After three and a half years of walking together, I'm finally writing you this newsletter.
Some of you signed up for this years ago, but I wasn’t ready to write it yet.
I've been walking — 780 miles with strangers who turned into friends. Hosting, connecting, experimenting like a mad scientist, watching 8 people in Austin turn into a global movement of 17,000+ people across 10 cities.
This whole time, we've been making magic on the trail.
Aha moments. Spontaneous tears and laughter. Conversations that changed someone's entire week, month, or year. Those classic “holy moly” realizations at mile three.
Best of all, thousands of real friendships were born on our walks. The kind where you get a text at 7 PM saying "want to go grocery shopping?" and you drop everything because mundane errands with the right person feel like home.
It's all been happening, every Saturday morning… and none of it has been documented. Until now.
This is my love letter to the walks.
Every week, we'll gather here and debrief: stories, lessons, trending topics (get it?!), lightbulb moments, community wins. Think of it like a giant group chat for everyone who loves this movement, whether you can join us live or you're feeling the energy from afar.
I hope when this lands in your inbox, you think: “Ooooh, what's going on? What's the tea?!”
I hope it feels like a dose of connection and aliveness and chicken soup for the soul, except written by your most unhinged friend who screenshots that random thing you said one time and sends it to you later like "REMEMBER THIS?!"
Thank you for being here. Thank you to our hosts, community members, and everyone who's shared the walk with a friend, liked a post, or showed up on Saturday morning.
You're part of something bigger than any of us expected.
Welcome to our next chapter. 🧡
Love,
Founder of The Board Walks
Photos from our walk chapters around the world:
Walk #100 in Austin, Texas (July 2024)
Smiles from San Francisco, California (July 2023)
Walk #8 in Columbus, Ohio (November 2025)
Walk #3 in Atlanta, Georgia (January 2026)
(I’d share more, but that’d make this email longer than a Costco receipt!)
🏆 Shoutout to Cameron Hogan for breaking the streak – he's the first man to host the OG Austin Walk since we started in July 2022! Our power squad of women hosts salutes you. 🫡
🏆 Shoutout to the incredible Julia Grant for hosting the walks through her first pregnancy… all the way through month seven! We're so grateful for you, Julia.
🏆 Shoutout to Austin regular Garrett Dailey for attending over 130 walks. That's 650+ miles of meaningful conversations. Legend status.
🏆 One London regular said the walk gave her the courage and confidence to take an acting class she’s been eyeing for years. Kudos to our host, Cristina Espinal, for creating such a supportive space!
*Regular = someone who attends multiple walks. Did you know the average person joins 20+ times?!
July 16 2022. First walk in Austin, Texas. Eight people showed up.
We had no idea what would happen next.
Three years later: 400+ walks across 10 cities. 17,000+ people. Thousands of miles.
Here's what I've learned from watching people walk, talk, and transform on Saturday mornings:
LESSON 1: Luck favors the present 🦋✨
You know those moments where you meet exactly who you needed to meet, right when you needed to meet them? I've watched it happen hundreds of times. Someone shows up to their first walk and meets a future co-founder. Runs into a college friend they lost touch with five years ago. Gets the exact advice they needed from a stranger who lived through that exact thing.
It's not magic. It's what happens when you leave the house. When you say yes even when you're tired or nervous or could've stayed home and watched Love Is Blind in your comfiest pajamas. Serendipity rewards people who show up in real life. The universe can't find you on your couch, so watch Love Is Blind… and THEN show up to the walk and talk about how Daniel pulled off a massive W for short kings everywhere.
LESSON 2: Don’t wait for your city to feel like home 🤝
I've heard this so many times: "This city used to be so good, but now it's changed." And I get it. Cities do change. They lose their charm, they get expensive, the vibe shifts.
But here's what I've noticed: blaming your city keeps you stuck. The people who fall back in love with their city aren't the ones who found a perfect neighborhood or the right coffee shop; they’re the ones who put in the work to find the community they’re missing. People who care about the same things they do. Who show up for each other. Who create the energy, instead of waiting for it to appear.
You can't control what your city becomes, but you can control how you experience it. When you change the internal, the external shifts too.
LESSON 3: You're not bad at making friends 🫂
If you feel like making friends as an adult is impossibly hard – if you've gone to events and come home feeling more alone than before – I want you to know: it's not you. Most social spaces are genuinely terrible for real connection. Happy hours are too loud. Networking events make everyone collect Linkedins like Pokemon cards. Small talk stays small because there's no permission to go deep.
I've watched people make real, genuine, ride-or-die friends in two hours on the walk. Same people who thought they were bad at this. They weren't bad at it. They just needed the right conditions.
LESSON 4: You become your main group chat 🐛🦋
Show me your community and I'll show you your future. Good community doesn't just support you. It challenges you, reflects you, holds you accountable, celebrates you, and makes you believe bigger things are possible.
Through the walks, I've watched people quit corporate jobs and start dream businesses. Make friends who became family. Gain confidence they didn't know they had. Finally take that creative risk they'd been avoiding. Not because anyone pushed them, but because they were finally around people who asked good questions, believed growth was real, and reflected back the version of themselves they were becoming. We don't transform reading Atomic Habits or The Courage to Be Disliked alone in our apartments. We transform in community.
LESSON 5: The best conversations happen sober 🧡
Most events happen at bars or over drinks, and I think we've forgotten that we don't actually need alcohol to be vulnerable or make friends. All we need is the right environment and the willingness to show up as our full selves.
I've watched thousands of people have the deepest conversations of their lives at 8 AM on a Saturday. Completely sober. Fully present. No numbing, no liquid courage, no shouting “what did you say?!” over Dua Lipa on max volume. When you meet someone first thing in the morning… where you're both fully present, awake, honest… you know the connection is real.
Five conversation starters from the walks
Borrow these for your next hang or happy hour!
"What's your Roman empire?"
"What makes you get into a flow state?"
"What do you look forward to at work?"
"How does your life perspective change during vacation?"
"What does Harry Potter mean to you?"
What’s happening in The Board Walks universe
Big Moves: Meetup is our new RSVP home. Join your city’s group here or send to a friend. It simplifies everything: quick communication, one-tap RSVPs, and last-minute cancels when the weather is rough.
New Cities: We launched walks in Atlanta, Detroit, and Boston this month! If you know awesome people in these cities, forward this email or shoot them a text with our site. 🎉
Current Cities: Austin, San Francisco, NYC, London, Denver, Columbus, Detroit, Boston, Atlanta, Boone (NC). Ten cities and counting.
Austin News: Julia is officially on maternity leave! We're rotating guest hosts while she focuses on keeping a tiny human alive. If you've been thinking about hosting, now's the time to apply.
The Board: We’re launching our high-trust collective for leaders, hosts, and big thinkers who want to connect beyond the walks. Join the waitlist.
After 3.5 years of walks, here's what I keep coming back to:
You're one conversation away from a completely different life.
Not because the walks are magic (though they kind of are). But because showing up changes you. The first time is a little nerve-wracking. The second time is easier. By the tenth time, you've become someone who shows up. And that version of you creates a completely different life than the version who stays home.
So here's your question for the week:
What if you treated your Saturday morning like it could change everything?
This newsletter exists because thousands of people have shown up on Saturday mornings and chosen real connection over hitting snooze.
Now it's your turn.
The walks happen every Saturday morning in cities around the world. 5 miles. Conversations that go beyond small talk.
Have a whimsical week,
Elle 🧡
P.s. Know someone who needs this? Forward them this email. Connection is contagious! ✨
