Building Success Without Burning Out ft. Lavinia Errico | Coffeez for Closers with Joe Shalaby

Back in the early 90s, gyms were, well, kind of gross. No structure, no real experience. Just weights, sweat, and bad lighting. Then Lavinia Erico and her partners changed the game. They built Equinox, a premium fitness experience with clean, high end facilities, expert trainers and structured classes. Basically, they turned the gym into a place people actually wanted to be. But after selling the company, Lavinia realized something was missing. Real joy. So she built MoveJoy, a movement driven wellness platform designed to unlock energy, shift mindsets and bring purpose back to fitness. But here's the part no one talks about. When you're grinding to build something great, how do you make sure you're not losing yourself in the process? How do you build success without burning out? Lavinia didn't just build a brand, she built a movement. And today we're talking entrepreneurship. The true cost of success and why learning to love yourself yourself is just as important as the grind. Welcome to Coffees.

Thank you. Thank you for having me, Joe.

Yeah, thanks. Thanks for coming on today's show. I know it's quite the trek for you. It's funny how, how physical activity in general, any sort of physical activity can always connect humans at a different level. And whether you're working out, you're playing a sport, playing ping pong, pickleball, whatever it is, so it allows you to just see a different side of people.

I totally agree. Totally agree. Yeah, so you're moving your body. You're actually a nicer person.

You are, you know, you are like if you.

I always tell people, if you ever have to have an uncomfortable conversation with somebody, say, let's go for a walk. And as soon as you, like, walk a little bit and this, your circulatory system starts working, you get a little bit of oxygenation going. Like, trust me, the conversation goes a lot better. You know, the truth is, I was a dancer when I was young and I never had that super skinny body. I always had more of an athletic body. And then when I was about 12, I got into this professional group and the next thing I know, I hear, I overheard somebody say, yes, she's a beautiful dancer, but too bad her body's more like a tennis, a soccer player.

Wow.

And in those days, today I think soccer players have, they're strong, they have amazing bodies. But in those days, everybody wanted to be like, you know, 92 pounds and super skinny. That's what it took to be a dancer.

I think it's still like that for dancers.

A little bit different because maybe for a ballerina.

Yeah.

But if you look at. Or like Dancing with the Stars. Yeah, those kind of dancers, they were all pretty thin. But when you go out into the hip hop world or more jazz, I mean now you've like when you.

They got athletic bodies. You're right.

Yeah. You know, it's when you go and you see the dancers on Beyonce stage or somebody else's stage, the dancers are definitely, they have more body types. And the truth of it is sometimes a more athletic body, they move with such power. Like it's actually I. My eyes now go to those dancers because I like the power that they have in their bodies. You know, it's not just the little waif dancer, you know, that. But that began my, you know, a little bit of a story about my body, you know, and I started really having some, you know, all I wanted to do was be skinny. All I wanted to do. And so that started, you know, that, that journey of somewhat destructive, you know, I. But on the other hand, I started learning to work out a lot. You know, when most kids were not working out at 12, 13, 14 years old, I was. Because I just wanted to be thinner. I wanted to be thinner. I wanted to have an Ann Ranking body. You wouldn't know who that is, but she was a big dancer at the time. And so the truth is that was how I really started getting into working out very young. And then I never stopped. Yeah, I never ever, ever stopped.

Seems like a family affair. Because your siblings were also involved in this founding of Equinox.

Yep, we're all the founders together. Myself and my two brothers came up

with the idea of like this luxury gym.

I mean, I have to say, like, we were all, it was kind of all of us. Like I first moved back from LA and, and I had taught all over la, you know, classes. And when I got back to New York, I was like, wow, it's not as good in New York as it is in la. In la we actually had. And I would started, I was actually gonna open up just a studio. I wanted to just open up like a real studio. But at the time, no landlord wanted anything to do with working out. Like, it was not a sought after business. No at all. It was like they would rather have a dry cleaner than a gym. So we didn't make that happen. And then we just kept complaining and then we kind of looked at each other and we were like, why don't we do it? I mean it was really kind of like that. Like my brothers were doing very well in construction and developing. I had already, I was in. In the executive program with Longcombe Cosmetic Company. But we were living on the Upper west side, and it was horrible. The gym options were not good, and we just complained for a while, and then it was sort of like. And we opened up our first gym, actually outside of.

And it was Equinox.

