GCUC Podcast - Coworking, Hospitality & The Future of Work

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 experiences. From building hospitality...

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 completely different angles.

First up, w...

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 new in their place. Foundry now opera...

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” communities, Angel proves that smaller, sc...

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: plenty of ...

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 scale without getting crushed by o...

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 spaces, Espoir and Connor share their...

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 movement deeply influenced by cultu...

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 actually align.

Amanda joins host Liz El...

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 UK, he’s building a new blueprint ...

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, community, and human need. She dives in...

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 industry to rethink how humans and ...

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 spans geology, communication scien...

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 connection and community are the re...

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 new ways. Together, she and Liz dig ...

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 technology to future-proof their spaces.

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Magda Al-Nugaidi, Managing Director at Uncommon, starts her day rowing on a misty river before sunrise, a practice that keeps her grounded and energized to rethink the workspace from the ground up. She’s turning offices into spaces where people feel inspired, supported, and truly connected. The future of work isn’t just desks and square footage, its design, wellbeing, and community.

In this episode, Liz Elam, founder of GCUC and po...

The flexible workspace industry is exploding, but here’s the hard truth: most operators are flying blind. Enter Jonathan Bevan (CEO of Techspace) and Elliot Gold (Co-Founder of Work.Life). They’re on a mission to change the game with the Workspace Intelligence Network, WIN, an operator-led alliance built to weaponize data for growth.

In this episode, Liz Elam pulls back the curtain on how WIN is giving operators the insights they n...

In this episode of The GCUC Podcast, host Liz Elam sits down with Thom Wernke, co-founder of StartDock, for a deep dive into the evolution of coworking, the power of community, and the realities of scaling without losing your magic.

From his early days launching an IT company in university to running six stunning, canal-side coworking spaces in the Netherlands, Thom shares how an unexpected pivot turned into a thriving hospitality-...