (470) 507-0020 or visit our Take a Tour page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who founded Sleek Cowork?
Sleek Cowork was founded by Mariah HuQ, creator, co-star and executive producer of Bravo TV’s Married to Medicine. She is a Chattanooga, Tennessee native who began her career in television news before building media and business ventures in Georgia.
Where is Sleek Cowork located?
Sleek Cowork is located at 41 Griffin Street, McDonough, GA 30253, on the historic McDonough Square in Henry County, Georgia.
What is Married to Medicine and how is it connected to Sleek?
Married to Medicine is a Bravo TV franchise created by Mariah HuQ, notable as the first original franchise developed for the network by an African American woman. Mariah went on to found Sleek Cowork, bringing a production-informed perspective to workspace design.
Is Sleek Cowork a Black woman owned business?
Yes. Sleek Cowork was founded and is led by Mariah HuQ.
Why did Sleek Cowork open in McDonough rather than Atlanta?
By design. The stated vision is to bring modern, state-of-the-art workspace to smaller traditional towns that would not ordinarily have access to it, at prices local entrepreneurs can afford.