No, our first gym was Westchester Health and Fitness, which was in Westchester County. I kind of call it our proof of concept. It was like, we went in there, we, you know, had a vision of what we would do and how we would do it. And, you know, we just wanted. You know, we were in our. Our twenties. We wanted a gym that we wanted to go work out at, you know, that was clean, that was stylish, that had good people, that had great weights, that had great classes, that you could actually take a shower and not feel completely grossed out because it was so dirty. You know, like, we just wanted, like, the basics, right. With a good vibe. Like, it was all, like. For us, it was all about a vibe, too.

Yeah.

You know, I always joke, and I say our biggest competition was happy hour, because in those days, everybody went from work to happy hour. So we had to create something that was kind of, like, sexy and that people wanted to go to, because we had to get you out of happy hour and get you really psyched and excited and inspired to, like, come in to work out.

I've never been to Equinox, but, like, so Equinox is, like, sexy.

Like, it was. I don't.

How do they make it a sexy gym?

Well, first of all.

Tell me.

First of all, lighting.

Lighting. Okay.

Music, people. And even the workout. And also the layout. Like, this is where I have to say my one brother was just so masterful. Like, the workout class, the workout room. Like, the big studio. You had to have that studio close to the workout floor because, you know what? When the women were in there. Because in those days, it was all the women and they're working out, and the music's amazing. That energy is actually feeding into the gym floor, whereas so many other people would literally put the workout studio in the basement.

Yeah.

Like, so far away from everybody. That was, like, for us, a big no. No. We're like, nope. We want to make it so that you're walking by, you're seeing these bodies moving. You're hearing the music, you're seeing people sweating and having fun, and. And it was like. It worked like, you know, and also you're in there moving, and people come by and they're looking at you, and it kind of feeds you it gets you, like, excited, you know, it's like. It's the feeling of being on a dance floor. Like, okay, like when you're in a nightclub, you don't want to be down and like, you want to be around people where you're moving your body and you feel good, you know? And I really believe we were one of the first people in a health club setting to really, like, get where when you're in that class, it looks like you're having so much fun. It doesn't look like all those women are being tortured in that classroom right now or people look tortured in there. The music, and we've really put an amazing sound system. And then the lights were dim and, you know, like, it was hot.

Yeah. Yeah. Sounds like I gotta get a members of the Equinox.

I don't know if it's. I don't know if it's still like that, but I mean, when we were doing it, like I said, we were young, we were in our 20s, and we wanted the gym that we wanted to go to.

Yeah. What year was Equinox family?

19. 90.

90.

Yeah. So, you know, we, again, we wanted that place that we were excited and. And couldn't wait to go to, you know, and that's how it really. I mean, I can't tell you how many people would say to me, I used to hate going to the gym. I loathed it. Today, I'm literally, if my favorite teacher's on, I'm figuring out ways to get out of work early so I can come here and take this class. Like, it was such a huge shift of how people before Equinox viewed working out to after that, you know, Amazing.

I mean, you started a revolution. Because I can't imagine my life now without a class, you know, so, like, every day regimented, seven days a week I'm doing a class. If not, I'll try to take two. You know, just because it's so regimented. I can hang out a workout in a fixed amount of time and structure it in my workday.

Right. Amazing.

So had it been for you? Not really. Kind of sparking fire and getting people's interest in these classes. This is like a revolution you started.

But it isn't even just the classes, because we also, I believe another thing that we revolutionized is personal training. Because before us, at personal training, the only people that really personal trained were actors, you know, people that needed to be professional athletes type.

Yeah.

But the regular people, that was unheard of. It was completely unheard of that anybody would. And what we did was we made it affordable. We created these tiers, we brought in people, we actually created this whole Equinox fitness training institute. Because also it was very hard to find good trainers in those days because nobody wanted. Nobody was like, oh, I want to be a trainer. Like, that was not in existence. Like, that was not a sought after career. Like, nobody was like, well, I don't

think it's a big sought after career now still.

But no, no, no, you would be very surprised. You would be. I mean, especially now because so many of these trainers are making ridiculous amounts of money.

Well, they make it on social media.

