Today we’d like to introduce you to Connor Michalek.
Hi Connor, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
It started in a village classroom in Thailand, chalk in hand, teaching kids who didn’t speak my language but taught me everything about patience and community. That led me all over. Construction sites in Australia, mountain climbing in Nepal, eventually back to the U.S. for a decade in corporate sales and leadership. Then a layoff erased it all overnight, and honestly, it was the best thing that could happen. I sold my car, cashed my 401k, and disappeared into the world for a year. Wrote, climbed, traveled to places most people never go. Somewhere along the way, I felt human again.
Espoir came from Vienna, raised by parents who built one of the city’s first gyms. Wellness wasn’t something she added to her life, it was just how she lived. She spent her childhood sailing the Americas with her eight siblings, later studied yoga in Rishikesh. When we met, her grounding met my restless drive to explore and build. We both kept seeing the same problem: people running between the gym, the office, the cafe, the yoga studio, never whole, always fragmented.
That’s when we asked: what if it all lived together?
We spent years designing 18,000 square feet of something we couldn’t find anywhere else. A private membership club built for people who actually want to take care of themselves and rethink what sustainable ambition looks like. We opened December 1st with 157 founding members. Now we’re about to hit 270. These people aren’t here because they want another gym. They’re here because they want their life back.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Not smooth. Not even close. But that’s been the point.
The biggest one was learning to let go. When you carry the spark, it’s easy to believe you have to protect it yourself, do everything, be the only one who gets it. But if Gevity was only mine, it would never work. I had to trust Espoir, trust our team, trust people with something that matters more than anything. That shift from “my baby” to “our creation” was harder than any construction problem we faced.
Then there’s the vendors. When you’re building 18,000 square feet with the precision we demanded, you’re working with 20, 30 different companies. Some see your vision. Most see an invoice. Some cut corners, oversell, or try to push their agenda. I had to learn when to put my foot down, when to walk away, and when to protect what we were building. Because if the values don’t align, no contract fixes that.
The deepest struggle though was alignment across the board. With vendors, with partners, with the team we were building. You can feel when someone is in it with you and when they’re not. So I had to get really clear about articulating what this actually is, why it matters, and who belongs at the table. That clarity became one of my most important tools.
Six months in, I’m still learning that leadership is both surrendering control and having conviction. It’s knowing when to open your arms and when to draw the line. And it demands you grow up all at once.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m the founder and CEO of Gevity, a private membership club in Austin built around a simple idea: wellness, work, and community shouldn’t live in separate corners of your life.
What we do is create a space where an entrepreneur can ice bath, work on their business, recover with movement, grab real food, and build actual relationships with people who get it. All under one roof. All in the same day. Most clubs optimize for one thing. We built for balance.
I’m most proud of the fact that we’re not selling an experience or a vibe. We’re building proof that a different way of living is actually possible. Our members aren’t here because they want another gym membership. They’re here because they found a place where they don’t have to choose between ambition and wellbeing, between pushing hard and recovering deeply, between chasing success and feeling like they belong.
What sets us apart is that we designed everything to work together. The architecture is intentional, the programming is purposeful, the people who show up are aligned. You feel that the moment you walk in. It’s not another wellness trend or a coworking space with extra amenities. It’s a third space that actually functions as one.
Six months in, we have 270 members who are proving this works. Entrepreneurs, athletes, creators, people who care about how they live while they work. That’s what I’m building. That’s what I’m known for now.
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
The fitness industry and the coworking industry are both going to disappear as we know them. Not because they’re going away, but because they’re going to merge with everything else.
For the last decade, wellness has been treated as a luxury add-on. You have your gym. You have your office. You have your coffee shop. And people are exhausted from the constant context switching. But that’s starting to break. People are finally admitting that the fracture doesn’t work anymore. You can’t optimize your body and burn out your mind. You can’t be ambitious and disconnected from community. It doesn’t math.
What I see happening is the rise of integrated spaces built around how people actually want to live. Not optimized for one metric, but designed for balance and belonging. The clubs that survive won’t be the ones that do everything a little bit. They’ll be the ones that do a few things with intention, aligned around real values, built by people who actually live that way.
Austin is becoming the epicenter of this shift. It’s the remote work capital, it’s a wellness hub, and it’s full of people who refused to accept the traditional paths. The next five years, you’re going to see more spaces like Gevity pop up. Not copies, but originals. Places built by founders who know the problem because they lived it.
The winning move isn’t bigger or cheaper. It’s more honest. More integrated. More real.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://livegevity.co
- Instagram: gevity.club
- LinkedIn: gevity club
