GCUC Podcast - Coworking, Hospitality & The Future of Work

What does it take to build an office building people actually want to stay in? In this episode of the GCUC Podcast, recorded live at GCUC 50 in New York City in partnership with Brave Ideas, host Caleb Parker sits down with Brandon Medeiros, CEO of ReKalibrate, to explore why commercial real estate is no longer just a leasing business– it's an operating business. As tenant expectations evolve and...

How do coworking operators actually win deals with today's landlords? In this episode of the GCUC Podcast, recorded live at GCUC 50 in New York City in partnership with Brave Ideas, host Caleb Parker sits down with Justin Halpern and Christine Wyckoff of Cushman & Wakefield to unpack how enterprise demand is reshaping the flexible workspace industry and what operators need to do to stay compet...

What makes someone choose your workspace—and more importantly, stay? In this episode of the GCUC Podcast, recorded live at GCUC 50 in New York City in partnership with Brave Ideas, host Caleb Parker sits down with Flip Howard, CEO of Lucid Private Offices, to explore why brand, experience, and intentional design have become some of the biggest differentiators in flexible workspace. After spending...

What if the biggest problem with today's office isn't where we work but how we've designed work itself? In this episode of the GCUC Podcast, recorded live at GCUC 50 in New York City in partnership with Brave Ideas, host Caleb Parker sits down with Phil Kirschner, workplace strategist, founder of PK Consulting, and author of the Work/Life newsletter, to explore why the future of work demands a com...

What are enterprise occupiers really looking for from flexible workspace? In this episode of the GCUC Podcast, recorded live at GCUC 50 in New York City in partnership with Brave Ideas, host Caleb Parker sits down with Shay Bolton and Kirill Azovtsev of Savills to explore how enterprise occupiers are evaluating flexible workspace and what operators and landlords need to understand to win more deal...

What does it really take to build a sustainable flex office business in today’s evolving market? In this episode of the GCUC Podcast, recorded live at GCUC 50 in New York City in partnership with Brave Ideas, host Caleb Parker sits down with Chiko Abengowe to unpack how disciplined leasing, operational clarity, and cash-flow-first thinking can still outperform increasingly complex industry models....

What happens when a career in coworking comes full circle? In this episode of the GCUC Podcast, host Liz Elam sits down with Jessica Knapp, longtime coworking leader, former employee #1 at OfficeRnD, and now a member of the GCUC team, to explore her journey through some of the industry's most pivotal moments. From discovering coworking at NextSpace in Los Angeles and finding a community that chang...

A quiet shift is happening in Paris: managed offices are surging, and it’s reshaping the entire flex workspace landscape. Coworking Europe will be in Paris this fall, so let’s talk to the man bringing the coworking world to Paris this November, Jean-Yves Huwart.  Liz Elam sits down with her good friend, Jean‑Yves, the founder of Coworking Europe (the world’s longest‑running coworking conference) a...

What does research actually say about coworking spaces — and why should policymakers care? In this episode of the GCUC Podcast, host Liz Elam sits down with Dr. Felicia Fai, Associate Professor in Innovation and Regional Resilience at the University of Bath School of Management, and one of the few academics dedicated to studying what coworking spaces truly do for entrepreneurs, communities, and re...

What really makes a coworking space unforgettable? According to Ben Newton, it’s not just the design, the coffee, or the amenities; it’s the people, the systems, and the intentional operations happening behind the scenes every single day. In this episode of the GCUC Podcast, host Liz Elam sits down with Ben Newton, Operations Director at Patch, to unpack what truly drives exceptional coworking exp...

What really happens inside the room at GCUC?    If you've been, you know the magic isn't just on the stage, it's in the hallway conversations, the shared struggles, and the collective drive to build something bigger than any one operator.   In this episode, we're pulling back the curtain on our massive 50th event in New York City, and we're doing it with two leaders who experienced it from complet...

What does it take to build world-class coworking outside of a major city center? In this episode, Liz Elam sits down with Adam Walker, CEO and co-founder of Foundry, to find out.   Adam is one of the most exciting operators in the UK coworking scene. Growing up surrounded by pubs and community clubs, he watched the traditional pillars of local community disappear, and decided to build something ne...

Meet Angel Kwiatkowski, a true original in coworking and the unapologetic force behind Cohere in Fort Collins. For over 15 years, Angel has been quietly and sometimes loudly redefining what community actually means, ditching scale, rejecting sameness, and building a space where connection is not a feature, it is the whole point. From buying her building to designing “unscalable on purpose” communi...