That's what I'm saying. But a lot of times that's where they get their experience. Because you have to start somewhere. I mean, I can almost always tell. And there's a couple big ones out there now. And I watch them and I'm like, they have not had the proper training. You know, they're cute, especially some of the women. They did a little Pilates thing and now they're building these brands. But when I watch them, I'm like, they probably would have really benefited from maybe working at like an Equinox for a year or two to just get that. Like, because when you train all these different body types and you've got, you know, that 10,000 rule, that 10,000 hour rule, that book that came out, when you have that kind of really, that kind of experience, like, you bring another level of confidence. When I watch it, I see different because I've been in this industry. I've been a dancer, I've been, I've been moving my body since I'm six, So I don't see, I don't see that level of knowing and confidence. It's like very. This is how you do it. You know what I mean? Like, they're not owning it. And I do think there's something to be said about really having that level of confidence no matter what you do, you know, that you really, you've got that you really, really, really own it, you know, Anyway. So you know what? Honestly, Joe, I've been on this path of self discovery, of personal development, of spirituality. Like, really since I'm 18, probably even earlier. It's been like, I say it's my, it's my nature of what I've been attracted to, you know, so. And I've been very fortunate. I mean, I did have a little bit of a situation happen. It was about the second year that we opened Equinox and I was working like, as you know, when you're in a startup phase, you're working 24, seven, you're not stopping. And I jumped out of bed, and I landed flat on my face and ended up at Lenox Hill Hospital. I, you know, broke my cheekbone. I had some jaw issues, and I was in, like, what they would look at and say, you're in perfect shape. I mean, I was at 15 body fat. I had a resting heart rate of, like, I don't know, 55 or 60. You know, my cholesterol was 15% body fat.

As a woman.

Yeah, as a woman, like, I was crazy. I was very, very fit. So, you know, I worked out every day. I was muscular, I was lean. I was. You know, in those days, we didn't eat any oil. We just, like, had chicken breast and vegetables with lemon. Like, that was kind of my diet. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It was kind of crazy. So I literally. I thought, you know, in those days, I. We thought. We all thought as a society, if you were fit, you were healthy. Right? Like, that was kind of a. If you're fit, you're healthy. Like, people say to me, man, you're so healthy. Look at you. And then after this, I realized, whoa, wait a minute. Like, I'm, you know, 30 years old and I'm landing flat on my face here, and what's going on here? And I'm so fit. And that began my journey of, like, what does it mean to be healthy? Like, what does it mean to be healthy? And that's when I started realizing you have to be spiritually healthy, mentally healthy, emotionally healthy, energetically healthy, physically healthy.

Yeah. Physical health is just at the bottom of the barrel.

Exactly. Because the truth of it is our mind, that the mind goes, and the body is the second. So if. If a person has traumas and they have, you know, you got to feel

it to heal it. I like that.

You've got to feel it to heal it. And most people do everything to avoid it. They do everything to avoid feeling the sadness, the pain, the hurt, the disappointment. Like, they do everything. They numb themselves. I mean, now I feel like with marijuana being legal, everybody's just, you know,

around high all the time.

Yeah. Because they don't want to feel it. And we have to have the courage. And it takes courage. Takes courage to go down and. And feel and heal those wounds that we have. I always say, like, how we get our wisdom is from wounds to wisdom. Like, we. We all have wounds. Like, we just do. Our parents, they did the best job that they could do, but we have wounds Society limiting beliefs. We have patterns, we have limiting beliefs. We have all the not enough. Right. That we grow up with. Not being good enough, not being pretty enough, not being handsome enough, not being skinny enough, not being rich enough. Like we have these things that just kind of run the show. Right. Fears, worries, shame. You know, when I. I mean, sometimes I go back and I look at the things that I felt so much shame for, you know, when I was younger. I mean, like that all lives on your body. That all creates. I mean, I always wonder if I didn't work out and I didn't move the way I did as a young girl, I think I would have definitely had autoimmune because I had some things that were already happening, you know, like I had bad allergies and then I had. My eyes would do this weird stuff and then I would get. And it was like, I know, I instinctively know what saved me was that I danced and I moved my body all the time and I had really good friends. And I do think friendship and community is really important.

It's really a big advocate of community here. Even our company as a community. Church community, friendship community.

Exactly.

Random. Like basketball league community or whatever group you're part of. Golf, league or.

Yeah, it's very important. Very, very important.

Involved your gym community here.

Yeah.

Lavinia, I want to learn more about movejoy. How can we. How can people learn more about. Can you give people a 20,000 foot overview of what is Move Joy and the MoveJoy movement that's happening so they

can find us on MoveJoy Life. It's a online platform. I do do it once in a while in person, but it's really designed to get people to move every day. Now I really believe that my superpower is getting people that really don't like to move. You know, that's just not their thing or they're in a lot of pain. So I've had women, right now, it's for women, but I've had women who have had fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, Ms. cancers. Some real big things that make it hard for them to move. Their bodies don't feel good, they don't want to move. But regardless of what you have, you have to move. You have to move. Like movement is health.

