Membership and community strategy, built to last.
Ellie McLaughlin helps founders and operators launch, grow, and retain memberships and communities across private clubs, hospitality, and wellness.
Areas of Expertise
From first concept to long-term growth, I help membership businesses build the strategy, experiences, and infrastructure that make people join — and stay.
Launch & Positioning
Market, competitor and demand research
Brand positioning and the membership value proposition
Membership model: tiers, pricing, benefits and the founding-member offer
Admissions criteria and application design
Launch plan and founding-member acquisition roadmap
Acquisition & Growth
Membership acquisition strategy and channel development
Event-led prospecting to convert guests into qualified applicants
Sales pipeline development, conversion optimization and performance tracking
Referral and ambassador program design
Strategic brand partnerships and collaborations
Member Experience & Retention
Retention strategy: churn drivers, engagement data and member feedback
First-90-days onboarding journey
Programming and engagement strategy by member segment
Renewal playbook and win-back campaigns
Feedback loops, such as surveys and member councils
Operations & Infrastructure
CRM selection, setup and integration (PeopleVine, Salesforce, HubSpot)
Application, vetting and onboarding workflows
Membership team structure, roles, and performance standards
KPI dashboard: pipeline, conversion, engagement and renewal
SOPs and playbooks your team can run without you
About
Ellie McLaughlin helps founders build membership businesses that people want to join — and have every reason to stay. Her experience spans executive membership networks at Chief, where she helped grow the membership business and develop its enterprise division, to building The Armada's membership community from the ground up, achieving an 85% renewal rate. She later helped lead The Armada's acquisition by The Moore, a private members club and cultural destination in Miami's Design District, where she continued to lead membership growth within a larger luxury hospitality environment.
Today, she brings that firsthand experience to founders and operators across private clubs, hospitality, and wellness — helping them build membership businesses that are as commercially successful as they are compelling to belong to.
Let’s Connect
Over coffee or a good conversation.
I'm selectively partnering with founders, operators, and organizations who believe in the power of bringing people together. Whether you're launching something new or evolving an existing community, I'd love to hear what you're building.