In Person

Episodes

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  From a 6-Figure Engineering Job to a Profitable Yoga Studio in Year One - Aly Barraza 15.10.2026 1h

  What does it actually take to leave a successful career and build your dream business from the ground up?In this episode of In Person, Lucy Nelles sits down with Aly Barraza, founder of Wild Thing, one of Miami’s fastest-growing yoga studios, to break down what it really looks like to open a brick-and-mortar wellness business.After a decade-long career in engineering, Aly left her six-figure job to go all in on a vision she couldn’t ignore. She shares the financial reality behind that decision, raising capital, signing a lease, navigating construction and permit delays, and building Wild Thing while betting on herself before there was any guarantee it would work.Lucy and Aly walk through the process from the very beginning: creating the pitch deck, finding investors, negotiating with a landlord, choosing what to spend money on, designing a five-star customer experience, and launching in a saturated Miami fitness market.They also dive into how Wild Thing built hype before opening, attracted nearly 1,000 people to its launch, landed partnerships with brands like Nike and Alo, negotiated its way onto ClassPass, and turned intentional design, hospitality, instructors, and community into a profitable business in its first year.This episode is a practical look at what happens behind the beautiful studio, the packed classes, and the brand partnerships—and what it takes to build an in-person experience people genuinely want to return to.Connect with Lucy:IG: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/lucelianelles⁠⁠ IG: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/inpersonpodcast ⁠⁠ Apply to work with Lucy and grow your IRL community events business: ⁠⁠https://www.communitybuildingcollective.com⁠⁠Connect with Aly Barraza:IG: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/alybyoga⁠⁠ Wild Thing IG: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/wildthingmiami/ ⁠⁠Web: ⁠⁠https://wildthingyoga.com/⁠
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  3,000 Applications a Month, 150 Get In: Inside Founders Club 09.10.2026 1h 19m

  What happens after you achieve the entrepreneurial success you thought would make you happy?In this episode of In Person, Lucy Nelles sits down with Aaron Spivak, co-founder of Founders Club & Hush (sold for $48M), Forbes 30 Under 30, and an entrepreneur who has built three companies—including one to eight figures in just 24 months.After selling Hush at 25, Aaron found himself with something he hadn’t expected: success, money, and no one around him who truly understood the experience. That loneliness eventually led to a series of founder dinners—and ultimately to building Founders Club.Aaron breaks down how those early dinners evolved into an eight-figure community, why he believes community should create an unreasonable amount of value, and the systems Founders Club uses to protect the quality of its members as it scales.Lucy and Aaron dive into membership vs. ticketed events, pricing premium communities, member retention, using data and AI to identify disengagement, designing admissions incentives, attracting more female founders, building a team, and the one metric Aaron believes every community business should track.They also unpack the human side of building businesses and what makes people actually connect in a room. For Aaron, the best communities don’t just gather great people—they intentionally help them make friends, feel seen, and build relationships they’ll remember long after the event is over.Connect with Lucy:IG: https://www.instagram.com/lucelianelles IG: https://www.instagram.com/inpersonpodcast Apply to work with Lucy and grow your IRL community events business: www.communitybuildingcollective.comConnect with Aaron Spivak:IG: https://www.instagram.com/spivak/Web: https://www.foundersclubofficial.com
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  How this Founder Built Miami's Hottest Yoga Studio - Mimi Ghandour 01.10.2026 1h 7m

  What does it really take to build a community people want to keep showing up for?In this episode of In Person, Lucy Nelles sits down with Mimi, founder of Mimi Yoga and Pilates, to talk about the journey from discovering yoga during one of the hardest periods of her life to building a thriving wellness brand with three Miami locations and hundreds of teacher training graduates.Mimi shares what pushed her to make the leap from teacher to studio owner, why community—not customers—is at the center of everything she builds, and what she has learned about expanding locations, hiring the right instructors, creating a strong team, and knowing where to invest when opening a physical space.They also get into the business behind boutique fitness: ClassPass, memberships, teacher trainings, brand partnerships, personal branding, handling negative reviews, and why Mimi made the decision to stop filming during classes even when social media exposure could benefit the business.Beyond the strategy, Mimi opens up about grief, vulnerability, motherhood, relationships, therapy, and the philosophy that has shaped both her life and her business: the magic is in showing up.If you're building a studio, hosting experiences, growing a community, or trying to turn something you deeply care about into a real business, this conversation is full of lessons on what it means to lead with conviction while continuing to evolve.Connect with Lucy:IG: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/lucelianelles⁠IG: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/inpersonpodcast⁠Apply to work with Lucy and grow your IRL community events business: https://communitybuildingcollective.com/Connect with Mimi Ghandour:IG: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/mimiyoga_official/?hl=en⁠Web: ⁠https://www.mimiyoga.com