Alumni Spotlight: Erin M. Conroy '07

6/21/2017

In the spring, Erin M. Conroy ’07 introduced her fitness startup Phyt at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business’s New Venture Challenge—an elite competition known for launching companies like GrubHub and Braintree. Phyt, led by Conroy and her business partners Brie Farmer and Ana Arruda, made it all the way to the competition’s finals in May. And they’re just getting started.

As a student at Loyola, Conroy was a member of the Torch Club and Life! Be in it! Community service program. She played on the volleyball team for four years and helped the lacrosse team capture state championship titles in 2005 and 2006. It was this love of athletics, along with a penchant for science, that led her to study movement science in the School of Kinesiology at the University of Michigan and later earn a doctorate of physical therapy from Columbia University in New York.

Today, Conroy is the CEO and cofounder of Phyt, a company that merges her passion for physical fitness and physical therapy. She has started a blog called The Phyt Chick and is looking forward to Phyt’s official launch this summer.

Soon after she celebrated her Loyola Academy 10-year reunion this June, we spoke with her about her startup, why she stays connected to Loyola and what comes next.

Tell us about your exciting startup Phyt.

Phyt is a company dedicated to improving human movement through physical fitness. Our first product, the PhytBoard, is a portable and affordable solution to the pilates reformer device that allows everyone to get the benefits of pilates-based exercises. I use a lot of pilates inspired exercises with my patients, but I have found that the reformer is something that is just not accessible or even feasible to have at home or in the clinic—so we’re changing that!

The goal with Phyt is to offer classes at both your big-box gyms as well as on demand, online classes from the comfort of your own home. These classes are designed to enhance a user’s performance in other activities such as running or just movement in everyday life. With our Phyt Method, we have developed a signature class and will also expand to other variations such as PhytHIIT and PhytFlow. These methods are all centered around our PhytBoard.

Additionally, we have a plan to launch a program for women recovering from breast cancer treatment. Physical therapy and exercise in general can be such a great tool for these women. Not only does exercise help with the self esteem and cancer-related fatigue, but it helps those women get back their range of motion. This is why I am very passionate about developing a regimen specifically for women battling breast cancer.

What inspired you to launch this project?

Generally, I am so incredibly passionate about human movement and inspiring others to move well. Phyt actually came out of my own need. I was off of work for a couple of months with a broken hand (who wants a physical therapist with only one functioning hand?) and developed a hamstring injury because I was only biking for exercise. I woke up one day frustrated that I couldn’t go to my pilates class so I went to Home Depot and built the very first prototype of our exercise product. We have gone through a lot of iterations and are now finally coming close to something we are happy with.

Regarding the forthcoming program for women recovering from breast cancer treatment, my aunt and my cousin, both diagnosed with breast cancer at a young age, really inspired me. My aunt shared with me how hard it is going through the battle and recovery process. She talked about not wanting to workout in public, not being able to lift her arms and feeling pretty low self esteem. I’ve come to realize that a lot of women do not get properly educated on what happens posttreatment.

You recently celebrated your 10-year reunion. Why do you stay connected to Loyola?

I stay connected to Loyola because of the people. At the Class of 2007 reunion, I was so impressed to hear about everyone’s accomplishments and plans for the future. Even more amazing was having people come up to me and tell me that they had been following my blog and business and love what I’m doing. Everyone is so genuinely supportive and excited about helping each other out. Loyola alumni are truly a force in Chicago.

Before my 10-year reunion, I attended Loyola’s Growth in Chicago: An Emerging Hub networking event at the Google offices in Chicago. The amount of resources I was able to tap into is the epitome of fellow Ramblers living women and men for others. For example, James “Jamie” M. Baisley Jr. ’92 took the time to chat about my business and linked me to valuable connections. Current parent and Global Client Partner at Google Karen Sauder connected me with someone at Google to come on as an advisor. And Kevin Willer ’92, partner at Chicago Ventures, just happened to be one of the judges on the final presentation day of the New Venture Challenge competition. He actually invited me to share some words of wisdom with fellow Ramblers at 1871 so I am really looking forward to that! The Rambler community is something that I am excited about continuing to embrace and becoming more involved.

How do Loyola’s Jesuit values remain a part of your life?

Life is a team effort. You help someone, and that person will be there to help you.

One of the things that attracted me to my current job is that it primarily administers to underserved populations in the city. This has been both a challenging and extremely rewarding position which has expanded my worldview and compassion for others.

I know my business is young, but as we grow I want to be there to help others achieve their dreams. I do believe that my Loyola education set me on this path.

What’s next for Phyt?

We plan to host our launch party in the next coming months—anyone interested in learning more can visit livephyt.com and sign up for updates. We are also always looking for new talent and resources in fitness, sales, product design and manufacturing. If anyone would like to reach out personally, I can be reached at erin.conroy@livephyt.com or erin@thephytchick.com. Any pointers or words of advice are always welcomed as well. And if there are any young Ramblers that have questions about DPT school, I am happy to be a resource!

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