Meet Matt Lesniak, Co-Liv’s Head of Community

Matt is not new to coliving — and neither is he to Co-liv. After joining the organization at its very beginning, Matt founded Conscious Coliving, an intentional consultancy focussed on making coliving space thrive. His passion for community, sustainability and impact has been leading him to be a key player in the coliving scene, not only as a coliving professional but also as a community builder.

Today, he is building out the Co-Liv community — from leading the online platform to taking care of members individually, Matt is playing a key role in the future of this movement.

‍How do you currently define yourself and what drives you?

I am driven by social impact and sustainability, and my vision is bringing in more impact-driven metrics and products into the coliving sector. What drives me is creating a more equal and just society, one that is sustainable and community-driven. What drives me is creating purpose-driven companies that focus on the triple bottom line: people, planet and profit.

What passionates you about coliving and why are you a+ctively promoting the coliving scene?

I believe that coliving has the potential to help people connect to themselves, others, and nature in a deeper and more authentic way. Coliving has the potential to create thriving neighborhood hubs that contribute to social, cultural, human, and economic capital to their wider local communities. Coliving is a user-centric model that provides quality customer service to its members, but which can also have a lasting impact on the neighborhood and on a city-wide level. What passionates me about coliving is helping developers and operators create more conscious coliving models.

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‍What’s your personal vision and thoughts on the future of coliving for the year to come?

The future of coliving will be rooted in social value, or environmental, social and economic impact. Consumers, employees and investors are all demanding that companies (in all sectors) embed sustainability and impact into their business models. Coliving companies will have to do the same and they must create accountability to their residents and wider neighborhoods in regards to the social value that they contribute and offer. The future of coliving is conscious coliving, coliving spaces that embed sustainability, wellbeing and community into their products, experiences and businesses.

You recently joined Co-Liv as “Head of Community” — which opportunities do you want to create for the organization, its members, and the coliving industry?

As ‘Head of Community’ I am in charge of facilitating the membership and the Mighty Networks platform. My goal is to connect members so that they can bring value and resources to one another and to catalyze collaborations amongst our members. I also help provide high-quality insights and content for our community via partner platforms like Coliving Insights, a research lab dedicated to providing state of the art insights to the coliving sector. As the Head of Content and Research at Coliving Insights, reach out to me if you’d like to contribute, sponsor, or partner with us for future editions!

How did you get into Coliving?

I studied urban sociology and have always been involved in community development and placemaking initiatives. Coliving was a new form of community-driven urbanism that I stumbled upon after my masters and I have been involved with Co-Liv from the start (since 2016, when it was Pure House Lab). I have since worked for The Collective and co-founded both Conscious Coliving and Coliving Insights. I have colived in several coliving spaces and have been in charge of community experience design and impact strategies at The Collective and I now consult clients via Conscious Coliving. I believe that coliving is here to stay and I’m driven to help the sector evolve into a more conscious and impact-driven housing industry!

Thank you for being part of this movement! How can people reach out and what can you mostly help them with?

People can reach out to me via my consultancy Conscious Coliving. We are an experienced and spatial design consultancy that supports developers and operators to make coliving spaces that thrive. We have developed The Conscious Coliving Manifesto, an industry-standard that focuses on sustainability, wellbeing and community — the core aspects of a thriving coliving community. We can support you with developing your coliving concept and looking at your spatial design, community experience and impact strategies. We can support you with your coliving project from A-Z, starting at concept stage all the way through to construction, pre-launch and operations. With the help of our partners, we can help you create a thriving coliving brand and community!

With lots of co-love,

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The Co-Liv Team

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