What if the best social club in New York didn’t revolve around alcohol, but around connection? On this episode of the GCUC podcast, we sit down with Justin Gurland, Founder & CEO of The Maze, an alcohol-free members club in New York City that’s redefining how adults gather, connect, and build community. After nearly two decades of sobriety and a career in behavioral health, Justin saw a gap: p...

Get ready for a powerhouse episode of the GCUC Podcast. Meet Katerina Cirilli, Co-CEO of Saltbox, the operations hub redefining how entrepreneurs grow. Saltbox is where coworking, warehousing, and next-level logistics meet, all wrapped in real community. With 12 locations and more than 1,000 brands operating inside its ecosystem, Katerina is helping build the infrastructure that allows founders to...

What happens when wellness, work, love, and ambition collide?  In this episode of the GCUC Podcast, founders Espoir Michalek and Connor Michalek pull back the curtain on how they built Gevity, a bold new concept redefining coworking through wellness, recovery, and deeply intentional community. From an “ice bath epiphany” and a chance meeting abroad to launching one of Austin’s most talked-about sp...

  Antonette Benting doesn’t just build community; she is designing belonging across an entire continent. As the leader behind GCUC Africa and a powerhouse operator in the coworking industry, Antonette has helped shape what community-first workplaces look like in one of the most dynamic and fast-growing regions in the world. Her work is proof that coworking is not a one-size-fits-all model, it’s a...

In this episode of the GCUC Podcast, Amanda Neanor, founder of NEANOR Projects, brings a behind-the-scenes perspective from the worlds of private membership clubs, luxury hospitality, and coworking. With leadership experience at Soho House, NeueHouse, and Platinum Clubs of the World, Amanda has spent her career designing and operating spaces where community, culture, and commercial success actuall...

Rupert Dean isn’t just rethinking coworking; he’s reengineering how people experience work, culture, and connection. As CEO and Co-Founder of x+why, Rupert operates at the intersection of hospitality, flexible workspace, and purpose-driven business, designing environments that prioritize people, planet, and profit, in that order. With nearly 600,000 square feet of space under management across the...

2026 Is a Reset, Not a Tweak  In this solo, can’t miss episode of the GCUC Podcast, Liz Elam breaks down the megatrends shaping the future of coworking and the world of work, and spoiler alert: it’s not about desks anymore. From the end of “hybrid work” debates (finally) to the rise of belonging, hospitality, wellness, AI, and purpose-driven real estate, Liz connects the dots between culture, comm...

Koral Ibrahim isn’t just talking about community; he’s rebuilding what it means from the ground up. As the founder of The Ready House, a creative consultancy and community helping brands forge real connections from the inside out, Koral sits at the intersection of brand, culture, and belonging. He’s a strategist, keynote speaker, published author, and one of the most articulate voices pushing the...

GCUC Podcast – Chris Moeller, Founder of Orion Growth & Pathway Communities Chris Moeller isn’t just rethinking housing; he’s rebuilding the American dream from the ground up. As an entrepreneur, environmentalist, and the visionary behind Orion Growth and Pathway Communities, Chris is leading a movement toward stable living, regenerative design, and community resilience. With a background that...

GCUC Podcast – Jonny Rosenblatt, Co-Founder & CEO of Spacemade Jonny Rosenblatt, Co-Founder and CEO of Spacemade, is redefining how landlords think about flexible work. With a decade-long track record of shaping the UK’s coworking scene from pioneering the creative workspace movement with Headspace Group to scaling Spacemade into one of the UK’s fastest-growing operators, Jonny is proof that c...

Journalist and researcher Georgia Norton joins GCUC CEO Liz Elam to explore how Playhood Family Club, Research & Consulting is reshaping the way we live, work, and care. From neighborhood coworking with childcare to global research on co-located spaces, Georgia reveals how families and founders are reimagining the modern workplace, blending productivity, parenthood, and community in powerful n...

Will Sanford, Director of Coworking at Yardi, is at the forefront of unlocking the next evolution of flexible work. His unique approach combines human connection with innovative technology, a strategy that has proven successful in his role. This episode offers a rare glimpse into his daily life, from the chaos and joy of new fatherhood to his laser-focused work on how operators can leverage techno...