Movement is life.

It's the medicine. Right, Exactly. Movement is life. Life is movement. We have to learn how to move. However, we have to do it in a way that actually is going to feel good to our joints, our ligaments, our tendons, we have to be really mindful. And I believe it has to also be fun. If you can make it fun, people will do it. And I've been doing breath work for over 10 years, and I see the value of breath work in a huge, huge way. But most people, almost all people, they go to a breath workshop and they're like, wow, that was great. I feel good. Then they don't do breath work again until they go to another breath workshop, you know, in three months from then. And what I realized is, how can I get these people to move and incorporate breath work with affirmation, with what I taught you right now, too, with visualization. How can I do that? So that when you're moving, you're actually healing. You're healing. And also, 92% of all women, I mean, men too, but 92% of all women over the age of 38 hate their bodies. They really hate their bodies. So nine times out of 10, when they go to the gym, they're not going to the gym to be like, I'm moving my body. I feel good. It's medicine. They're going to the gym to be like, I got to get rid of this cellulite. I got to get rid of this muffin top. I got to get rid of these arms. I got to get rid of this back fat. Like, they're going in with such negative energy. So the whole time they're working out, they're not working out in an uplifted, joy lifted. I call it a life lifted energy. They're working out to change. It's so negative. It's so hard.

Thus change isn't happening.

Yeah. Because how can you. It's actually making more inflammation in the body. Because joyful is. That's the journey to get there. But it's like this. I love my body. I love my body. Like, I have two feet that are working. You know when I say to you that when I. I'm grateful for, like, how many people don't have legs? Oh, my God. These legs may not be perfect. They might have some cellulite, but I can go everywhere they take me where, like, just start showing your body. Like, I love my body. I love my body. I'm so grateful. I'm so grateful for my. Now, that doesn't mean that I can't desire it to be fitter, to be leaner, to be toner. Right?

Yeah.

But it's a different mindset that when you're going, I gotta change my body. I gotta. I gotta get a six pack. I gotta get I mean, like, of

course you're gonna create inflammation in the body.

Exactly. And then the other part of it is that in our country, and of course I think in America it's higher even though we have obesity more than other countries. But 25%, it's only 25% of people actually work out in our country. The people I go to are everywhere because I'm an online platform. But 75% of all people are either skinny and deconditioned over weight and deconditioned or obese and deconditioned. And the truth is there's not a lot of brands out there that are speaking to them like, because let me tell you something, you are not going to get somebody who's 30 pounds overweight that's going to want to walk into a class where they know they're going to be doing things like burpees and all these kind of crazy exercises. And there's the cute little instructor with her stomach hanging out and, you know, and basically shaming you. Like, come on ladies, move faster. Move. Come on. You want to have a body like mine? You're like, like that is not inspiring. And it also isn't inspiring as we get older, like women, you know, we get to a certain age, our bodies are changing. We're going through perimenopause, we're going through menopause where, you know, our bodies change. Like we don't want to be shamed that we know and we don't want to be uninspired that we don't look like that anymore.

Like you're next to a 25 year old instructor with abs, you know, the whole thing.

Well, wait a minute. There's some instructors who are 25 and have so much wisdom.

Yeah.

And then there's other people that are there just to show off their beautiful body and inspire that way. I say that's not the group that I would want to be. First of all, when we started Equinox, only 3% of the country was working out. Such a small number like today, I really believe we're the, we are the brand that actually brought this up to 25%.

You guys were the brand that brought sexy back to working out.

Well, I told you public level because

24 Hour Fitness sure as heck didn't do that.

No, actually I was a member of those places. And even for somebody like me who loved to move, it was to walk in there, it was really, really hard. It was an arduous. It was like, like I remember being

at, like there was a so ghetto I'm the founder of Equinox and here I am at a 24 hour.

But I was, this was before I was a founder of anything. This is when I was just a young gal and I was working out and I, you know, again, I told you, I was like obsessed with trying to stay thin. So I would literally, I belonged to like five different clubs and I would go to this one club that was around the corner from my house. It was like family fitness or something. And it was down, it was like low ceilings and so dingy. But I would ride the life cycle for an hour. Like so that would be like the morning.

Yes, it did the job.

It did the job. But like, no, it wasn't about how I felt.

