How Erin Stewart Is Building a Wellness Community in Austin With Savor + Sweat
Drawing on her career as a dancer, celebrity trainer and chef, Stewart looks beyond the workout
For the first time in her life, fitness and health food expert Erin Stewart could live anywhere she wanted. The year was 2021, and so far, she had worked as a celebrity trainer, a professional chef and the founder of a multi-location fitness brand, all while raising two sons. A dance career had brought Stewart to New York City; later, marriage and her business venture brought her to Houston. Faced with nearly endless possibilities on where to go, her first choice was Austin.
Her husband’s work had gone remote, and her new brand, Savor + Sweat, offered completely virtual workouts and recipes. Austin’s vibrant wellness culture was quickly becoming a hot spot of specialized health and fitness expertise, producing an increasingly stronger draw on Stewart, who believes the city’s diverse health scene now rivals that of New York and Los Angeles. “So many cities are great, but people often move for a job or family,” Stewart says. “Most people in Austin have chosen to be here, and it shows.”
In August, Stewart was in her temporary brick-and-mortar studio, dubbed “The House by Savor + Sweat.” Stewart, all healthy glow and contagious energy, walked among neatly arranged rows of black yoga mats and weights, wall-to-wall mirrors making the space feel like a dancer’s sanctuary. For those who had been following her content for the past 15 years, the small-but-mighty instructor had primarily been a smiling face through a screen. Now, she created a place where women could truly meet her — and each other.
SHOP
A new home for Savor + Sweat
Originally, Stewart never intended for Savor + Sweat to have a physical space. The pandemic had led to a surge in the demand for her virtual offerings, and she planned on riding that wave for as long as possible. But even though it gave her flexibility, teaching workout classes to a camera didn’t feel the same. She missed the instruction of her New York days, where she could sense the energy of a room, cater to her clients’ individual needs and form real relationships. “I’ve always thrived when connecting with people — teaching them how to move their bodies healthfully and how to feel their best,” Stewart says. “I learned quickly I needed that, just as a human.”
But Austin’s fitness culture was already so vibrant. Sure, she’d been on the wellness scene for nearly two decades, arguably before it hit the mainstream with such force, but what could she bring to the city, where one couldn’t throw a stone without hitting a yoga or pilates studio, that it didn’t already have?
The answer came from her loyal followers — the thousands of women who had been getting their home exercises alongside Stewart for years. She hosted a few pop-up classes around the city, and the reception was astounding. “The business had just grown to the point where I wanted to offer my clients a beautiful space and home where they can come to this amazing community where we’ve all grown together,” she says. Just as Stewart had chosen Austin, it seemed Austin had chosen her.
Early next year, Stewart will open a permanent location for The House by Savor + Sweat in Westlake, which will be complete with areas to sweat, areas to lounge and areas to enjoy delicious, healthful food. And while Stewart may still be the face of Savor + Sweat, she wants the community to move beyond just revolving around her, but to take on a life of its own, one where members and other instructors connect with each other. After all, she says, “there’s only one me.” She hopes Savor + Sweat becomes more than a House for members, but a home — one that helps them move better, feel better and live better.