It wasn't move joy. Definitely wasn't happening there.

Like, listen, I want people to love, to connect to who they are. Like, because also when you move the energy off the body and the body starts moving and you start moving it in ways that you have never. And it starts releasing some energy, you start feeling better about yourself, you have more confidence. Like, I have women now who, you know, hadn't. They didn't drive at night for like seven years. Oh, I never drive at night. I have night glare, I have this, I have that now. They have more confidence. They're like, I'm driving at night. Like little shifts that make your life so much more enhanced. You know, I have women who's lost 40 pounds, who's lost 20 pounds, who's lost, like they feel so good, you know, and it's not just about the weight. It's about the, the mindset. It's about. And also we're a community. So even though we're an online community, everybody goes into a breakout room if they want to share. We, we, we do something. We're actually working through this right now. It's called deep listening. So we come, we go into a breakout room and nobody's there to therapize you. Nobody's there to, to fix you. But it's a place where you can just be witnessed and like, it's like it could look something like this. My truth is, I'm really sad. My truth is I'm really sad because. And you just kind of start listing out, but also because nothing is more important to find ways to connect with our children in, in a really beautiful way. And I believe that is what is so powerful because they're our future, right? And if they haven't, if they don't really know how to connect. And I always feel like a Little bit. I mean, I'm being vulnerable here. But I had the best dad. My dad was amazing because he provided well, he gave us. But my father never sat down and talked to me like we. I didn't like that. I guess it was a generational thing. And I do feel like that I really had some, some issues with men to really be able to connect with men because I didn't have that, that intimacy with my dad. You know, I didn't have that deep intimacy to be able to like go to my dad and tell him what made me, what I was afraid of. And when somebody was bullying me or whatever it is. Daddy, this is like I didn't have that. And I really believe that it was, it was a loss. So to be able to somehow be able to help a parent be able to like connect on that deeper level, that's something I'm really, I feel a lot of enthusiasm around.

But I have a couple last questions for you. This question is a three prong question.

Okay.

What is a personal goal that you have for yourself? You're always one of many goals. I can see that. And then what's a goal that you have for your family? And then what's a goal that you have for Move Joy?

Okay, so a personal goal for myself is. I could just cry by even saying it.

It's okay.

Is to just have like harmony. Like I just want to have deep inner peace. You know, I, I still get, I get rattled by mostly family members. I get a little rattled. And I would love to not like just have this deep inner peace and balance in that completely. My goal for my family is my son's getting married. Yeah. I'm so excited and I love her. She's amazing. And yeah, just for us to really continue to blossom together, like for them to grow as I really, I really have really good boundaries. So like, I understand that my son and his wife and children will be on their own plate, so to speak. And to be able to navigate into that in the most yummy, delicious, loving way with them. And of course, just to continue. A lot of my nieces and nephews are getting married. We have like five weddings I think this year. And just. Yeah, for us all to just be able to come together and be, just be in each other's lives in a, in a very holistic way, you know, which isn't how we necessarily grew up because I grew up in a very high end family that had, was, had a lot of energy. Like I want just peace and harmony and calmness and connection. And. And tender. Like, I want tenderness within the family. And my Move Joy goal is honestly, like, I want to have a hundred million women from all over the world that are literally feeling so much more empowered and confident and healthy and alive. Like, to really feel authentically alive every day. Like, I want women to feel that.

My last question for you.

Yeah.

Because you're a servant at heart and you've done so much and you continue to empower and help and serve and do God's work. But my last question. When you're in front of the pearly gates, what do you think God's going to tell you?

I think God's going to tell me that I've done a really good job, that I've impacted so many people and that I've done. I really feel like. I mean, I'm Christian and I've really dove into my Christianity in the last five years. And I've always been. When I went back and did a lot of, what are my four key values? I didn't put serve in there at first until I went back and I looked at it and I was like, I've been serving since I'm a little girl. And I really. I. Yeah, I think he's going to say, you've served your whole life. So I think I'm gonna. I think I'm gonna get a good seat up there.

Definitely helped me and served me and served all our listeners. And it was a deep journey that we went on. Kind of deep. And I thank you. Thank you for your time today. Thank you for enlightening me, enlightening many, many others that listen to the show. And your wisdom will live on for many years to come. God bless you, your family, I hope, hit every single one, your goals.

Thank you. Thank you.

Lavinia Erico, the legend, co founder of Equinox and founder of the Move Joy Movement. Thanks for listening. See you guys soon.

Sam,